Meet the Collective
Krystal Afo
Art & Graphic Design
Krystal is an artist and graphic design extraordinaire. A child at heart, Krystal resides in the South Bay of Los Angeles with her family and pets. When she's not drawing, Krystal can be found making jewelry, working with crystals, playing video games, and reading mythology. She is currently rediscovering and falling in love with the stories of her Samoan ancestors.
Lauren Henry
Films & ASL
Lauren Henry is from Torrance, Ca but has recently relocated to Dallas, Tx. She’s worked both in the daycare and elementary school setting as well as working as a Sign Language Interpreter. In her free time, Lauren likes to travel around the US and the world. She’s been to 13 states and 17 countries. After all the cultures she’s engaged with, including Deaf Culture, she’s gained very valuable lessons that have knocked away stereotypes, misconceptions, and assumptions. She believes that this is the best way to learn about people, through first hand experience. This, along with being an African American female living in the United States, has taught Lauren the importance of getting to know people personally versus staying away and living in prejudice. Lauren is committed to helping people build empathy by breaking down these barriers.
Akila Garcia
Marketing Director
Akila holds a Bachelor's degree in sociology and a Master's of Education in applied behavior analysis. She is passionate about politics, social justice, minority voices, and feminism. Akila currently lives in Long Beach, California, and in non-COVID times, loves visiting Disneyland and traveling around the US and the world.
Chelsie Brokenshire
Treasurer
Chelsie is an archaeologist with the Bureau of Land Management in the state of Nevada. She holds a BA in Anthropology, with emphasis in history and archaeology, and an MA in Cultural Resources Management. Chelsie is passionate about continued learning, and providing opportunities for the public to become engaged with their histories and public lands. She spends much of her free time exploring the outdoors with her dog Duncan.
Hannah Irish
Secretary
Hannah Irish, a PhD student in the Mythological Studies program at Pacifica Graduate Institute, holds a BA in both English literature and theater, and an MA in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology. She is an editor of the PGI student-run Mythological Studies Academic Journal, and a freelance editor.
She is passionate about storytelling, feminism, social justice, interfaith spirituality, and re-mythologizing Christianity to better serve the twenty-first-century American Psyche. A Pacific Northwesterner born and raised, she loves hiking, strong coffee, the Oregon coast, and Oregon and Washington wines. In her downtime, she can be found reading, attending plays and concerts, sharing good food and stories with friends and family, and traveling whenever possible.
Katie Webb
Legal Counsel
Katie was admitted to the California State Bar in 2013, and the North Carolina State Bar in 2015. She graduated cum laude from California State University, Long Beach, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, Consumer and Public Affairs, and received academic and pro bono honors in Law School. When she is not hard at work, you can find Katie hiking with her dogs, or taking cross-country road trips. While originally from Southern California, Katie currently resides in Denver, Colorado.
Kristin Jøsvoll
Director
Kristin Jøsvoll is an Instructional Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University at Galveston teaching in museum studies, maritime studies, and folklore. After completing her masters at Johns Hopkins University in Museum Studies, she worked in several museums, including serving for several years as the Director of Operations and Collections Manager at the Houston Maritime Museum.
She has been with TAMUG for five years developing and teaching the courses for their Museum Studies minor, and working with other professors in the Department to build the archaeology and conservation labs. Museums have always interested her in their ability to educate and present information to the public through the exhibition of artifacts and other objects of importance. When someone walks into a museum, they’re exposed to tangible links to cultures, histories, and truths. This material culture provides the connections we seek that influence and potentially create our own identities – from who we are uniquely to who we are as a whole.
Being able to bring international culture, science, and history to the world is a great passion of hers. Kristin is a proud museum person that is intrigued by the unknown. She collects places travelled (cities, states, countries, and continents), and thoroughly enjoys experiencing other cultures and appreciating world heritage.
Deborah Maroulis
Director
Born and raised in a small town in Northern California, Deborah Maroulis is lucky enough to surround herself with the things and people she loves. She teaches English and mythology at her local community college, has a Ph.D. in myth and depth psychology, and writes contemporary Young Adult novels. She lives in a slightly bigger town than the one she grew up in with her husband, newly-adult children, and her daughter’s very spoiled, semi-retired service dog.
Randall Ulyate
Founder & President
Randall Victoria Ulyate is a life-long community activist and volunteer. At 25 she was the recipient of the official White House Lifetime Volunteer Service Award, for volunteers serving over 4,000 hours of volunteer service. Randall holds a PhD in Mythological Studies with an emphasis in Depth Psychology. Her dissertation entitled Image Over Impact: The Mythology of Voluntourism, a critique of the modern U.S. voluntourism industry, is available for free on ProQuest.
With an academic background combining degrees in archaeology, anthropology, literature, and religious studies, she is passionate about looking at the common threads woven throughout the mythology of different cultures and how that informs modern-day culture and politics. This passion has inspired Randall to travel across all seven continents and share these experiences with her students in community colleges around San Diego, CA.
Randall is committed to building community and sharing the joy of ethically-responsible cultural experiences with others, and this desire led her to found Fernweh Collective.