Alex Masse, Programming Mobilizer

Alex K. Masse is a writer, musician, and general storyteller from what is colonially known as Surrey, BC. As the Federation's Programming Mobilizer, they hope to make the written word exciting and accessible to all who give it a shot.

For Alex, storytelling is a means of expression and connection, and they recently celebrated their debut production as a playwright, Faye's Room, with Glitch Theatre. When not writing, they're making music, and when not making music, they're writing. Occasionally, though, they can be seen cozied up with their cat and a good fantasy novel.

Maylon Gardner, Sustainability & Legacy Developer

Maylon Gardner loves puns and is a self-described word nerd who lives to create meaningful connections by sharing stories and strife, as well as engaging in community building. She wears many creative hats, from editor and writer to event planner, and brings all of that to bear in her roles as Legacy & Sustainability Developer with the Fed. 

Having worked for years on corporate documents as she started her editing career, Maylon has been transitioning to manuscript assessment and developmental editing to better focus on story scope and structure. She is a graduate of Western University (HBA English and Comparative Literature and Culture) and Toronto Metropolitan University (Publishing Certificate) and has a smattering of certificates in personal training and the French language. She thinks learning is fun and celebrates curiosity.

AJ Gordon, Fiscal Operations Strategist

AJ Gordon knows words, numbers, and technology. Conservative with money and radically progressive everywhere else, as a poet and writer cross-trained in business, philosophy, and editing, they found a natural fit as the Federation’s bookkeeper.

When not focused on financial spreadsheets or technical guides, they are working on their latest fiction and art, building websites, and gaming…often all at the same time.

Emma Turner, Social Media & Admin Coordinator

Emma Turner is a voracious reader, rarely seen without a book in hand. Originally from Norwich, England, she moved across the world in 2018 and now lives on Vancouver Island.

When she isn’t reading or working for the Federation, she is tutoring students from K-12, where she specializes in teaching Phonics, Literacy, and English.

Diana Skrepnyk, Design Director

Diana previously led marketing and communications design teams at Royal Roads University, and for many years, at the Banff Centre. Her superpower is visual communications, combining a writer’s finely crafted words with graphics and/or images to create messages that attract and inform readers.

Diana’s writing prowess is mostly limited to short catchy headlines, but she LOVES to read – there are always a handful of books on her night table. She also makes visual art, mostly of birds, is big on community gardening, and enjoys riding trails and running errands on an old lady bike named Ally.

Cadence Mandybura, Secretary

Cadence Mandybura is a writer and editor who joined the Federation of BC Writers in 2016, shortly after moving to BC from Alberta. She volunteered with the Federation’s 2022 Summit, then took the helm of WordWorks magazine for four issues between 2022–23 and helped launch the Federation’s Roots to Branches anthology series.

Cadence’s speculative fiction has appeared in Metaphorosis, Pulp Literature, and Tales & Feathers, among others. She is a graduate of the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University and a past associate producer for the fiction anthology podcast The Truth.

By day, Cadence works for the people of BC as a stakeholder relations coordinator in the BC Public Service. She is grateful to live in Victoria on the land of the lək̓ʷəŋən People, known today as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations.

Jennifer Sommersby, Director

Jennifer Sommersby is a freelance editor (via Plumfield Editing), publishing mentor, educator, and author of a baker’s dozen books written under Sommersby and Eliza Gordon, including award-winning YA and best-selling rom-com titles.

Through her company SGA Books, Jennifer supports indie authors with publishing resources and hands-on teaching, as well as branding, design, and custom merch through Bard & Bloom. Her first nonfiction series geared toward early-career writers will publish in 2026. Find all her books at: shop.sgabooks.com.

Kare Rae, Director 

Kare was born in January 1982, in the small northern town of Fort St. James, British Columbia, Canada, the traditional territory of Nak’azdli Whut’en. She was raised alongside her older sister by their loving parents. Kare happily said ‘I do’ in 2001, and in 2006-2007, she moved to Kelowna to obtain her Diploma in Applied Psychology and Counselling. Returning home, she started her career with Nak’azdli Whut’en. It was there she found an appreciation and acceptance for her heritage as an Okanagan Indian Band Member.

After several years working for Nak’azdli Whut’en, Kare and her husband opened their own business, managing and operating a multi-faceted farm. Several years later, they closed the company and settled into a home overlooking the Stuart River.

Kare says when she started writing again at age forty, she developed the slogan 'write unapologetically.' This helped her work through the fears of judgments, and craft scenes and story lines that would’ve otherwise had her stuck in writer's block.