![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e84caf34ce9cb4742f44445/1585851473348-7L47X1G2LNJ6B6PYITUR/bannerimagegirlsnorkeling2.jpg)
Who We Are
Our Staff + Board of Directors
Staff
Mark Bennett, Executive Director
Willamette University, B.A. Spanish; B.A. International Studies
Born in Utah, Mark was raised by the mountains with the drive to explore and learn. Starting young, he has spent years studying, working, and exploring Europe, the Caribbean, Central, and South America - building connections, asking questions, and soaking up new perspectives. Mark's work is focused on equity and inclusion, experiential education, and diverse learning opportunities - with experience supporting young adults in civic engagement, purposeful travel, and the love of learning. Mark is passionate about exploring root causes of inequities in our community, working to identify and positively impact them. Mark is currently the Executive Director for Global Works Community Fund, developing and implementing programming in Oregon and Colorado. He loves skiing, surfing, backpacking, and anything with a ball.
Emma Cisneros, Program Coordinator
Portland State University, B.A. Social Work, Masters of Social Work
Emma is a first-generation student graduating this spring from Portland State University. She received a Bachelors of Arts in Social Work, with a double minor in Criminology/Criminal justice and Civic Leadership, and expecting to receive a Masters of Social Work in spring 2020. She studied abroad in Spain in 2017, her first time abroad and was such an amazing experience. Her program was very similar to Global Works Community Fund. With this lived experience, she really hopes to use what she has learned in the mentorship program with future students who participate in the fellowship. She is extremely excited to be a part of the program and brings her perspective and dedication to help this program to keep moving forward!
Asia Wesley, Program Mentor
University of Denver, B.A. English and Spanish, Minor Leadership Studies ; University of Denver, M.A. English (2021)
Asia’s love of listening to the stories of her community was enhanced by writing and studying languages in her home of Colorado. She spent her entire life in the colorful state until 2015, when she studied abroad and traveled outside of the United States for the first time. Combined with this newfound passion for traveling and her previous experiences in helping students gain access to higher education, Asia was determined to make sure others had the opportunity to travel, too. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she taught English in Southern Spain—a year that was also spent improving her Spanish, learning Portuguese, and crossing even more countries off her list like Portugal, England, Scotland, and Morocco. In her spare time, she loves to play soccer, sing with friends, and constantly be near water in the summer.
Diana Tuz Bojorquez, Program Associate
Oregon State University, B.S Merchandising Management, Business Administration
Diana is a first-generation student graduating from Oregon State University in the Spring of 2022. Born in Yucatán, Mexico and raised in the beautiful city of roses, Diana brings her extensive knowledge of Portland resources to the program. As the Social Media Manager for the POC in Business Club at OSU, she is committed to creating a safe space for BIPOC students through educational opportunities and community healing. Social justice and the drive to close opportunity gaps between marginalized communities is deeply engraved in her roots. She is excited to work with the team and create amazing memories with the students! Diana loves to explore food trucks around the city.
Board Members
Faith E. Briggs, Board Member, Vice President
Yale University, B.A. African American Studies, Film Studies; New York University, Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, Masters of Documentary Journalism
Faith is a creative producer, environmental justice advocate and documentary filmmaker passionate about sharing contemporary stories from diverse communities. A self-described “professional nerd,” her studies at Yale University and the New York University Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute focused on representation in media and inspiring global citizenship. Faith comes to Global Works Community Fund with extensive experience working with inner-city youth as a summer camp counselor and program coordinator, residential assistant at the high school and college level, and program director of Oregon-based non-profit Soul River Inc. She credits a scholarship that afforded international service-learning experiences with changing her life and helping develop a sense of community responsibility. Previous experience includes Discovery Communications, Columbia Sportswear, and freelance marketing consulting.
