Arianna Ross, CEO of Story Tapestries, and Kellie Butsack, the organization’s Operations Director, bring more than six decades of combined nonprofit leadership, strategic vision, and community impact to their work. Arianna is a nationally recognized executive in communication, nonprofit leadership, corporate visioning, and community improvement. For nearly 30 years, she has inspired audiences across corporations, nonprofits, conferences, colleges, libraries, and school districts. A graduate of Leadership Montgomery’s CORE Class of 2021 and Leadership Maryland’s Class of 2025, she is also an active member of the Metro Bethesda Rotary Club and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant.

Kellie complements this leadership with over 30 years of experience strengthening nonprofit operations, program delivery, volunteer engagement, data analysis, and strategic partnerships. Since joining Story Tapestries in 2022, she has provided essential administrative, outreach, and program support while managing scheduling, accounting, and project coordination to ensure smooth day‑to‑day operations.

Together, Arianna and Kellie guide Story Tapestries with a shared commitment to excellence, collaboration, and community empowerment.

Catherine “Cat”  Kahn is a longtime resident of Montgomery County who has been actively involved in hunger issues for many years. She’s been a Master Gardener since 2009 but food gardening wasn’t a primary interest until the Covid pandemic hit.

Through the founding of  the nonprofit HarvestShare, Cat is excited to have created an organization that combines her love of gardening, helping others and supporting her community while giving others  an opportunity  to give back as well. 

With a master’s degree in adult health nursing, she recognizes the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables in optimizing health and believes that all should have access to nutritious food.

Karen Willetts hails from Frostburg where she graduated from Beall High School. While attending the College of Wooster, she spent her Junior year in Dakar, Senegal. She taught a few years in Ohio and then returned to Senegal as a short term missions teacher. After learning the local language, Wolof, she decided to study with Wycliffe Bible Translaters in Texas. 

At UTA, she received a 2 year Fulbright grant to Cote d’Ivoire. In Abidjan she worked at the Institute of Applied Linguistics and received her Masters in African Languages. Karen returned to the states to take care of parents and later married Dr. Pascal Kokora, former Ambassador from Ivory Coast to the US, and Georgetown French professor.

She worked in MCPS for 27 years enjoying her time at Springbrook H.S. as a French teacher in the International Baccalaureate program.
In retirement, she and her husband are supporting work on building a library in Esiama, Ghana and a health clinic in Fresco, Ivory Coast.