Our Team

Angie Mason-Smith serves as Program Director for Career Pathways at Washington STEM where she designs and implements innovative and scalable programs to advance STEM education in Washington state. Her work focuses on excellent, equitable, and engaging K-12 STEM learning, STEM career and college pathways, and STEM literacy.

Prior to joining Washington STEM, Angie served as the Core Plus Project Coordinator for Washington’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) where she led the development of career pathways for Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace, Construction, and Maritime programs, connecting education outcomes to industry workforce needs and creating well-lit paths for students to pursue living-wage careers. Prior to her time at OSPI, she was the Executive Director of the Central Oregon STEM Hub.

Angie had an untraditional path to her career in education, first working 15 years in college athletics. She values her time in college athletics, where she supported a diverse population of at-risk student athletes as a learning specialist. Those experiences serve as a constant reminder of the need to prioritize more access, opportunities, and inclusion for students furthest from educational justice.

Angie completed her BS in Business Administration at Oregon State University and her MEd at the University of Washington. She is proudly raising an inquisitive and active six-year-old son and is excited to be in the Seattle/Metro area to be closer to her siblings and extended family. When she’s not working to promote equity in STEM education, she spends her time with her family at Mason Lake, where her parents built a beautiful retirement home.

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Carrie Streepy is the Executive Assistant and Office Manager at Washington STEM. Prior to joining Washington STEM, Carrie worked in higher education and community based non-profit sectors in both Eastern and Western Washington. Starting her career at Whitworth University, she worked in Admissions and Student Life, which defined her professional trajectory and passion for educational equity. At Whitworth, she helped launch and support the Act Six program, a nationally recognized cohort-based college success and leadership development program for emerging leaders from the Tacoma area. Upon moving to Pierce County, she joined Degrees of Change as the second employee of a growing community based non-profit where she served as the Executive Assistant for over a decade.

Carrie holds a M.A. in Educational Leadership and a B.A. in Psychology from Whitworth University.

Elisa Aguayo Muñoz serves as Senior Program Officer of High School to Postsecondary where she leads strategic initiatives focused on creating equitable pathways from high school to postsecondary education and career opportunities for historically underrepresented students.

With over a decade of experience in education leadership, Elisa has been at the forefront of developing innovative programs that address systemic barriers, particularly for students of color and low-income students. Before joining Washington STEM, Elisa served as the College & Career Readiness Manager for Kent School District, where she spearheaded district-wide initiatives to enhance postsecondary opportunities. She is known for her collaborative approach, bringing together educators and community organizations to create impactful, data-driven solutions.

Elisa holds a BA in Early Childhood and Family Studies from the University of Washington. She enjoys spending time cozied up on the couch with a cup of coffee, taking long walks, and spending time with her family.

Isabelle Haines is the Communications Specialist at Washington STEM. Before joining the team, she studied math and English at Tulane University, where she cultivated a passion for STEM writing and education. This passion drove her to intern with NASA’s Artemis communications team and serve as an organizer for Math For All, a New Orleans-based math conference focusing on research, education, and activism.

In her free time, Isabelle loves to read (feel free to give her book recommendations), write, hike, swim, rollerblade, and bake pies.

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Joanne Walby is Washington STEM’s Communications Manager, managing external
communications to enhance the organizational reach and showcase our statewide network
partners’ impact.

Joanne grew up in Pierce County surrounded by children: many sisters and a passel of
neighborhood kids who attended her mother’s Montessori school. During high school, Joanne
worked evenings as the janitor in her mom’s school to save money for a school trip to Spain.
This educational exchange program sparked a love of languages and discovering new places.

After getting a degree in Russian Studies from the University of Washington, she taught English at a Russian orphanage and later worked in Washington, DC for three years supporting legal reform projects in the former Soviet Union. She went on to earn a master’s degree from the American University in Cairo in Egypt where she conducted an ethnographic study of female Russian migrants into Egypt. She continued this love of writing and research as a staff writer for a business magazine in Cairo during the Arab Spring, and upon returning to the Northwest, she served as communications officer for the Refugee Women’s Alliance. When she’s not writing, she loves long walks in the city (or mountains when she gets a chance), playing with nieces and nephews, and trying anything new.

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Josh Apata serves as the Policy Manager for Washington STEM, where he collaborates with both internal and external partners to help generate legislative priorities, track bills, monitor public hearings at the legislative and executive branch, and provide information about early learning, K-12, and career pathways implementation efforts to Washington STEM’s statewide partners.

