Meet Unleash!
Jen Knox
Managing Director
Jen is an award-winning writer and teacher, a meditation instructor, and the founder of Unleash Creatives.
Her books include WE ARRIVE UNINVITED (Steel Toe Books Award Winner: March 2023), After the Gazebo (Rain Mountain Press), Resolutions: A Family in Stories (Aux Media, audio link to the left), and The Glass City (Hollywood Books International, Prize Americana winner), which will be rereleased in 2023, and Dandelion Ghosts. She earned her bachelor's from Otterbein and her MFA from Bennington College.
Check out Jen's writing and author site here.
She coaches writers 1:1 on a limited basis and is dedicated to championing new literary voices.
Chris Shanahan
Artistic Director
Chris Shanahan is an economist and artist who specializes in portraits, murals, infographics, data visualization, multimedia painting, typography (or *legal* graffiti), acrylic, oil, and illustrations for children's books as well as book cover design.
Chris's customized portraits range from amusing to realistic. He is also an Excel wizard.
See Chris's artwork here. Connect with him about business graphics or custom illustrations here.
Sascha Ealey
Social Media Chair
Sascha Ealey was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where she still resides with her two children. She wanted to become a writer ever since the age of seven.
She obtained a bachelor’s degree in English at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn Heights. One of her dreams was to use her life experiences to help young women feel understood in a world where society wants them to sweep things under the rug. Sascha wants to challenge and encourage women to step into their truths despite the opinions of others. It is her hope that young girls and women break those generational curses that were left by their ancestors.
Ashley Holloway
Editorial Director
Residing in Mohkinstsis, Ashley Holloway teaches healthcare leadership in Calgary, AB. She is a nurse with a Master of Public Health, a graduate diploma in Global Leadership, with further studies in intercultural communication and international development. Ashley’s work has appeared in the Calgary Public Library Short Story Dispenser, The Nashwaak Review, The Globe and Mail, Magna Publications, The Prairie Journal, CARE Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, Canadian Dimensions, with regular contributions to Lead Read Today; forthcoming publications include Flash Fiction Magazine (TBD), and WELL READ Magazine (March 2023). Ashley reads manuscripts, writes book reviews, and provides editorial feedback for Unleash Press. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Richard McPherson
Special Projects Chair (and author)
Richard C. McPherson's short stories have been called "beautifully honest," appearing in Black Fox Literary Magazine, Unleash Press, and The Write Launch. “Man Wanted in Cheyenne,” his short story, received an award in Living Springs Publishing's international short fiction contest and appeared in their 2017 anthology, Stories Through the Ages. The rich backstory of Its iconic protagonist, Jake, is now the subject of a new novel, Man Wanted in Cheyenne, available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Unleash Creatives. After the publication of his book, Richard was invited to be a part of the Unleash board and graciously agreed.
Prior to his writing career, Dick advised leading nonprofits on messaging and digital strategy, including NPR and PBS stations, the New York Public Library, and women's rights organizations in the US, Europe, and Hong Kong. He advised Stand for Rights, a pioneering live stream fundraiser for the ACLU, produced by Tina Fey and hosted by Tom Hanks, and which earned Facebook its first Emmy nomination.
Carol Fischbach
Publications Co-Chair
Carol Fischbach is a writer with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, a retired RN, Reiki master, and a student archetype with several other degrees, but her favorite classroom is everyday life and listening to and reading others’ stories. Writing is the portal through which she enters her life, seeks insight, reframes it, forgives it. Her essay Butterflies, Berries, and Beef won 2nd place in the WBNA 2020 Creative Nonfiction Contest. She has been published in Khora, Propeller, Nailed Magazine, Oregon East, Tide Pools, and the Port Townsend Leader. She has written and performed several monologues with Beth Dunnington Bornstein’s Performing the Story groups. She has also performed at ROAR, a platform for fierce feminine storytelling. She is currently working on a memoir.
Felix Ramos
Reader
Meet Felix. He has his Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing from Stockton University. His writing is full of magic, fantasy, and passion. He enjoys writing young adult, magical realism, sci-fi, and fantasy fiction. When he is not writing he is finding new hobbies to keep his creative mind running. These days those hobbies are collecting gemstones, meditating, herbology, and learning to draw. His adaptability and curiosity is found in the various genres he reads and also writes about. His most recent story, "Monsters aren’t Real," can be found in Stockton’s journal, Stockpot 2022.
Tiffany Sciacca
Reader, Editor
Tiffany Sciacca was born in a small town, fled her small town, and is back again. She is a poet new to the Flash Fiction genre, whose work has appeared in SmokeLong Quarterly, MER, Pidgeonholes, and Blink-Ink. When not writing, she watches horror movies and haunts thrift stores.
Check out her site here.
Christina Valentine Larsen
Publications Co-Chair
Christina Valentine Larsen lives in Vancouver WA. Tina loves to be in nature walking and hugging trees, spending time with family and friends and reading. She is a teacher, retired nurse, Reiki master and author. Her first book My Own Darling: A Love Story for the Ages from the Greatest Generation was published in 2017. She is currently working on a memoir An Uneven Life: Grief and Other Shenanigans.
Check out her site here.