Miguel Galdo Espinoza, Community Relations Director. Miguel was born and raised in Ollantaytambo and still lives here with his wife, Zenayda, and their son. He speaks perfect Quechua and has worked with indigenous communities for six years. Miguel and Zenayda own a bustling pizzeria in town and every year Miguel stars in the Drama Ollantay, a play put on in the Ollantaytambo ruins, which re-enacts the story of the Inca general Ollantay for whom the town was named. Miguel is the star and comic relief of the show.
Emma Hague, Executive Director of the Awamaki Weaving Project. Emma first came to Ollantaytambo to work as a weaving project volunteer for CATCCO in 2008. With a background in anthropology, human rights and fair trade, as well as a passion for natural fibers and traditional textiles, she was easily persuaded to return and manage the project when it was started anew as Awamaki. Inspired by the rise in sustainable fashion and ethical consumerism, Emma aims to introduce Awamaki weavings to a wider international market by facilitating collaborative projects with retailers, designers and other non-profits working to support traditional artisans. As a result of this proposed expansion, Emma will be working in 2010/11 to extend the reach of Awamaki's programs to more isolated and rural communities.
Emma studied at University College London, has worked for the Fairtrade Foundation, GoodWeave and Refugee Action in London, a horseback mountain guide in Argentina, an ethnobotany intern in Hawaii's Lyon Arboretum and hopes one day to set up an Awamaki partner project in Patagonia. Fluent in Spanish and making an attempt to study Quechua, she has spent much time living and traveling in Latin America, feels an affinity for the continent and its people and can’t imagine living anywhere else.
Kaitlyn Bohlin, Programs Director. Kaitlyn joined Awamaki in August of 2010, after catching wind of all the excitement in bustling little Ollantaytambo. Before packing her bags and heading south, she earned her B.A. in English and Spanish at Calvin College, floated around the nonprofit world of Chicago, and rapelled down canyons as a backcountry ranger in Zion National Park. A knitter, quilter, hiker, and amateur adventurer, she first became interested in Awamaki because of its breadth of programs that just so happen to match all of her major interests and hobbies. Having spent three summers working in U.S. national parks, she is all too familiar with the need for sustainable alternatives to today’s tourism practices. As the Program Director, she looks forward to finding new ways to improve those systems as well as being the friendly face that connects Awamaki’s volunteers to exciting and meaningful opportunities in the Sacred Valley.
Jessica Younker, Weaving Project Coordinator. Over the last 8 years, Jessica has worked with a number of non-profits for social change. While earning an anthropology degree from the University of Chicago, she tutored at-risk youth on the southside of the city and interned at the Field Museum's Center for Cultural Understanding and Change. After graduating, she completed an urban education fellowship at MATCH high school in Boston and then headed west to promote science education in northern California. She taught English to unemployed German adults before finally coming back to Peru, where she had previously volunteered at a center for street children in Cajamarca. She came to Awamaki because of her affection for Peru, her interest in textile culture, and her desire to work in sustainable development. Jessica assists Emma in running the weaving project. She manages Awamaki's fair trade store and is working to raise funds for Awamaki's plan to expand its model of economic sustainability into more isolated communities in the Sacred Valley.
Annie Millican, Director of Awamaki Lab. Annie joined Awamaki in the fall of 2009 to explore product development opportunities that could benefit the Patacancha weaving association and create more jobs locally for women in Ollantaytambo. To this end, she launched Awamaki Lab, a unique designer residency that fosters cross-cultural collaboration between young fashion designers and Awamaki’s weaving association. With a keen interest in the material culture of textile art and a growing appreciation of papas, cuy, and huayno music, Annie is happy to call Ollantaytambo home. She looks forward to continuing her work here in the coming years.
Annie has previously worked in the sustainable fashion sector in New York City as a sourcing and production associate at Bodkin, a PR and social media troubleshooter at DMDinsight, a textile researcher at Earth Pledge, and a blogger for Hand/Eye Magazine. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Development Studies and Art History from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Keri Baker, Health Coordinator. Keri "the Rockstar" Baker hails originally from Seattle, Washington, but has spent the greater majority of the last 7 years abroad. Keri started working with Awamaki in January of 2010 as a health volunteer and along with two other superstars established Awamaki Health. She returned to Ollantaytambo in May this year as the coordinator of two nursing service trips with the intention of staying 6 weeks however now finds herself staying here indefinitely. She has an eclectic educational background of Biology, Human Osteology, MSc in Forensics, and a BSN. When she is not pursuing random degrees she is playing sports. She is an avid runner, Muay Thai Boxer, hiker, and cyclist. Additionally she loves to travel and live abroad and is hoping to save the world one day...poco a poco.
Emily Cool Greener, Education Coordinator. Emily joined Awamaki's staff as Education Coordinator in
November, 2011. Emily earned a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Wheaton College, along with minors in Gender Studies and International Community Development. After working extensively in low-income schools in Chicago, organizing a large international conference focused on global advocacy for at-risk children, and completing a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Emily and her husband ventured to Ollantaytambo. As an educator and a social scientist, Emily is passionate about sustainable, holistic instructional strategies, and works to ensure that Awamaki's educational programs continue to address the needs and aspirations of the greater Ollantaytambo community. Hailing from the vast flatlands of the United States' Midwest, Emily is also currently fulfilling a lifelong aspiration of gazing at mountains, hiking magnificent trails, and traveling the world with her husband.
Kiri Bird, Tours Coordinator. Kiri obtained an undergraduate bachholoarate in communications and cultural studies from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, with minors in political science and Spanish. She completed a semester of Latin-American focused study in la Universidad Catolica de Argentina in Buenos Aires in 2010, and continued to travel in South America for ten months, until arriving in Ollantaytambo. Kiri has worked in tourism programming for just over a year now and enjoys cultivating interest in grassroots tourism projects that offer a meaningful experience to travelers. Kiri Bird's research areas of interest include social and environmental impact analysis and natural and cultural resource management. In Peru, Kiri has taken an interest in traditional hand-dye techniques, working with master dyer and weaver, Daniel Soncco, to disseminate the sustainable cultivation and use of Andean native dye plants amongst communities and promote traditional hand-dye knowledge through weaving education tourism efforts.
Kennedy Leavens, Executive Director. Kennedy moved to Ollantaytambo in 2007 to work as a volunteer with Awamaki’s predecessor project. When the administration of the project collapsed, Kennedy and her local colleague from the project founded Awamaki. Kennedy graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 2006, where she studied Latin America and international development. Originally from Seattle, Washington, she first visited Ollantaytambo in 2001 as a high school student on a school trip. The trip inspired her interest in Latin America and international development, and set her path to Georgetown and back to Ollantaytambo. Kennedy loves the pace and quality of life in Ollantaytambo. She likes bringing her dog everywhere, never being in a car, living in a renovated Inca temple and not being able to walk to the store without running into a dozen good friends. Kennedy spends her free time hiking the mountains that rise above town, running along the river and cooking favorite foods from home. She hopes to divide her future years between Ollantaytambo and the Pacific Northwest. Currently, she's trying out the Pacific Northwest thing, living in Seattle, spending some quality time with Mom and Dad, and studying for a Masters in Public Administration at the University of Washington.