Prior to joining Washington STEM, Josh served as the Legislative Assistant to State Representative Strom Peterson, where he supported the daily operations of the office, tracked policy and state budgets, and created countless relationships in Olympia and across the state. Josh brings a deep understanding of the legislative process and an eye for diversity, equity, and inclusion to help close education and opportunity gaps for Washington students.

Josh grew up in Pierce County where he attended the University of Washington Tacoma and received a BA in American Studies. In his free time, Josh enjoys cooking, traveling, and cycling.  

Katie Schott serves as Program Officer for K-12/Career Pathways at Washington STEM.

Prior to joining Washington STEM, Katie worked at various non-profits across Washington and Colorado. Most recently she was the volunteer coordinator the Seattle Aquarium where she oversaw the development and operations of their adult volunteer engagement team. While at the Aquarium, Katie stewarded a group of around 500 volunteers annually who donated their time to help inspire marine conservation.

Growing up in Colorado, Katie developed a love for nature and protecting wild spaces which inspired her to pursue a BS in Biology from Colorado State University. After graduating, she stayed at CSU and completed a M.Ed. with a goal of creating equitable learning environments.

In her free time, Katie enjoys getting outside exploring the incredible landscapes of the Pacific Northwest with her partner and their puppy. She can also be found letting her creative side shine in the ceramics studio and in the kitchen!

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Laura Rose is the Director of Development at Washington STEM. The daughter of public-school educators, Laura has a deep commitment to expanding opportunities for Washington’s future leaders to discover their passions and reach their potential.

Before joining Washington STEM, Laura spent more than 20 years in education fundraising, communications and management. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Communications and her Master of Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University. Committed to lifelong learning, she recently completed her Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy designation with The American College of Financial Services, and also holds her Certified Fund Raising Executive designation.

Laura is past president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals South Sound Chapter. In her personal time she enjoys going on adventures with her husband and two daughters.

Lynne K. Varner is the Chief Executive Officer for Washington STEM. She is an education leader and award-winning journalist recognized for her groundbreaking stories and commentary on race relations and public education. As a first-generation college graduate, Varner brings a life-long commitment to broadening access to education for students in Washington.

Prior to her work at Washington STEM, Lynne served in leadership roles at Washington State University, where she led initiatives to increase college enrollment and public-private partnerships in underserved communities. Her strategic conversations with education and community leaders were vital to campus expansion and student engagement efforts at the Everett campus.

Varner received a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Maryland and earned a certificate in specialized media training on education policy from Columbia University School of Journalism. She has served on several boards and is known for her leadership in media relations, public affairs, and DEI leadership strategy. In her spare time, Lynne enjoys soaking up the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

Masiel Bluher is Washington STEM’s Senior Accountant. She holds a Bachelor’s in International Business Administration with a specialization in Advanced Finance. Her career began at KPMG Panama as an Accounting Assistant, and later she moved to the American Red Cross as a Regional Finance Officer, where she gained experience in budgeting, finance reviews, grants management, and forecasting.

Masiel is passionate about working in diverse, multicultural environments. She’s bilingual in both English and Spanish.

Outside of work, Masiel an amateur runner (my goal is to run a half-marathon next year!), She loves traveling and spending time with her family.

Megan Madamba serves as the Program Coordinator at Washington STEM supporting cross-team collaboration across the Policy, Impact, and Program Teams. She also works to integrate and align program activities and projects, including data and policy efforts, to ensure coordinated support for Washington STEM’s partners.

Prior to Washington STEM, Megan worked at various non-profits revolving around sustainability and ecology. Her work within these non-profits have taken her from creating monitoring protocols for newly restored salmon estuary habitat in Hood Canal and surveying near-shore species in the San Juans to teaching over 1,000 fourth graders about salmon and getting the community jazzed about waste reduction and energy-efficiency in Whatcom County.

Growing up in two beautiful places: Maui and Western Washington, Megan has always had a love for the outdoors and nature. This inspired her to pursue a BS in Environmental Science at Western Washington University. In her spare time, Megan likes to explore the outdoors with her dog and friends, channel her competitiveness into cheering for her favorite sports teams, and cook old and new recipes to share with others.

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Min Hwangbo serves as the Impact Director at Washington STEM, leading the organization’s work around data governance, data visualization, and research-policy partnerships for strategic initiatives and systems change in early learning systems and beyond for equitable and sustainable policy provision.

