Meet the Pen Parentis Staff Members
Pen Parentis is a federally recognized 501c3 nonprofit literary organization. Nearly everyone who works for Pen Parentis is a volunteer. We give our time freely because we have a passion for books, a passion for writing, and a passion for making the world better. Get to know us!
Milda Motekaitis De Voe (author name M. M. De Voe) is the founder and executive director of Pen Parentis. Her 15+ years of experience co-hosting the monthly Pen Parentis Literary Salons are detailed in the new memoir/how-to: Book & Baby: The Complete Guide to Managing Chaos and Becoming a Wildly Successful Writer-parent (It also includes many stories from the Salons and Tricks and tips for productivity alongside the every-age child.) Five Pushcart nominations, two Editor's Prizes, a Shirley Jackson Award, a distinguished alumna award, a few arts grants, two children, and several publications later, De Voe continues to seek the balance between family and a successful writing career.
She holds an MFA from Columbia, where she was a Writing Fellow under Michael Cunningham. She also was a fellow at the Summer Literary Seminars in St. Petersburg, Russia. Suppose you have an extra minute: like her page on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. See her author page at mmdevoe.com for links to writing and author events. Her debut story collection, A FLASH OF DARKNESS, was published by Borda Books in April 2023 - and her novel THE BOY WHO LOVED TREES launches in October 2026 from Brooklyn Writers Press.
Marina Aris, joined the team to co-host of the Pen Parentis Literary Salons in January 2025. The former inaugural New York City Authors Guild Ambassador, Marina is also an author, book publisher (her hybrid imprints are the award-winning Brooklyn Writers Press and her newest imprint, Avanthem, which publishes only teenaged authors).
A valued Book Publishing Strategist, Marina shares her insights on the Book Biz Insider Podcast where she helps writers create beautiful books readers love. A mom and a writer, Marina was President of the Pen Parentis Board in 2018.
As a Film Production Intern for Pen Parentis, Mei Yi Liu brings a wealth of experience in media production, event coordination, and digital content creation. A recent graduate of Columbia University’s Film and Media Studies Master’s program, she developed strong research and analytical skills while serving as an MA Fellow and Enhanced Teaching Assistant. Her hands-on experience includes coordinating live events such as the Zoom-In Graduate Student Conference and working with the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival.
At Kino Lorber, she conducted grassroots outreach and built strategic partnerships, skills she applies to live broadcast management and sponsor coordination. Her work at Women Make Movies included digitizing, encoding, and branding media content for archival purposes. With expertise in creating engaging social media content and analyzing performance metrics, she is excited to support Pen Parentis’s mission of empowering writer-parents to sustain their creative momentum.
Frank Haberle is the author of two novels: Shufflers (Flexible Press, Minneapolis, 201), a story of transients moving through minimum-wage jobs in the 1980s; and Downlanders (Flexible Press, 2023), following five lost souls into a fictional wilderness. Frank won the 2011 Pen Parentis Fellowship for his short story, South of Hartford. He is a freelance grant writer who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three kids and yet he volunteers as our in-house grantwriter.
www.frankhaberle.com.
Social Media Coordinator
Snehitha Neelakanti (aka Maya) is our new Social Media Coordinator!
She is a computer science student who volunteers regularly in education and community events, and builds software with everyday people in mind, from a banking tool designed for low-literacy rural users to an e-commerce site and a habit tracker built to help people build better routines.
She's running our BlueSky, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Linked In accounts in Fall 2026. We are so lucky!
Connect with her on LinkedIn:
Marcus G. Kang is our Spreadsheet Wrangler & Data Mastermind. Currently, a student at Cornell University studying Information Science, he is the president of a social and environmental impact-focused consulting club and is passionate about giving back to the community. Depending on the season, you can find Marcus on the basketball court, on the slopes, or out on a hike.
For many years, Lisette Boer was the Digital Media Manager at Pen Parentis, running our Instagram, Facebook stories, and Writer Parent Annex website. She started at Pen Parentis as an intern during her post-baccalaureate in the renowned New York Arts Program. Lisette graduated of Hope College with a BA in English – Creative Writing and a minor in Communication. She holds two an MFAs from The New School and is about to graduate from Columbia with a PhD in Creative Writing. Hats off to a woman who won a Pen Parentis Service Award in 2025, and well deserved!
