Our Team
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Susan Arnold
Director of Membership and Social Media Susan (she/her) joined the Soul Matters staff in the fall of 2016 after serving as the Small Group Program Coordinator at her home congregation, The UU Fellowship of Topeka, Kansas. She writes, “Where I once lived life visualizing myself as a tree with a deep tap root, because of Soul Matters, I now find that my roots, thoughts, and hopes are shared in an interconnected web of roots reaching all over the world." In her role on the team, Susan ensures that those roots connecting us to each other are strong and ever-expanding. Contact Susan by email at [email protected] |
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Rev. Scott Tayler
Team Lead and Founder of Soul Matters Rev. Scott (he/him) has been a UU minister for over 25 years and is trained in couples and family therapy. He started Soul Matters as a small group program for a congregation he was serving and over the last 10 years it has grown into the full ministry sharing circle it is today. About this journey, he writes, "What began as a handful of seminary buddies supporting each other has organically become a means for deep congregational interdependence. Ultimately, for me, Soul Matters is about healing spiritual disconnection. It mends the divides between and within congregations. It is grace in action and the interdependent web become real. What a privilege to be a part of that!” Contact Scott by email at [email protected]. Rev. Tayler offers consulting on a wide range of issues; click here to learn more. |
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April Rosario
Director of Religious Education Resources April (she/her) is a Credentialed Religious Educator at the advanced level, a certified OWL instructor, and an RE consultant. She is serving as the Director of Lifespan Faith Formation at First Parish Church in Waltham and one of the founders and chairs of the annual Building Bridges Family Conference on Star Island. She is also the recipient of the 2020 Marjorie Bowens Wheatley scholarship, a scholarship for BIPOC women who feel called to service in the Unitarian Universalist Faith. Contact April by email at [email protected]. April offers consulting on a wide range of issues; click here to learn more. |
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Rev. Dr. Michelle Collins
Worship & Small Group Packet Researcher Rev. Michelle (she/her) is a UU minister currently serving as minister of the Williamsburg UU congregation in Williamsburg Virginia. She is a graduate of Starr King School of Ministry and received her Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary. Having used Soul Matters resources for ten years in her parish settings, she brings an excellent eye for what resources serve leaders best. We love it that she considers research “play”! |
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Adam O’Dell
Music Resources Coordinator Adam (he/him) is the Director of Music at First Unitarian Church of Chicago, as well as a pianist, organist, and ASCAP and Kennedy Center Award-winning composer. He is currently a Doctoral Candidate at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, and a graduate of Clarke University (BA) and Bowling Green State University (MM). His career has taken him across the country and around the globe as a composer, performer, and presenter on the topics of evolutionary musicology, music theory, and choral music. His music ministry is grounded in the belief that music has the power to comfort and heal, but also to challenge its listeners and practitioners to greater levels of understanding and action. Adam offers consulting on a wide range of issues; click here to learn more. |
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Rev. Sara Lewis & Rev. Dr. Kimi Floyd
Youth Ministry Resources Coordinators Rev. Sara (she/her) has served as a religious educator for 16 years, is credentialed at the Leadership level, is a Renaissance (now Spark) program facilitator, and has authored and co-authored curricula for all ages. Sara is also ordained as an interfaith chaplain and is a spiritual director. She is currently part of the curriculum team for the 2024-2025 UUA Common Read, Authentic Selves, which focuses on the stories of thirty-five transgender and nonbinary people and their families. Sara has raised her own kids (now 18 and 21) in UU youth programs and has a deep appreciation for the importance of a values-based and life-affirming ministry to youth. Rev. Kimi (they/them) has been a religious educator and youth coach for over two decades. In addition to having both their Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees, Kimi is a credentialed American Humanist Association associate chaplain and ordained minister through The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries. They are a published author and poet, with extensive experience as a curriculum writer, including serving with Sara on the curriculum team for the 2024-2025 UUA Common Read. Kimi is sakwo'mapiakikiwan, which means manly-hearted woman in the Niitsitapi (Blackfeet) tradition, and is excited to bring their multiracial non-binary perspective to the Soul Matters curriculum team. |
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Widening The Circle RE Team
Our Widening the Circle Team seeks out multiple DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and ARAOMC (anti-racism, anti-oppression, multicultural) resources for our RE packets. These include mental health, LGBTQIA+, neurodiversity, physical disability, and socioeconomic diversity, as well as ARAOMC resources. By gathering a rich and faithful array of games, activities, books, crafts and object lessons, our WTC Team helps our children and youth widen their circles of equity and understanding by widening the lenses through which they perceive the world. To learn more about each of our WTC team members click HERE.
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Dr. Andrea Natalia Naranjo Erazo
UU Writers Facilitator & Curriculum Team Member Andrea (she/her) runs a journaling group at the National Institutes of Health and teaches about health disparities and responsible research. In her spare time, she loves watching the sunsets in her rooftop, writing, and learning how to play the guitar. Andrea has been a member of the UU affiliated Washington Ethical Society since 2016. She helps develop our UU Writers packets and often facilitates our online UU Writers groups. |
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Elizabeth McKoy
Creativity Matters Consultant Elizabeth (she/her), a UU for the past 10 years, has been a Theatre and Visual Teaching Artist, Creativity Coach, Integrated Arts Curriculum Trainer, Professional Theatre Director and non-profit Arts leader for over 25 years. She founded and was Artistic Director of the award winning Berkeley Playhouse and prior to that, was Education Director for the Northern Bay Area Institute for Aesthetic Education. |
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Rev. Sandra Fees
Creativity Matters Group Facilitator Rev. Sandra (she/her) facilitates our Creativity Matters online groups as well as our Practice Matters online group. As a UU minister, she has served congregations in Reading and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She’s currently “retired,” focusing on her poetry and other creative ventures. She has a passion for spiritual practice, yoga, novels, long walks and nature. |