Meet the 2024 RUX Steering Committee›
The 2024 Rural-Urban Exchange Steering Committee brings together diverse creative leaders dedicated to Kentucky’s civic health.
We’re excited to welcome five new Steering Committee members this year: Contea Allan, Shaelyn Bishop, Bernard Clay, Kyra Higgins, and Robin Verson.
Contea Allan was born in Louisville and raised in Elizabethtown. She attended the University of Louisville where she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and a Master's in Teacher Leadership. She later obtained a second Master's degree from Eastern Kentucky University. She currently teaches ESL at an elementary school in the Jefferson County Public Schools district. She and her husband are co-owners of a pest control company, Tailor Made Pest Control, that serves Louisville and its surrounding areas. She enjoys reading, a good documentary, and figuring out ways to change the world. “I am excited to join this esteemed group of Kentuckians working towards lessening the divides across the state. I can't wait to meet future cohort members, to continue to facilitate a love for Kentucky, and to visit new places!”
Shaelyn Bishop is an Instructor of Biology at Campbellsville University, and current Masters student of Sustainability at the University of Louisville. She teaches various courses on biology, evolution, and the environment, and sponsors CU’s environmental activism group, the Green Minds club. Shaelyn is a homesteader-in-progress, an avid gardener and houseplant enthusiast, and a bona fide nerd. She loves “Knitflix”, walking through fields and forests, and cherishing the simple moments in life that connect her to this beautiful planet. She believes her main purpose in life is to help others see that beauty, appreciate it, and work to protect it.
Bernard Clay received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Kentucky Creative Writing Program and is a member of the Affrilachian Poets collective. His work has been published in various journals and anthologies. He currently resides on a farm in eastern Kentucky with his herbalist wife Lauren (founder of Resilient Roots). English Lit is his first book.
Kyra Higgins is a storyteller based in Eastern Kentucky. She has her Bachelor’s in Theatre from Georgetown College. She loves flag dancing, reading, creative writing, assisting speech coaches, and learning about others’ passions. She is an unpublished Affrilachian poet and community scholar. Her work focuses on the performing arts to explore storytelling in the mountainous place she calls home.
Robin Verson has spent the past two decades developing and managing her certified organic Metcalfe County farm while also devoting herself to raising 3 incredible humans. Growing food and nourishing the Hill and Hollow Farm's CSA community has offered Robin the opportunity to center her work on community support of sustainable farming practices. The farm is also home to a flock of heritage breed sheep rotationally grazing the pastures. In addition to raising vegetables, herbs and cut flowers, the farm also focuses on dye plants. The one of a kind local farm fiber products emerged from the farm's wool and these farm raised dye stuffs. She cofounded the Greater Cumberland Regional Fibershed with hopes of furthering awareness around healthy local fiber systems. Her knowledge of sustainable farming systems and her commitment to working with local farmers, shepherds, and consumers prepares Robin to more deeply explore the relationship between Kentuckians. Robin is thrilled to share her experience, her passion and her expertise.
Returning Steering Committee members continue bridging divides in our Commonwealth.
Lauren Calhoun is a life-long resident of Owensboro, Kentucky, where she works as a Billing Supervisor for Owensboro Health Regional Hospital. She holds a Bachelor's degree in French from Murray State University and a Master of Business Administration from Northcentral University. Lauren loves singing and making music with her drummer husband John, her percussionist children Jack, Michael, and Katie, and an ever rotating roster of jamming buddies.
Both professionally and personally, Tyler McDaniel uses his tools as a filmmaker, artist, and public historian to amplify already present voices and stories while highlighting how the past is constantly influencing the present. His passions extend to the built environment through not only the structures themselves, but the stories embedded within, alongside the ways that cultural and community identity are formed through place. Holding a BA in Media Production from Morehead State University and a Masters in Heritage Studies and Public History from the University of Minnesota, he has explored cultural oddities and socio-political systems through both rural and urban lenses. This multi-disciplinary approach has translated across multiple projects and organizations including the Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange, Squallis Puppeteers, A Public History of 35W research project and museum exhibit, the Minnesota Main Street Program, and Saint Paul’s African American Historic and Cultural Context Study – among others.
Olivia Spradlin is an avid gardener, canner, knitter, and dog mom. She is a medical anthropologist working at the Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence to build safe and affirming systems of care for all survivors of violence.
After living in multiple states and all around the Commonwealth, Jess Stevens is proud to call Estill County her chosen home. As the founder and Boss Lady of Alight Marketing Agency and the Operations Assistant of the Estill Development Alliance, Jess works to support business owners and community members in a variety of ways. Jess loves connecting with people from all over the state and uplifting her fellow queer Appalachians and amplifying the voices of historically excluded folks both through RUX and her personal work. Her favorite element of RUX is the unstructured "download" time at night to talk through the sessions and really get to know her fellow RUXers.
Azucena Trejo Williams is an interdisciplinary artist working in installation, photography, video and sound. Her work continues to be exhibited nationally in both solo and group exhibitions. Trejo Williams graduated from the University of North Texas with a B.A. in Photojournalism, and received her M.F.A. in Studio Art at Maryland Institute College of Art. She is an Assistant Professor of Art & Design at Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, KY.