Prior to joining Washington STEM, Min’s research focused on early learning research practitioner partnerships, supporting the implementation of a research-based curriculum to fidelity among state-funded Early Childhood Education and Assistance Programs, and navigating the context of early learning systems including exploration of Washington’s Quality Rating Improvement System (Early Achievers) Continuous Quality Improvement for exploring coaching patterns.

Min started his education career as a student report card entry specialist before becoming a soccer coach and student newspaper writer at Shoreline Community College. He continued to contribute various levels of early learning system from Child Care Aware of Washington, to the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), YMCA, and the University of Washington.

Min holds a PhD in Learning Sciences and Human Development with concentration in Demographic Methods and Data Driven Decision Making processes, MEd in Education Policy, and BA in Early Childhood and Family Studies from the College of Education, University of Washington.

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Rachel Tavolacci is the Impact Data Specialist at Washington STEM. Her work is focused on leading and supporting qualitative and quantitative data life cycles for the organization and providing relevant data in useful formats to support both the internal work of staff and the work of regional and state partners.

Before joining the team, Rachel lived in Charleston, SC for several years, where she earned her BA in Anthropology and worked in the food and beverage industry in addition to being a substitute teacher.

She made the move to West Seattle in 2021 and joined FareStart’s Food Security & Social Enterprise team. Through that work, she developed her passion for crafting complex data into meaningful visualizations that facilitate data-informed decision-making.

Outside of work, Rachel can be found listening to the newest Ologies podcast with her cats or strolling through Lincoln Park with her fiancée.

Raeshawna Ware is the Partnership Manager at Washington STEM. Before joining the team, she studied Civil Engineering Technology. She began her career in the Environmental Services Department at the City of Tacoma. In her role, she supported the design infrastructure of capital assets for wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste facilities. She also co-led a continuous improvement project focusing on citywide equity in internships after finding an inequitable racial demographic representation in interns’ salary funding. At the conclusion, she developed a “See, Learn, Do” model that clarified the City’s career exploration framework.

While she enjoyed working on capital delivery projects for the utility for six years, she noticed an increasing need to advocate for equitable distribution of funding, infrastructure, and opportunities. It led her to a role in the City Manager’s Office as a Senior Policy Analyst and Equity Program Consultant. Her primary tasks were facilitating citywide efforts to achieve equity and anti-racism from the Office of Equity and Human Rights.

She is versed in working with historically excluded and overlooked communities as she served as the staff liaison for the Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs (CIRA), which advocated for the rights and opportunities of all newcomers to ensure they had access to power and resources. She also facilitated the City of Tacoma’s environmental justice leaders’ workgroup of diverse frontline community members as they worked on a portion of Tacoma’s Climate Action Plan.

Concurrently, Raeshawna worked for Bates Technical College as an Aerospace Program Navigator, seeking to educate the community and prospective students on their educational opportunities through engineering technology and engineering pathways. There, she developed dual credit agreements with the Pierce County Career Connection. She created many partnerships to advance the community’s knowledge of engineering technology.

She is a Washington State Environmental Justice Council member and an Environmental Justice Emerging Leader award recipient. She is a member of the Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Pro-Equity, Anti-Racist team.

She likes reading, singing, and writing. She is a constant learner.

Ryan Beard serves as the Senior Program Officer for Career Pathways at Washington STEM, focusing on equitable access to high-quality, engaging career pathways that support both sustainable family wages and the robust STEM economy in Washington state.

Ryan brings a unique lens to the organization, with experience in both education and industry over her 25-year career. Prior to joining Washington STEM, she taught middle school science and high school welding, and in between started a small metal fabrication business and worked as a metal sculptor. All of these experiences ultimately led to her more recent work in Career and Technical Education (CTE) administration and supporting career pathways. She has served as a CTE Coordinator, CTE Instructional Specialist, and most recently as the CTE Director for the Richland School District.

Born and raised in Oregon, Ryan has a BS in Elementary Education from Western Oregon University, and an MEd in Educational Leadership from the University of Oregon. (Go Ducks!) Outside of work, Ryan enjoys reading, running, projects, and spending time skiing or backpacking in the amazing outdoors of the Pacific Northwest with her partner and two children.

Scott Dalessandro serves as Washington STEM’s Director of Strategic Partnerships, responsible for overseeing, organizing, and maximizing collaborations with regional STEM networks, state agencies, and other key partners. He joined the Programs team after spending over eight years in program and portfolio officer roles at a large, Seattle-based private family foundation. His expertise lies in supporting ambitious, multi-stakeholder efforts, but he ultimately considers himself a generalist committed to equitable, inclusive outcomes.

