Board
Emily Mae Boucher, Secretary
Emily is an artist and an educator. She keeps Womxn Project activists inspired and ready for action with her optimism, energy, and sense of humor. Emily is motivated by learning, imaginative problem solving, and human interaction. As “The Attention Fairy” during the 2019 session, Emily helped to produce educational videos at the State House to help keep people updated and encourage them to get engaged to help pass the RPA. She is excited to keep up that infectious spirit as we continue to move a bold agenda for change.
Tammy Brown, Vice Chair
Tammy is a life-long Rhode Islander dedicated to making the state a better and more just place to live. She is a theatre-maker whose work runs the gamut from activist social justice-oriented art pieces to Shakespeare productions and human statues. Tammy helps to lead The Womxn Project’s ARTivist efforts to utilize the power of art to shift conversations.
Susie Chakmakian
Susie Chakmakian has been a volunteer and creative partner in the artivist work of The Womxn Project and the Womxn Project Education Fund since its inception in the summer of 2020. Most recently, Susie could be heard in downtown Bristol, reading the names of people who were enslaved residents, as part of TWPEF’s Illuminating the Legacy of Slavery program during Art Night Bristol Warren. Susie developed her love of theater in high school and has performed in productions for West Bay Community Theater, Head Trick Theatre, and the Contemporary Theater Company, including the one-woman show There Was and There Was Not: Telling Armenian Stories, which she wrote and performed. She works as the Systems Librarian at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport. Besides her creativity and performance skills, Susie brings to The Womxn Project Education Fund her expertise in information technology, research, and data analysis. She received her undergraduate degree in English and Renaissance and Early Modern Studies from Brown University and her Master's in English and Library and Information Studies at the University of Rhode Island. She also serves as the recording secretary on the executive board of the Armenian Historical Association of Rhode Island.
Alana Con Artist
Alana Con Artist (she/her) is an Artist, Educator and Activist. Originally from San Francisco, CA, she is an alum of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Alana is a full time visual art teacher in Massachusetts, the Creative Director of the Marlborough Makers Artist Collective, & also serves on the Board of Directors for The Collaborative, a nonprofit arts organization. Under the name "The Con Artists" she, her husband Ryan, and daughter Polly lead community workshops and create public art that can be seen in New Mexico, California, Rhode Island & Massachusetts. Alana has been involved with The Womxn Project and The Womxn Project Education Fund for many years, providing imagery for posters, postcards and projections. She could be seen at community events across Rhode Island in the summer of 2022 running screen printing activities for TWPEF with her original “Punk Bands, Not Abortion Bands” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll and Birth Control” designs.
Cristina M. DiChiera, Director
Cristina received her BFA from Eastern Michigan University with a concentration in Photography and her Masters Degree in Women’s Studies from the Ohio State University with a concentration in visual representation. She served as Director of Artists Programs from 2004-2017 and Director of Rhode Island’s statewide Public Art program from 2004-2008 for the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. She honed her management skills as Manager of the Visual Arts Department at Brown University before launching her independent consulting business, through which she shares her expertise in public art, placemaking, community engagement, grant writing and organizational development. She worked as a consultant for The Womxn Project Education Fund for two years and served on the board before taking on the role of Director. She brings to her position over two decades of professional experience in arts administration, her creative practice as an artist, and her deep commitment to social justice.
Jocelyn Foye, Board Chair
Jocelyn is a Connecticut native who brings her artistic training and experience as a contemporary feminist sculptor and design professor to the movement. Jocelyn is presently the Marketing and Design Lead for the Oakland-based software company, Crow Canyon Software, working out of the Wakefield office. She is a recipient of the 2014 NEA and City of Long Beach, CA Arts Grant and the prestigious Emerging Visual Artist fellow with the California Community Foundation having lived there for thirteen years before coming back to New England.
Daria-Lyric Montaquila, Treasurer
Daria was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island where she still is an avid activist and community organizer. Her chief responsibility is coordinating community outreach for the Rhode Island People’s History Museum and The Collective, based in Peacedale, RI. She first began engagement with The Womxn Project during her senior year at the University Rhode Island and has since been an active supporter. Graduating in 2018 with a BFA in acting, when she is not advocating for policy change, she spends her time performing with local theater companies and her goal is to combine community outreach with the arts.
Our Staff
Cristina DiChiera - Director
Morgan Meneses-Sheets - Strategy & Communication