Who we are

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UK Board of Directors | Brazil Board of Directors

International Advisory Committee

Bahia Street created its International Advisory Committee in 2006 to provide broad-based support for Bahia Street around the world.

Bobbi Ballas (Sydney, Australia)
Robert Barclay (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Robert Bonzejar-Flears (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Peter Gow (St. Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom)
Don Kulick (New York, United States)
Maaike Verrips (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Connie Wong (Seattle, United States)

Bahia Street Staff in Seattle

Margaret Willson, International Director

Margaret Willson, a widely respected anthropologist, spent many years living in the shantytowns of Salvador, an experience that gave her the knowledge to co-found Bahia Street in 1996 with Rita Conceição. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the London School of Economics and has taught in Britain, Holland, Greece and the United States, as well as in Brazil. She launched Bahia Street study trips in 2001. Dr. Willson published Dance Lest We All Fall Down: A Story of Friendship, Poverty, Power and Peace (Cold Tree Press) in 2007. Her work has been recognized recently in Washington State: she received the Thomas C. Wales Award for Passionate Citizenship in 2007 and the Jefferson Award for Public Service in 2008.

Dr. Willson’s resume
Dr. Willson’s publications

Nancy Bacon, Program Director

Nancy Bacon joined the staff of Bahia Street in September 2004 after many years supporting and volunteering with the project. Prior to joining Bahia Street, Nancy spent seven years as the director of the Seattle World Affairs Council’s K-12 educational outreach program and served as the organization’s Vice President. Prior to the World Affairs Council, Nancy directed an English-as-a-Second-Language school in Cambridge, Massachusetts and taught English and social studies in Manila, the Philippines. She currently serves on the board of the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS) at the University of Washington. Nancy received her B.A. from Swarthmore College and holds a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Administration.

Deborah Turnbull, Grants Administrator

Deborah joined the staff in 2007. Originally from England, Deborah supports grant writing outside of the U.S. and keeps the office in Seattle running. When she is not at Bahia Street, Deborah can be found teaching English and citizenship to recently arrived refugees and immigrants or in the back country birding and skiing.

Margaret Schulte, Public Affairs Manager

Margaret Schulte joined the staff in 2005 and transitioned to volunteer extraordinaire in 2007. A former Business Analyst for Expeditors International of Washington, she was one of the founding board members of Bahia Street.

Bahia Street Staff in Salvador

Rita Conceição, Bahia Street Center Director

Rita Conceição, a sociologist and professional photographer, grew up in a shantytown of Salvador. Her personal struggles and journey give her the depth of understanding that makes Bahia Street such a success in its programs. She is a graduate of the Federal University of Bahia and has worked as a political photographer and video technician, among other jobs. She continues to be involved in civic activism and community research projects related to the African-Brazilian experience in Salvador. Ms. Conceição directs Bahia Street Brazil and the Bahia Street Center and works in partnership with Seattle staff in the design and implementation of study trips and academic programs in Brazil.

Rita Conceição’s biography (word document)

Board of Directors: Bahia Street US

Jenny Anttila

Jenny Anttila was born in Manchester, England and moved to the U.S. in 1981. Jenny has volunteered for a Guild with The Fred Hutchison Cancer Research and subsequently for Zonta International, an organization helping women locally and worldwide. She is also involved with the Seattle Young Artist Music Festival which is a yearly event held at Kane Hall at the University of Washington encouraging young musicians to pursue their musical abilities. She enjoys her own business as a Print Broker advising companies with their printing needs. Jenny looks forward to encouraging supporters here and in the U.K. for the Bahia Street cause.

Almuht Dear-Jossy

Almuht Dear-Jossy was born in the remote jungles of Brazil, and later became a resident of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She spent 32 years working for IBM, first in Brazil, then in New York, and finally in Seattle. Upon retirement from IBM, she began her career as an award-winning Re/Max real estate agent, teaching classes for first time homebuyers in Portuguese and English. She brings a life-long commitment to cross-cultural education to the board, having served in the past as director of an international high-school student-exchange program and as a group leader for educational trips to Brazil and Japan. Almuht is writing a book about her childhood experiences and upbringing in the jungles of Brazil.

Aleixo Dejneka

Aleixo Dejneka was born in Brazil into a family with a long history of helping the poor. He received his university education in Brazil and the United States and works today as a union officer and business owner. Alex is fluent in five languages and is active in the Brazilian and Slavic communities. He is married and is the proud father of three multi-lingual children.

