Leaders

Marion Mitchell Wilson, in memoriam, founder/board member emerita

Marion Mitchell-Wilson was Inlandia Institute’s executive director from its founding in 2007 until 2012 when she stepped down to focus on her health. Before her passing in 2015, she returned as a board member and executive director emeritus. Upon her passing, the Marion Mitchell-Wilson Endowment was established in her memory.

President Minerva Canto is a longtime journalist whose work explores the places where politics, policies and people converge. She is a former editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times and has been a staff reporter for various newspapers and The Associated Press. Minerva writes fiction and non-fiction and is currently working on a memoir titled, “Geography of Longing.” A native of Mexico City, she grew up in Santa Ana, Calif. She speaks fluent Spanish, has lived in the IE for nearly 20 years and earned a MFA at the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast Creative Writing program.

Vice President Hong-My Basrai is the author of Behind the Red Curtain, a memoir about her seven years living inside fallen Saigon, Vietnam under communism. At 22 years old Hong-My immigrated to Southern California. She speaks and writes Vietnamese, English, and French, and shares a home with her Indian husband who is fluent in Gujarati and two other Indian languages, besides English. Hong-My is also a member of the Writer’s Club of Whittier and PIVOT, The Progressive Vietnamese American Organization.

Secretary Tiffany Elliott is an asexual, neuroatypical, and disabled woman and mental health professional who received her MFA from New Mexico State University. Her debut collection, Bones Awaiting the Blaze, was awarded the 2022 Hillary Gravendyk Prize, and her work has appeared in Typehouse, Spectrum, and other journals. Her works explore the mythologies we experience, those we create for ourselves, issues of abuse and trauma, and how people can remake themselves. 

Treasurer Jonar Isip is a Marketing Resource Specialist who is a huge supporter of the arts, especially when it comes to literature. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing at UCR and his writing has been published in Inlandia: A Literary Journey, as well as Irvine Valley College’s “The Ear”. He also enjoys photography, and some of his photos have also been published by The Ear. Jonar currently lives in Corona, California with his dog and strawberry plant.

Lisa Henry is curator for The Riverside Art Museum based in Southern California and Chair of the Blacklandia Steering Committee. Henry was formerly Assistant Curator for American Art at the Newark Museum. She has been a guest curator and art consultant for institutions on both the east and west coasts including The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, The High Museum of Art, The California African American Museum, Leica Gallery New York, The UCLA Hammer Museum, The Japanese American National Museum, and The California Museum of Photography.

Terria Smith is a tribal member of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and a proud original Californian. She is the editor of News from Native California magazine and director of the Berkeley Roundhouse, Heyday’s California Indian publishing program. Smith is also the editor of the 2023 anthology Know We Are Here: Voices of Native California Resistance. She lives on her ancestral homelands in the Coachella Valley with her puppy Havana.

Lupe Mora de Marchante is an international business strategist turned independent bookstore founder. She operates Pen & Honey Bookstore in California’s Inland Empire. She is a Mexican-American first-generation college graduate with a degree in English and minor in Political Science from Texas State University. As part of a multiracial and multilingual family, her lived experiences shape her perspective on culture, identity, and storytelling. She integrates literary advocacy with community impact through initiatives such as book donation programs, partnerships with local organizations and creatives, and a personally funded scholarship that provides financial support and signed books to first-generation UCR students.

Krystina Sweis is a writer, an educator, and a teaching consultant of the Inland Area Writing Project (IAWP), which is a teacher-centered, professional development organization that encourages engaging writing practices for students. Currently, she is a founder of the nonprofit,  Journal Together, which supports the community in the Hemet / San Jacinto region by connecting through writing and creative expression. She enjoys writing genres such as middle-grade, romance, and fantasy.  When she is not writing or teaching, she enjoys playing tennis, reading, and gaming with friends and family. 

Mckenna Deluca-Martinez (she/they) is the executive director of Inlandia Institute. They previously led the Claremont Forum/Prison Library Project, where she expanded access to books for incarcerated readers nationwide. They also ran the Prison Library Press, a small press dedicated to amplifying the voices of incarcerated authors. Her work centers on building sustainable, independent publishing platforms that uplift emerging and underrepresented writers. Outside of publishing, Mckenna enjoys crafting, film studies, all things spooky, and traveling the world just to see art. A lifelong resident of Southern California, she and her husband currently reside in Riverside, CA. They are raging cat parents to their three babies.

mckenna@inlandiainstitute.org

Isabel Quintero is the Programming and Publications Coordinator for Inlandia. She is an I.E. native, an award-winning writer, and the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Being the daughter of immigrants has taught Isabel resiliency and perseverance, but also that there are multiple ways of experiencing what it means to be American — not all of them equal. In her work, she aims to write characters and stories that reflect those realities, and that hold up a mirror to the young people and remind them of their own stories. Ultimately, though, she just wants to write good books that her readers can get lost in. Besides writing, Isabel spends time with her family and friends doing things like hiking, watching television, laughing, and cooking.

isabel@inlandiainstitute.org

Erin Michaela Sweeney (she/her) writes, speaks, and teaches about the healing potential of mindful creative self-expression. She supports writers and artists as managing editor (since 2022) of Inlandia: A Literary Journey, the Institute’s online literary journal, and writes Inlandia’s free weekly 100 Rejections Club newsletter to encourage creatives to embrace rejection. For twenty years, Erin was an editor on the east coast but returned to inland Southern California in 2011 to hang out at City of Hope for spa days (aka life-saving blood cancer treatments). Yes, there’s a memoir. She loves her child unconditionally and forever humbly serves Rexi the cat queen.

journaleditor@inlandiainstitute.org