During the early part of his career, Scott spent time living and working in Europe, Africa, and Washington DC, in a variety of social impact areas including international labor, microfinance, public access to information, HIV prevention, family planning, and higher education. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Bangladesh, Scott taught English to middle- and high-school girls, worked with English teachers-in-training, and he achieved a third grade reading level in Bengali.

Scott’s postsecondary journey started as a first-gen student at Hope College (BA, French and Spanish). He later earned graduate degrees from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance (MPA) and the Information School (MLIS). These days, he finds joy pedaling bikes, learning about plants, and preparing and sharing dishes from around the world. He lives in Beacon Hill, Seattle with his wife and two tenacious daughters.

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Shaterra Overton is the Program Officer for Early Learning/K-12 STEM Education.

For nearly a decade, Shaterra taught math and STEM to kids in a variety of settings: in a museum; as a research facilitator; a middle school algebra teacher; and an assistant math camp director. Her passion as an educator has always been to make STEM more accessible and equitable for students of all ages. Inspired by the policy and advocacy curriculum in her master’s program, Shaterra completed a two-year early childhood policy fellowship hoping to make more widespread contributions to education. Now at Washington STEM, Shaterra is excited to use her experience and unbridled love of math to help children and families thrive.

Shaterra was born and raised in Central Texas, and her postsecondary journey led her to the faraway land of New York City, where she attended Barnard College (BA in Economics, minor in Mathematics). Shortly after moving to Seattle, she completed her Master of Nonprofit Leadership at Seattle University.

In her free time, Shaterra can be found taking long walks, adventuring on the light rail, or playing video games about friendship.

Soleil Boyd serves as Senior Program Officer for Washington STEM, supporting the organization’s Early STEM and King County strategies. She partners with key education and industry partners to support programming and policy intent on dismantling the institutional and systemic inequities that disproportionately impact families and students of color, those from low-income and rural backgrounds, and women.

Prior to Washington STEM, Soleil was Director of Professional Development and Coaching at Cultivate Learning. She directed the Certificate in Practice-Based Coaching and teaches Early Childhood and Family Studies courses at the University of Washington, where she completed her doctoral degree in education. Boyd started her early childhood education career as a preschool teacher assistant before becoming a preschool lead teacher, program supervisor, early learning coach and product developer.

Her past research addressed caregivers’ beliefs and practices related to early mathematics learning and the design of professional development that promotes reflection and practice and supports young children’s engagement in learning. Her professional work includes directing coach support in Washington state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), directing coach support for Early Achievers and implementing professional development for educators and coaches in and beyond Washington state.

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Susan Huynh serves as the Career Connect Washington Project Manager at Washington STEM. She is a first-generation college graduate from the University of Washington who has long been passionate about supporting young people in accessing and persisting in their postsecondary pathways. Her journey in education began with the UW Dream Project, where she mentored high school seniors through the transition from high school to higher education, sparking a commitment to youth development and educational access. After college, she continued to work with students at different schools and community-based organizations in South King County.

Prior to Washington STEM, Susan served as the Director of the Postsecondary Program at Summer Search Seattle. In this role, she led a dedicated team focused on helping students successfully plan and transition from high school to postsecondary education and careers. Her work has consistently aimed to ensure that young people, particularly those from underserved backgrounds, receive the guidance and support they need to thrive in their chosen pathways.

In her personal time, she enjoys building Legos, trying out new restaurants and food trends, going on adventures with friends, and relaxing with her dog and husband.

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Tricia is the Development Operations Manager for Washington STEM, helping drive fundraising efforts for the organization. She’s enthusiastic about data, research, and building and stewarding relationships so supporters can make a difference for students across the state.

Starting her career in higher education student services at Seattle University School of Law, she gravitated towards fundraising to have an impact on causes important to her. Work at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, MOHAI, and the Henry Art Gallery honed her passion for helping her community. Accessibilty and opportunities for all are close to her heart. She’s excited to help advance equity in STEM for Washington youth.

A born and raised Pacific Northwesterner, Tricia holds a MA in History from the University of Texas and a BA in History and Philosophy from Lewis & Clark College in Portland. She and her husband love going to the theater, visiting museums, and cheering on Seattle’s many sports teams.

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