Emma Fergusson is our brilliant video editor! She is a current graduate student in the Film and Television Production program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts -- follow the progress of her current film project here --and a 2022 graduate of Kalamazoo College, where she worked as a Digital Humanities Post-Baccalaureate Fellow for the HILL Project. In May 2024 Emma attended the 77th Cannes Film Festival to write reviews as part of the USC Cannes Classics program. She has previously been published at Bright Wall/Dark Room and Film Matters Magazine. You can check out some more of her video work on the Pen Parentis YouTube channel or connect with her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/emmafergusson
We are sorry to see Jackie McDougall go. She was our sparkling light as Communications Director for nearly 10 years, but must move on for family reasons. We wish her all the best in her life - and hope to see her frequently at in-person events.
Jackie is an experienced IT Consultant and Manager with over 24 years of experience in IT and software testing. Currently engaged as Associate Director for QA and Agile Strategy with IQVIA, she has previously held senior roles in roles with Aegon, Sopra Steria, and Initiative Software. She has presented at the User Conference for Advanced Automated Testing (UCAAT) and EuroSTAR Testing Conferences throughout Europe and was a committee member of the Scottish Testing Group until moving to the US. She has published various articles on testing, business intelligence, and test data privacy. She has a BA in English Language and Literature and a Master of Science in Information Technology, both completed at Glasgow University. She grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, and is married with two boys. Now living in Princeton, New Jersey, she enjoys running, learning to play drums, drawing, cooking, and reading.
Brook Yimer established our IGTV. He lives in Washington, DC, where he was a student of medicine and biological sciences, with a penchant for competitive international rowing and (luckily for us) a love of video editing. He is an Associate Scientist at a large pharma company- please let us know if you hear of a great job that needs a dedicated, hard-working, brilliant, clever, and good-natured college grad. He coaches the crew, and his teams win!
Renni Johnson was a volunteer greeter for a year before taking on the role of House Manager for Pen Parentis Literary Salons. Her life is all about books: She majored in Creative Writing at Knox College in Galesburg, IL, and she attended the Denver Publishing Institute. She writes fantasy and science fiction under the pen name Renni Acre. Her day job is as Manager of Digital Workflow Support at Penguin Random House, training editors and fixing broken manuscripts, and she's been delighted to volunteer for literary nonprofits around the country, lately as House Manager for Pen Parentis until the pandemic caused the events to be moved online. We have great esteem and gratitude for Renni's work.
Allan Krasner is our app developer. He is currently a graduate student at Pace University pursuing a Master's degree in software engineering. His goal is to become a Project Manager to develop meaningful projects with a dedicated team. Tasked by Dr. Jonathan Hill of Pace University to lead the development project, he worked with a team of several excellent Seidenberg students to create the Pocket Pen by Pen Parentis' app launching in 2020. His time within Seidenberg has mostly been devoted to teaching people as well as honing their skills. He hopes to continue changing people's lives and learn along the way. If you need technical help with your own website, app, SEO, or even maintenance, he has started a firm to help you – here is the link: https://www.wepptek.com/
Tim Kent of San Francisco, CA, transformed many of our videos with titles and professional editing. Thanks, Tim! Here's his freelance video editing firm, in case you are in the market for outstanding videos that are above and beyond what you could have hoped!
Natalia Dymora has been our freelance graphic design guru since August 2019. She's a wonderful, talented human being (and a fierce art director, too!).
Many thanks to our former Director of Research Initiatives, Mary Harpin, who is also a poet and a freelance digital storyteller. Mary lives in Colorado with her husband and two daughters and took a year to interview many of our past writer-parents about their needs and means of coping. Find the interviews on this website and read her fabulous chapter summing up her findings about writer-parents and how they manage their resources in M. M. De Voe's book. We are so grateful for all of her help.
Want To Help?
PEN PARENTIS is a federally recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit arts service organization. Contributions to PEN PARENTIS are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
WE SEEK SMART VOLUNTEERS WITH EXPERTISE IN BOTH BUSINESS & NONPROFIT!
We are also looking for board members with the capacity to give both resources and knowledge to make Pen Parentis fully sustainable. Is this you? Contact Us through this website and the nominating committee will get back to you!
No time? Please donate to keep the Pen Parentis Literary Salon alive. This one-of-a-kind reading series is run primarily on donations from readers like you. No amount is too large or too small. One-click (and a valid credit card) is all it takes.
Your donations help keep this unique literary project going strong. Please note that writers who are also parents who donate $150 or more (as monthly membership or as outright donations) may contact us and request we add their headshot and writing bio to our growing list of Pen Parentis Authors. Thank you for your support!