Meet the
Seeding Justice team

Samantha Bakall is a queer, Chinese American former food journalist whose writing has centered diverse communities across the Pacific Northwest. Before joining Seeding Justice, Samantha worked for The Oregonian and was the only staff food writer of color in the state. After leaving the paper, she worked as a freelance writer specializing in issues of diversity in food, particularly about the AAPI diaspora. She mentored historically excluded youth interested in journalism for five years, and in 2019 and 2020, designed and ran Amplify, a summer internship for high school journalists from historically excluded communities in partnership with Metro and Pamplin Media.

When she’s not writing, you can find Samantha baking or cooking intricate meals, hiking or kayaking (oftentimes both) across the West, or heading out on a camping adventure in her home-built camper.

Samantha lives in Portland with her partner, and more plants, kitchen equipment and house projects than she should; she started at Seeding Justice in 2021.

Wendy has spent much of her working life in the conservation realm protecting sea turtles on the North Carolina coast. Though gratifying, she was ready for a new adventure after 12 years in the field. In 2013, she and her wife embarked on a cross-country drive from the rural South to Portland. After some much needed time off, she started volunteering with local nonprofits, learning that her strengths were in playing a supportive role. Wendy has since worked at a veterinary surgical center and for an engineering firm.

Wendy now volunteers as a data squad leader for UU the Vote, a national voter engagement initiative, and is on the ground floor of the organization’s expansion into mobilizing faith communities to fight for climate justice, LGBTQ+ rights, gender justice, and decriminalization. She’s excited to bring her organizational skills, love of spreadsheets, and desire to disrupt to Seeding Justice.

She lives with her wife and their very fluffy and social cat Alice, and enjoys smelling the forest, admiring mountains, soaking in pools of water, and eating all the food.

Wendy joined Seeding Justice in August 2021.

Se-ah-dom (Shoshone-Bannock, Nez Perce and Yakama) brings deep experience in community organizing for racial and social justice work across the nation. Prior to joining Seeding Justice, Se-ah-dom served as the Sovereignty Program Director at Western States Center where she was the coalition convener of Tribal History: Shared History (Senate Bill 13, 2017) in Oregon, which established and funded the teaching of Indian History and Sovereignty in K – 12 schools across the state. Se-ah-dom is also the co-editor of the Tribal Equity Toolkit 3.0: Tribal Resolutions and Codes for Two Spirit and LGBT Justice in Indian Country and American Indian Identity: Citizenship, Membership & Blood. A hallmark of her career has been fostering relationships and collaborations between tribes and organizations doing social, racial, environmental, and economic justice work across the region. She is an ALF Senior Fellow and a member of the Steering Committee of Oregon Recovers and the chair of the board of Oregon Consumer Justice.

Se-ah-dom’s ancestors are from Celilo, a fishing village along the Columbia River and one of the oldest known settlements in the West. She lives in Gresham with her husband James and their children Siale, Imasees and Miyosiwin, as well as her parents, Ed and Carol Edmo.

Se-ah-dom joined Seeding Justice in December 2018.

Sandee is a financial professional passionate about dedicating her skills and knowledge to the nonprofit world. Sandee grew up in mainland China and joined KPMG, a “Big Four” accounting firm, as a financial auditor after finishing her master’s degree. Though she loved auditing, she found she wanted to do more to help those in need. Sandee came to the U.S. in 2012 and received her master’s degree in public policy at the University of Kentucky while working on the finance team at Save the Children Foundation. She later took over as Director of Finance and Operations for the International Center at the University of Kentucky from 2015-2021. As a queer, Chinese, and first-generation immigrant, Sandee finds Seeding Justice as her happy start in Portland where she can put her love of Excel and data analytics together while working for a just and joyful world.

Kentucky life has heavily influenced Sandee’s life —she likes woodworking, carpentry, BBQ, eating fried chicken, and drinking bourbon with bourbon chocolate, to name a few. She also enjoys taking walks with her partner, learning guitar, drawing silly cartoon characters, reading art and architecture history, learning foreign languages, and talking to her cat.

