Cheryl Crooks is a professional photographer and writer with a studio in Bellingham. Cheryl began her career as a journalist and arts critic in Phoenix and was selected as a critic fellow of the O’Neill Theatre Institute. Cheryl then wrote for TIME Magazine, becoming the magazine’s West Coast medical reporter. Since moving to Bellingham, she has served on a number of arts and community boards, including the Mount Baker Theatre, the Bellingham Festival of Music, the Campaign for the Arts, and Western Washington University’s College of Fine and Performing Arts.

Audrey Sager is the founder of the New York City law firm of Sager Gellerman Eisner who limited her practice to the field of matrimonial law. She was been named as a Super Lawyer each year from 2006 to 2017 and was recognized as a leading lawyer in New York State before she retired. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and was a vice president of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York. Both she and her husband, Steven Gellerman, are movie lovers. They relocated to Bow, Washington in 2014 where they are enjoying the Pacific Northwest lifestyle.

Shing Root moved to Boulder, CO from Taiwan in 1998 to fulfill her dream for studying Dance Movement Therapy at Naropa University. After exploring how to help people maintain their emotional health, she refocused her direction to help both people and businesses achieve financial health. She currently is a CPA and working in a local company as an assistant controller. She also serves as treasurer of YWCA Bellingham’s board. Both she and her husband, Manson Root, love movies and theater very much. They relocated to Bellingham in 2016 to explore the Pacific Northwest culture and lifestyle.

Claudia Puig is president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and a longtime critic on NPR’s Film Week, a film festival programmer, and cultural consultant. She is currently Program Director for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and in 2020 she was a Senior Programmer for AFI Fest. Puig has been a speechwriter for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and program director for the Napa Valley Film Festival, Mendocino Film Festival, and FilmFest 919 in Chapel Hill, N.C. In addition, she has a film consulting business specializing in cultural consulting and she teaches a college class on Diversity in the Media. Previously, she was USA Today’s film critic for 15 years.

Lynda Moore is CASCADIA’s Volunteer Coordinator and brings extensive experience as a volunteer herself for the Pacific Science Center’s “Science on Wheels” educational workshops, researching school enrichment programs, and collaborating scheduling with faculty and volunteers. As an intern with Bellingham’s Technical Alliance Group, she supported event communications, marketing research, and technical support. She also volunteers and trains volunteers for Bellingham’s Mount Baker Theatre. Professionally, she has more than 10 years of experience in finance administration, county government, medical manufacturing, and systems technology and is trained in cyber security and computer support.

Barbara has over 25 years in arts administration and management. She created and presented the “Global Rhythms Performing Arts Series” for the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. She served for 10 years as a director at Maui Community College’s Continuing Education program where she founded Art-Tech Maui, a national attended conference to explore the interface of art and technology, CyberCamp a youth program integrating traditional fine arts with technology, and USC-on-Maui, a program to bring top-notch film production classes to Maui to support the local population in telling their stories. She is also the founding director of the Oxbow Summer Art Camp, an internationally attended fine arts program for the highly acclaimed Oxbow School in Napa.

Daniel Larner is professor emeritus of theatre, Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Western Washington University. He was dean of the college, served as WWU faculty senate president, and currently serves on the Fairhaven College Advisory Board. Dan is a playwright and a widely published scholar of American drama and dramatic form. He taught the WWU Scriptwriting Workshop for 35 years, where he was a founder of the College of Fine and Performing Arts. He served for 23 years on the Board of the Mount Baker Theatre and for 40 years on the BOD of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington. Dan has been a member of the board of directors of the Bellingham-Whatcom County Public Facilities District, and currently serves as its president.

Valerie Dalena is an award-winning screenwriter, director and producer. Her
company, Stiletto Rosso Productions, produces film, video, and multi-media
theatre and concert events. Since moving to Whatcom County, she has been very involved in the arts and arts organizations, including Advisory Board, CASCADIA; Board of Directors, Sylvia Center for the Arts; Marketing/ Video Production, Bellingham TheatreWorks; Producer, Pocket Concerts; Producer/Director, FireHouse Studio at FireHouse Arts and Events Center; and co-founder, Whatcom Arts Project. Her career has included West Coast Editor of Glamour Magazine, TV Film Development at Wrye-Konigsberg Productions, and Program Administrator of LA County Inter-Agency Council for Child Abuse and Neglect. She holds a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology and is a former member of Alliance of Women Directors and Women in Film LA and Seattle.

Cassidy Brooks, the co-founder of Talking To Crows (TTC), holds ten years of experience in music. theater and in producing, directing, writing, editing, and camera operation for TTC. Cassidy co-created TTC’s multimedia cartoon, American Pizza, and attended the Savannah College of Art and Design for sound design. She also co-produced and directed the feature film, Just Like The Men, released in 2020 and now available to stream on Amazon Prime. Cassidy has served as one of CASCADIA’s short film judges since the festival’s beginning and has contributed to the festival trailers every year. She was grateful for the opportunity to attend the ArtHouse Convergence conference in 2020 on behalf of CASCADIA. She and her team members also hosted the Bellingham Film Annual Showcase in 2017 and 2018.

Ann McQueen joins the CASCADIA board with over 20 plus years of sales experience in media and medical sales. She shares degrees in both art history & business communications. Her sales career has taken her all over the Northwest covering a broad territory from Oregon to Alaska. From a young age her parents instilled a strong appreciation for the arts, music and theater. She has attended film festivals such as Sundance, Telluride, Bellingham and Seattle. Ann moved to Bellingham in 2017 where she is a active member/volunteer with the Bellingham Yacht club along with several local community outreach programs. After volunteering and hosting for CASCADIA in 2021 she wanted to utilize her business acumen and passion for independent film to help promote the talented women film makers as well as Bellinghams strong arts scene.