Board of Directors

Redbud Writers Guild is a registered 501(c)3 with tax exempt status and is run completely by volunteers. 

Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young

President & Chair of Retreat/Events Committee

Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young is an author, speaker, former news reporter, podcaster, and long-time runner. Dorina is passionate about helping people discover God’s glory on life’s unexpected paths. She writes from her multi-ethnic experience about culture, faith, grief, food, and running.

Dorina is a storyteller for DaySpring’s (in)courage writing team and has contributed to multiple books with them. She also writes for Proverbs 31 ministries devotional team. Dorina and her husband Shawn published Walk Run Soar, a devotional and training journal (Bethany House/Baker). She has also published three children’s books, including her most recvent, Chasing God’s Glory and Kailani’s Gift (Waterbrook/Multnomah), four Bible studies including, Create in Me a Heart of Mercy (Revell) and Redeemer (Intervarsity Press), and a volume of poetry. Dorina and Shawn are raising three brave daughters in Central California. They love to eat, pray, and travel together. Connect with her on Instagram @DorinaGilmore and at www.DorinaGilmore.com.

Carolyn Miller

Vice President & Retreat Committee

Carolyn Miller is a yellow glasses, yellow shoes wearing scribbler. She’s been reading since she was four and writing since she was 6. Her passion is hidden in her curiosity and her unconventional dialogue; be that in person, or on paper. She’s been a freelance writer, and an editor for others’ work, since her freshman year of college. She has been in ministry since she was 13, working in the nursery, as a youth leader, church librarian, missions teacher, and board member.

Carolyn’s heart is that people would look below the surface of their sight and feelings to find and invite God where we least expect or desire Him. She believes writing holds a special ability to dialogue with people even beyond the reach of human connection. And that the Master Storyteller has given us this gift of Word to bring the Kingdom to life within us so that we can walk it out, encouraged in heart and united in love.

Carolyn lives in the Bay Area in California. She also serves as the assistant editor for The Redbud Post, the guild’s online magazine. You can peruse her writing at swallowtalk.wordpress.com

Michelle Stiffler

Treasurer & Finance Chair

Michelle is an experienced nonprofit professional, grant writer, Certified Trauma Specialist, and leader and trainer within Arizona’s Trauma Informed Faith Coalition.

A former teen mom, she is now a married mother of four, plus two sons-in-law, and a proud Mimi. She’s a bread baker, sunrise chaser, and Barre Instructor, and she’s currently studying for her personal training certification.

Her work has been published with Fathom, (in)courage, Guideposts, and others, as well as the Women’s Devotional Bible in The Message (2024). Michelle writes about adversity, responsive faith, and trusting Jesus more at www.onemoretruth.com.

Paola Barrera

Secretary & Membership Chair

Paola Barrera was born in Spanish, lives in French, and thinks in English. She’s a writer, speaker, and mentor. Language, culture, and belonging have been ever-present gifts to steward and challenges to navigate.

She loves words and uses them as arrows to point to the best words she knows–those left by our Maker and found in Scripture. Because the narratives we feed our minds matter, Paola aims to engage the mind to learn to think biblically about all of life. Not just the “spiritual” parts.

Canadian through the gift of immigration, she calls Montreal home. Connect with her at https://paolabarrera.com/.

Carla Gasser

Communications Director, Board Member

Carla is a speaker, teacher, blogger, and author. She loves to speak and write about the messy, ordinary, and unexpected ways her life and her faith intersect. As recovering control freak, she helps spiritually seeking women clear soul clutter by inviting God’s Spirit to transform them from the inside out.

She loves a cup of strong black coffee, reading late into the night, and singing & dancing in the car! She is the proud mother of four young adults (& a daughter-in-love) and lives near Cleveland, Ohio, with her husband, Michael, of over 32 years. As recent empty nesters, they are learning to embrace a new season of life together!

Diana Gruver

Community Life Director, Board Member

Diana Gruver writes about discipleship and spiritual formation in the everyday. She previously worked as a writer and communications director for Vere Institute, and her work has been featured in Outreach Magazine, Missio Alliance, and Core Christianity. She is the author of Companions in the Darkness: Seven Saints who Struggled with Depression and Doubt.

You can often find her singing in her Pennsylvania kitchen with her husband and two ever-curious children. You can find more of her writing at www.dianagruver.com or on Twitter @dianagruver

Darcy Wiley

Spiritual Life Chair, Board Member

Darcy Wiley is a writer and spiritual director cultivating holy imagination and deep communion with God. Through thoughtful listening, she companions readers and directees toward emotional, spiritual, and cultural flourishing. 

Darcy creates peaceful spaces for others to heal, grow, and find creative flow. She calls herself a social introvert and would rather pass up small talk and get right to hearing your whole life story. She will probably ask your Myers-Briggs temperament type in the first 15 minutes of meeting you. As Mary Oliver’s poem “Messenger” describes, Darcy sees her work as “loving the world,” discovering deep beauty in nature and in people. She writes about the complexities of the human experience in narrative, devotionals, poetry, and original songs. 

She is co-writer of two books on cultural transformation and spiritual formation, one with the missiologist behind the 10/40 Window Movement and one with the pastor of a multicultural church near Atlanta. She has received awards from the Immigrant Welcome Center in Indianapolis for her teaching role with English language learners in local warehouses. Before having kids, she traveled and served in over a dozen nations and learned the basics in a handful of languages.

When she’s not writing or ministering, you can find Darcy exploring the outdoors, painting abstracts on the balcony, making music with her drummer husband, or walking to the library with her three kids. Connect with Darcy on Instagram @DarcyWiley and at darcywiley.com.

Dorena Williamson

Diversity Chair,  Board Member