Sandee joined Seeding Justice in July 2021.

Jody Marshall spent time in Michigan, Ohio, Idaho and Florida before arriving in the Pacific Northwest after college. Struck by the area’s natural beauty, she decided to make Portland her home in 2003.

After stints in the advertising and retail industries, Jody found her way to philanthropy. At Meyer Memorial Trust while working on the program team, she focused on the Housing and Building Community portfolios and gained deep knowledge and understanding of grantmaking policy and practice. She also supported Meyer’s Justice Oregon initiative and served as the director of grantmaking liaison through the organization’s strategic redesign. 

Jody serves on a number of national planning committee workgroups at PEAK Grantmaking and in an advisory capacity for the Portland Business Development Group (PBDG).

In her free time, Jody enjoys cuddling with her two kitties, Safari and Huarache, laughing with her partner, Aaron, and traveling with friends.

Jody joined Seeding Justice in January 2023.

A passionate advocate for social justice and a proud immigrant from Paraguay, Violeta has more than 15 years of experience improving access to opportunities, services and programs for excluded communities. Before joining Seeding Justice, Violeta worked in various fields including private philanthropy, labor and immigrant rights, community economic development, financial education, and state government.

Outside of work, she is a member of the Metro Parks & Nature Equity Advisory Committee. 

Violeta lives in Portland with her partner and their cat, Lola. She loves growing food in her community garden plot, feeding birds and squirrels in her backyard, and traveling around the world to spend time with loved ones.

She joined the crew in February 2019.

Ramón Valdez grew up in Los Angeles in a mixed-status family from Mexico and El Salvador. He is an advocate, communicator, and full-stack developer who is passionate about community self-determination, storytelling, and closing the digital divide. 

Prior to joining Seeding Justice, Ramón worked as Director of Strategic Initiatives at Innovation Law Lab and as a freelancer on a range of nonprofit and business needs; including project management, front-end software development, and strategic communications. 

Through his work as an immigrant rights advocate, Ramón helped to design, launch, and manage some of the largest and most forward-thinking humanitarian, pro bono legal representation, and disaster relief initiatives along the US-Mexico border, in the Midwest, and Pacific Northwest. 

Outside of work, you can find Ramón listening to and creating music, watching documentaries, and spending time with his wife, dog, and two cats. He is also proud to serve as a board member of Pueblo Unido PDX and the ACLU of Oregon. Ramón started at Seeding Justice in 2022.

Ryan is a neurodiverse, cisgender, gay white dude; people enthusiast; and recovering colonialist from Boise, Idaho (of all places).

The nonprofit sector has always been an important part of Ryan’s life. After taking a break to finish a degree in piano performance in 2014 – still an active sidenote passion – Ryan entertained the thought of a career in academia before plunging headfirst into nonprofit development. This, among other factors like a global pandemic, led to the opportunity for him to join the staff at Seeding Justice. Ryan is excited to pivot his career, moving from local, youth-focused organizations to supporting justice movements across Oregon.

When not at work, Ryan can be found people watching, writing, reading nonfiction, spending time with friends and family, listening to niche early-20th Century art music, and playing DOS video games. Pray for his most recent endeavor to learn Spanish.

Ryan joined Seeding Justice in 2022.

As a bilingual, bisexual, Jewish, Latina daughter of an immigrant, Dena Zaldúa’s passion for social justice is very personal and the driving force behind her 20-year career working in philanthropy and with non-profits and educational institutions. Before joining Seeding Justice, Dena was the Operations Manager for the Center for the Study of Women in Society at the University of Oregon, Development Director at Parenting Now and the Associate Director of Development at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Dena also works as a consultant to help individuals, groups, and organizations check their race, class, gender, and other privileges and learn how to truly walk the talk of equity and justice. Dena is a member of Hispanics in Philanthropy and the Williams College Latinx, and Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Alumni Associations.

Dena is a certified 21/64 advisor and lives in Eugene.

She started at Seeding Justice in March 2019.