Moshe Hecht

Mo Hecht is a musician and educator with a strong interest in supporting community programs that benefit underserved populations. He splits his time between Paris and Seattle.

Joyce Mork-O’Brien (Board President)

Joyce Mork-O’Brien is a freelance grantwriter, knowledgeable about the non-profit world and funders. She is the former President of the Puget Sound Grantwriters Association, and remains on the PSGA Board of Directors, where she serves on the Conference, Funders Forum, Advanced Training, and Outreach Committees. Joyce has served on the Bahia Street Board for over five years. She lives in the Beacon Hill area in south Seattle, is married, has a 23-year-old son, and hails from the cold midwestern state of Minnesota.

Jim Peckenpaugh

Jim Peckenpaugh was born and raised in the Seattle area, but left to attend college and spent 13 years working as a meteorologist and air quality engineer in many parts of the US and for 2 years in the Republic of the Philippines. When his daughter was born, he returned to Seattle and learned to be a tax accountant so he could work at home while she and her younger brother grew up. He was treasurer of the Orca Alternative School when they were Orca students. Now that both are on their own, he looks forward to spending quality time on the good work of Bahia Street.

Brenda Tausch

Brenda Tausch (born and raised in Chehalis, Washington) encountered Bahia Street by happenstance. In 2001, Brenda lived by the Bahia Street office on Boat Street and met Margaret Willson through a neighboring boat salesman. After subsequently learning Portuguese and studying abroad in Fortaleza, Brazil, Brenda had the opportunity to engage in ethnographic research and teach English to Bahia Street’s second-graders in 2003-2004 through the support of a Fulbright grant. Spending almost one year at the Center in Brazil emphasized for Brenda the importance, unique infrastructure, and effectiveness of Bahia Street. Brenda currently works as an attorney at the Northwest Justice Project in Seattle. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, studying languages (Portuguese, Spanish, American Sign Language), making fruit wine, and traipsing around with a notepad, camera and microphone.

Ann Vu Loveridge

Ann Vu Loveridge was born in Vietnam and moved to the Pacific Northwest when she was 8 years old. She is an artist, an entrepreneur, and more importantly, an educator. She is a first generation college student who received her BA in Interdisciplinary Arts and her M Ed. in Adult Education. She now works at the University of Washington’s Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity TRiO Student Support Services program helping low-income, first-generation, and/or disabled student succeed in their educational goals. In May 2008, she had the opportunity to participate in the UW Brazil study abroad program “Society, Equality, and Change” in conjunction with Bahia Street. She connected with Brazil, Salvador, the culture, Rita, and the girls. She saw the impact of Bahia Street first hand and is excited to be a part of the organization.

Julia Wauters

Julia was immersed in life in Brazil from the ages of 7-16 where she lived with her family in Campinas, Sao Paulo. She returned to Brazil in 1974 to serve two years in the Peace Corps in Garanhuns, Pernambuco. She has made Seattle Washington her home for the past 28 years, where she has raised three sons with her husband Dick, and worked as a nurse at the University of Washington Medical Center. She is involved in developing a study abroad/cultural exchange program with Bahia Street to take students from the University of Washington School of Nursing to Salvador, Bahia and Recife, Pernambuco.

Melanie Wyffels

Melanie has worked with international education for most of her professional life. She has been involved in cultural projects in Brazil, and ESL exchange programs in the US for the last fifteen years. Melanie was born to a family of renown educators in Brazil and, since her earliest age has been exposed to the challenges and, as a result, to some very creative solutions derived from the countless educational and political reforms in that country. She is fluent in Portuguese and English and has extensive experience in intercultural communication.

Board of Directors: Bahia Street Trust (UK)

The Bahia Street Trust is a registered U.K. charity with an all-volunteer board of directors. The Trust maintains its own website.

• Susie De Paolis
• Alex, Earl of Uxbridge
• Nick Emley
• Nadine Grieve

Board of Directors: Bahia Street Center (Brazil)

The Bahia Street Center in Salvador, Brazil, is a registered non-profit in Brazil with its own board of directors. All of Bahia Street’s Brazilian directors come from backgrounds much like the girls Bahia Street serves.

• Rita Conceição
• Valdecir Nasimento
• Francis Texeira