Ethan Thrower, Board Member, President
Portland State University B.S. Sociology + Masters of Social Work
Ethan is a Portland, Oregon native with expertise in counseling, education, poverty, race, culture, and social justice. He has 10 years experience in various counseling roles and is currently finishing his MSW while managing Open School East’s Counseling Department. Ethan is a husband, father, mentor, and someone who genuinely believes in people’s capacity to thrive. He enjoys running, snowboarding, and spending time with friends, family, and community. Ethan loves everything Global Works Community Fund offers youth and aspires to contribute all he can to support and enhance the amazing work being done.
Chloe Barber-Smith, Board Member, Secretary
Tulane University, B.A. Sociology & International Development
Chloe was born and raised in Philadelphia, then headed down to New Orleans, where she facilitated outdoor education programs for local students. She now lives in Colorado, working as the Enrollment Director in the home office and leading trips for Global Works Travel. Sprinkled throughout those years, she has had the opportunity to travel the world, from Guatemala to South Africa to Azerbaijan. Chloe is a big fan of playing rugby, going on random adventures, and discovering the best local greasy spoons.
Kisha Jarret, Board Member, Treasurer
Kisha Jarrett is the Managing Director at Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland, Oregon. She is a creative change-maker with a background in marketing and development throughout her ten-year career in Arts Management that has helped raise over $50 million dollars for various organizations and has a cumulative earned revenue of over $5 million. A Virginia native, she has lived all over the country but now calls Portland, Oregon home. Kisha is also a writer, director, producer, actor, musician, and storyteller. She has performed for both stage and screen, been a musician at SXSW, and has been a costume designer for the stage and television, and an independent bakery owner. Through storytelling, she has performed for the Moth (2017 and 2018 GrandSLAM winner), Seven Deadly Sins, Wildfang, and Back Fence PDX where she is a co-host and story producer. Most recently, Kisha was seen onstage at Portland Center Stage @ The Armory as the Headmistress in School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play, a co-production with Artists Rep. Currently, she is working on her second feature-length screenplay, pre-production for a feature-length documentary (Black Girl in the Woods, documenting a hike-thru of the Pacific Northwest Trail) and an educational piece for the Oregon Bar Association (about the four black suffragettes in Oregon who deserve to have their stories told), post-production on the first devised DNA: Oxygen short film (See Me), and writing her first novel. Kisha is proud to be a co-founder of the DNA: Oxygen program at ART. She is in the inaugural cohort of the LORT EDI Mentor/Mentee program and serves on the LORT EDI committee. Kisha is on the Literary Arts Festival of the Book Committee and has served as an Event Producer for Oregon Media Production Association (OMPA), Children’s Book Bank, Boys and Girls Club, Artists Rep, Live Arts, MTV Woodie Awards, Invisible Children, World Monuments Fund, and School of Visual Arts. She serves on the board of directors of Global Works Community Fund.
Leana Mayzlina, Board Member, Vice President
Leana Mayzlina works at the intersection of technology and human thriving. She is a passionate advocate for digital inclusion with years of experience building community among people and organizations at the forefront of change. Born in Ukraine and raised in the US, Leana set out to bridge the gaps between continents and culture, communities and connectivity. At NTEN she leads the Digital Inclusion fellowship, guiding fellows around the country in bridging economic, educational, and social gaps through digitally inclusive initiatives. Prior to joining the NTEN team, she developed international campaigns supporting grassroots women leaders in advocating for social, political, and environmental change. In 2011, Leana moved back to the Pacific Northwest after nearly a decade working in Latin America, where she managed international cooperation programs in areas ranging from food and housing security to social entrepreneurship. Leana speaks Russian, English, Spanish, and um pouquinho de português and holds a BA in Spanish and Latin American Studies from Pitzer College, as well as an MA in International Studies from the University of Chile. Leana lives in Portland with her husband and their rescue dog, Atlas. On weekends, you can find her exploring the woods, baking bread, and sampling new brews.
