Staff Bios
Krista Joy Niles – Program Director
After three years as the VOICES Photography Director, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Krista Niles is now overseeing all program design and development for VOICES, Inc. Niles joined the staff of VOICES in August 2007 after 14 years in daily photojournalism. She has traveled the country extensively, working for The New York Times, The Associated Press, The Lincoln Journal-Star, The San Antonio Express-News and several other media organizations. Her documentary project work focuses primarily on youth-related issues and women’s health issues. She studied photojournalism at San Francisco State University and also attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied Art History. She recently self-published her first solo photography book, HeartFound.
Stephanie Dickson – Executive Administrative Assistant
Stephanie came to VOICES in 2006 as an AmeriCorps writing mentor following a year of youth development work with the Youth Volunteer Corps, another AmeriCorps program. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, also minoring in anthropology and women’s studies. Stephanie comes from a strong background in the dramatic arts and is a freelance writer and award-winning songwriter and performer.
Megan Valanidas – Lead Instructor
Megan, who specializes in photography and 3-D arts, earned her Bachelor’s degree in Studio Arts and French Linguistics from the University of Arizona. While attending Rochester Institute of Technology, she gained much of her technical photographic knowledge. Megan has worked with youth at Tucson’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), the Spare Part Art Space (SPAS) and at the Gloo Factory where she introduced youth to performance art as well as making do-it-yourself (DIY) books, stamps, stickers and other sundry. She is invested in Tucson’s downtown community and enjoys finding ways to connect youth to their community and vice versa.
Benjamin Webster Truman – Instuctor
Ben was a starving artist before finding Voices. Now he’s just working on the “artist” part by writing comic books and video games, hoping one day the masses won’t consider either art forms unsophisticated. He enjoys working with teenagers who are much cooler than he was at their age, confident they will continue to use their voice on and off the page. He runs the Radio & Graphic Novel Program and eats all the leftovers.
Stephanie Balzer – Community Ambassador
Former VOICES Executive Director Stephanie Balzer came to VOICES in 2008 from the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, where she spent more than three years as Communications Officer. Prior to moving to Tucson, she reported for The Business Journal in Phoenix. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing from The University of Arizona and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Stephanie was selected as the 2008 Mary Ann Campau fellow from The University of Arizona and has two chapbooks of poetry forthcoming from Kore Press (Revenant) and CUE Editions (faster, faster.) Balzer is now the Director of Communications for the University of Arizona Foundation.
Josh Schachter – Guest Artist
Josh Schachter is a photographer and educator who has worked with organizations across the country to document community issues such as urban revitalization, HIV/AIDS and food security. His images have been published internationally in books, magazines, newspapers, and other formats in publications ranging from the Navajo Times to the The New York Times. Josh earned a master’s degree in environment management/social ecology at the Yale School of Forestry and Environment Studies, where he taught inner-city youth to explore their environment through photography. Since then, he has trained hundreds of children, community groups and teachers to explore and photograph issues in their community.
Kimi Eisele – Guest Artist
Kimi Eisele is a writer, editor, dancer, and educator. She is a founding member of Voices, Inc. and served for five years as the organization’s writing director, mentoring teenagers in writing, research, and interviewing for 110 Degrees. Her essays and articles have been published in Fourth Genre, OnEarth, Orion, Orion Afield, various anthologies, and other places. She has taught geography and language arts in Ecuador and coordinated many writing and geography projects to children and adults in the U.S. and Mexico. As a dancer, Kimi performs locally with two modern dance companies and teaches community classes in “words and movement.” Currently she serves Voices as a guest artist teaching interviewing and writing to teenagers of the San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation through the pilot program, Looking Forward/Looking Back.
Meagan Lehr – Guest Instructor
Meagan received her Masters of Fine Art in poetry from the University of Arizona in 2009. She has been teaching composition and creative writing in Tucson since 2007. Previously, she worked as a research study coordinator in epidemiology for the University of Washington, where she received her bachelor’s degree in creative writing and Scandinavian area studies. She also curates the online reading series BackRoomLive, and has been published in Arch Literary Journal.
