Board Members

Lori Markowitz, MPA

Lori is the founder and executive director of the Youth Ambassador program. She earned her B.A. in International Business Administration from the American University of Paris and is a graduate of the University of Washington Evans School of Public Affairs. Lori was the recipient of the 2005 Daniel J. Evans Leadership Award. Lori has eighteen years of NGO experience including designing and implementing international cross-cultural exchange programs with students from the Middle East and Africa.  She has extensive experience in youth development and is passionately committed to the Youth Ambassador program.  Lori strongly feels youth are part of the solution!!!  Lori is married to Dr. Stephen Markowitz and has two children, Joshua and Jessica.

Carmen A. Ufret-Vincenty

Carmen and her family, husband Luis Fernando Santana and daughters Veronica (16), Gabi (13) and Adriana (10) have lived in Seattle since 2001.  Ever since arriving to Seattle, she

has been an advocate for children in her community and their families.  Carmen was born and raised in Puerto Rico.  She obtained her BS in Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico.  After a short stay in graduate school in Hawaii she completed her PhD in Biochemistry

and Molecular Biology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.  Currently, Carmen does biophysical research relevant to medical issues in the University of Washington. It was Carmen’s experience growing up in Puerto Rico that sparked in her the passion to help build a strong sense of community everywhere she went and be a force for change when necessary.  Her family went through very hard economical times while trying to raise Carmen and her 4 siblings.  Thanks to her parents’ commitment and tireless dedication and aided by acts of compassion from schools, neighbors and their tight-knit community, Carmen’s family felt a great deal of support throughout these difficult years and found a way forward. Today all 5 siblings have graduate degrees and are

doing their share to help the next generation in their communities.  Their story stands as living proof of how families are empowered when they enjoy the compassion and support of their community.  At this juncture in her life, Carmen is fortunate to be in a position to give back to her Seattle community and she has found a way to do that through Youth Ambassadors and their compassion-based mission.

Martine Pierre-Louis

Martine Pierre-Louis is Director of Interpreter Services at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.  She holds a master in public health with a focus on international health.  A Haitian Creole and French interpreter for over a decade, she is a founding member and past board member for both the Society of Medical Interpreters and the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care.  She has been involved for years in community-based public health efforts with a focus on access to health care and equity for refugees and immigrants.

Jennifer Lightbody

Jennifer is a dedicated Group Account Director with over 15 years experience in Client Services, focused around making business relationships successful. Her work expertise includes building and leading high performance teams, account direction, program management, and product development of digital products and services, for clients such as Microsoft, Audi/VW of America, Lucent and Reuters. She has also driven large scale process improvement initiatives including ISO 9001 certification. Jennifer holds an Executive Leadership MBA from Seattle University and is PMP certified by the Project Management Institute.

Nancy Rawles

Nancy Rawles is a writer and teacher who lives and works in Southeast Seattle. Her novel My Jim was the Seattle Public Library’s 2009 selection for its popular Seattle Reads program, in wh

ich readers all over the city are encouraged to read and participate in discussions about one book. My Jim tells the story of the wife and children of Mark Twain’s famous slave character. As a young person growing up in Los Angeles, Nancy benefited from programs similar to Youth Ambassadors. As a teacher, she has seen students become powerfully and profoundly engaged when given the opportunity to lead. For this reason, she is honored to support Youth Ambassadors. Nancy is also a board member for Columbia City’s Spoken Word Lab (SPLAB) where she directs Represent 98118, a community-wide arts, education, and humanities project.

Tricia Davis

Tricia Davis grew up in the Seattle neighborhood of Montlake. She is a true alumni of the Seattle Public School system having attended Montlake Elementary, Hamilton Middle School, and Roosevelt High School, where she was a truant teen herself. After attending Florida Atlantic University Honors College in Jupiter, FL she moved back to Seattle to complete a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at Seattle Pacific University.  In 2008 she was selected to travel to Vietnam for six weeks working with Medrix, a non-profit that provides education to medical professionals and assists in safe clean water development. With a desire to be surrounded by creative people and a passion for the written word she found herself enthralled by the opportunity to work for Macklemore LLC as Director of Operations and Tour Manager.  She has since produced several music videos and runs a very successful online merchandise store for the quickly growing company. Tricia is committed to community organization embracing holistic public health and is ecstatic to be a part of the invaluable work of Youth Ambassadors.

Jennifer Frankl

Jenny Frankl is the development coordinator for Teens In Public Service (TIPS), a summer youth internship program.  She recently earned her Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs and brings with her a wealth of experience in the youth development field.  She charted a new professional course in her fourth year in the classroom, where she taught in the King County Juvenile Detention Center in 2006.  It was here, where she was first exposed to the penal consequences that awaited truant youth.  In 2011, after two years as a literacy and technology specialist in Peace Corps Jamaica, two years coordinating the Seattle Youth Commission, and two years in graduate school, she rejoins the effort to ensure truant youth are connected to the resources and support they need to make positive choices for their education.  The Youth Ambassador’s innovative peer mentorship model, which deviates from the traditional ways truant youth have been dealt with in the greater Seattle area, was an obvious choice for Jenny to align with.

Leah Opiniano-Bui

Leah Opinia no-Bui is currently a Director of Human Resources for The Heavy Restaurant Group.  With her experience in the hospitality and customer service industry, she finds gratification in the ability to ensure the growth of each individual’s development and their potential and ability. By training and guiding new employees through positive coaching and mentoring by senior employees and management, the focus for a desired outcome that develops the individual’s performance is greater which deepens their sense of personal empowerment. She truly feels that the same idea and concept is similar to what our Youth Ambassadors does to their peers.  She lives in Seattle with her husband, Chung Bui and three children (Madison, Tyler and Maya).  She was born in the Philippines and arrived in Seattle as she was just turning 8 years old.  As a foreigner in a new country and barely speaking English, she can relate to a lot of issues on how children can be lost, feel like they don’t belong and not be able to be understood, especially if they have no one to talk to. Luckily with the support of her parents, family members and school counselors, she was able to overcome her fears by diligently studying and her eagerness to learn.   Leah truly feels that being involved in her children’s life through school, sports and other extracurricular activities has been very beneficial to her the children’s livelihoods.  Having been a Board Member in their school’s PTSA and sports organization and, Assistant Coach or Team Manager, she feels that all her kids excel at school and sports because she has been actively involved.  She recently joined Youth Ambassadors along with her two older children in hopes that by listening with empathy and developing a compassionate inner relationship amongst their peers, they will find some comfort and resolution to transform conflict to harmony.