Renzo Meza, Board Member
Renzo enjoys championing social justice and uplifting people from all walks of life. After relocating to Portland from the east coast in 2015, Renzo joined Latino Network, where he launched programs and built strategic partnerships to empower communities of color in Oregon. Now, Renzo drives economic empowerment as part of the Oregon Treasury.
Renzo loves the way Global Works Community Fund creates opportunities for diverse youth to expand their horizons and deepen their leadership. He hopes to push Global Works Community Fund’s important work forward.
Zoe Piliafas, Board Member Emeritus
Zoe spent 7 years as a public school teacher. She has lead the charge of an alternative experiential education model and was able to achieve a 98% passing rate with her youth on the state mandated tests in North Carolina. She moved to Portland to be the Middle School Program Director for High school Graduation Initiative through Camp Fire Columbia. She directed a nine-school grant aimed at increasing graduation rates. Collaboratively, she designed after school programming that was culturally responsive, interactive and designed to build skills and higher order thinking.
She later went on to work as the Director of an international storytelling program at World Pulse. She taught women on a digital platform from 31 different countries how to share stories in her program. She has ample experience in designing online learning modules, recruiting, motivating and retaining mediamakers on a global scale. She has curated large scale art projects and storytelling events that prioritize the voices of LGBT folks and women of color. With her vast knowledge and experience, she is a great component to the Global Works Community Fund Board.
Polly Moriarty, Founder & Board Member Emeritus
University of Colorado, M.A. Spanish and Education + Ohio Wesley University, B.A. Spanish and Psychology
Since 1998, Polly has worked with Global Works Travel, first facilitating service-learning in the field and now running the home office. While teaching Spanish at the Westminster School (CT) and Summit Middle School (CO), she spent her summers leading Global Works trips in Costa Rica and Ecuador. In 2000, she started SOL Tours with Fritz and in 2011 founded Global Works Community Fund. Polly enjoys teaching yoga, hiking, and tele-skiing in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, Fritz, and their daughters, Ellie and Hanna.
OUR STORY
Global Works Community Fund (GWCF) was founded and developed by big-hearted humans who believe deeply in the transformative power of service-based travel and know that mentoring can take an opportunity to the next level of impact.
Founded by Polly Moriarty in 2011, with Mark Bennett at the helm since 2015, the roots of GWCF begin even earlier.
When Executive Director, Mark Bennett, first participated in education-based travel he was only 16 years old. He spent a summer with a family in rural Costa Rica - deeply immersed in the culture and absorbing everything he could. He fell in love with Spanish and the lifechanging experience of seeing yourself and reimagining your possibilities in a new context. Dedicated to immersion and collaboration, this experience set a foundation to explore other international educational experiences, shaping his worldview, and eventually bringing it back home. Years later, Mark was living in South America and working with youth during the summer before moving to Portland, Oregon to continue his work with youth and families in the social work sector.
Global Works Community Fund is an accelerated opportunity for leadership development from promising young adults who most need the boost of self confidence that comes from the challenge to thrive. The goal is to expand opportunities and individual horizon lines through local community engagement, a network fo strong mentors, and service-based travel programs that are financially inaccessible otherwise.
In order to meet this objective, GWCF provides scholarships to cover the financial obligation so high school students have the opportunity to participate in international and local travel programs focused on sustainable service while discovering their own strengths and making personal connections. Plucking youth from their environment and throwing them into the field, however, isn’t doing enough. GWCF has a three month mentoring component to prepare students to know how to show up in a new community with humility, ready to listen, and prepared to thrive. Upon return home, we partner with local organizations to continue to develop young leaders in the areas of Unity Through Arts, Community Health, and Our Naturehood.
Through targeted funding and targeted action, GWCF partners with reputable youth-serving organizations to find ideal candidates for our Student Fellowship, learning tools for effective communication, goal management, and emotional literacy so they can thrive out of their comfort zone - at home or abroad.
GWCF is a 501(c)3 organization. (45-4012981)