Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, Cofounder/Executive Director, is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016). A former Steinbeck Fellow, Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange winner, and Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grantee, she’s received residencies from Hedgebrook, Ragdale, National Parks Arts Foundation, and Poetry Foundation. She has work published in Acentos Review, CALYX, crazyhorse, [Pank], and American Poetry Review among others. Most recently her poem, “Battlegrounds” featured at The Academy of American Poets, Poem-A-Day. She’s coordinated workshops and panels with artworxLA, Latina Writers Conference, and #dignidadliteraria. Learn more at her website.
Contact: admin@womenwhosubmitlit.org
Thea Pueschel, Chapters Director, resides one inch behind the Orange Curtain and has more hyphens than a merry-go-round and is sometimes referred to as a Renaissance person whose mother’s favorite way to introduce them is, “This my daughter Thea. Who isn’t a doctor yet.” The psychosocial aspect of human development draws Thea to paint, write, direct and create. Whether the work is floating along the ethere through the binary code searing blue light into your retinas, in paperback or hardback form, on stage or flickering dancing light, or through bodies forming shapes or minds going on journeys, it is Thea’s hope that you feel more connected, grounded and seen after you interact or experience the work. Thea is a repeated Dorland Mountain Arts Resident and has had artwork exhibited at the Center in Orange and Fullerton Museum, directed plays for Short + Sweet Hollywood, and has had written work published in the Made in L.A. Anthology Vol 5. Vantage Points, and Short Editíon among others. www.theapueschel.com
Contact: chapters@womenwhosubmitlit.org
Rachel Kiskaddon (she/her), Social Media Manager, is a writer, artist, and educator living in Long Beach, CA. Her work is currently featured in anthologies by Moonstone Arts Center, Poet’s Choice, and Millennial Pulp Magazine. Her chapbooks, “The First Third” and “Lavender Lines”, are available on her website and in bookstores. Outside of writing, Rachel is a museum professional who has worked in education, public relations, exhibit design, membership, and visitor services over the last decade. She received her BA in Art History & Anthropology from Stony Brook University and has an MA in Museum Education from the University of Arts. Rachel has continued her education by earning certificates in teaching and has taken writing classes and workshops with Blue Stoop, Poetry Lab, Poet’s & Writers, CLI, and more.
Contact: socialmedia@womenwhosubmitlit.org
Ariadne Makridakis Arroyo, Publication Round Up Editor, (she/they) is a Los Angeles-based writer, arts administrator, and feminista, born and raised by Greek and Guatemalan immigrants. They completed their Bachelor’s degree in Critical Theory & Social Justice at Occidental College in 2020. Her work has been featured in Stonecoast Review, Latin@ Literatures, Tasteful Rude, and Acentos Review, among others. In 2023, they were awarded a speculative fiction fellowship with Roots. Wounds. Words. and were named the 2025 LGBTQIA+ residency fellow with The Sundress Academy for the Arts.
Contact: membernews@womenwhosubmitlit.org
Demetrai Lam (Sara Chisolm), Events Coordinator
Sara Chisolm is a speculative fiction writer based in the Los Angeles area. Her urban fantasy short stories “Serenade of the Gangsta,” “The Fortune of the Three and the Kabuki Mask,” and “We Found Love as the Undead,” were featured in the second and third volumes of the Made in L.A. fiction anthology series. She serves as an editor for the Made in L.A. Writers. Her story, Selkies Among the Pines, was published in Fiyah Literary magazine. Another short fiction, Anansi and the Hot-Lanta Flow, can be read in the anthology, Anansi: New and Ancient African Tales by Flame Tree press.
Contact: events@womenwhosubmitlit.org