Bio's
Meet the Storytellers
Meet the storytellers, educators, artists, historians, and community leaders joining us for the Grand Canyon residency. Together, they bring a wide range of experiences and perspectives to the stories of this extraordinary place.
Carly Davis
Carly Davis is a Phoenix-based storytelling educator and artist who has worked with hundreds of individuals across classrooms, community spaces, and live events to develop and share personal stories. She was awarded PHOENIX magazine’s Storyteller of the Year, 2025.
As an Adjunct Instructor at South Mountain Community College, her oral storytelling is rooted in trauma-informed practice, and her work explores how personal narrative builds community and connection.
Carly will lead participatory storytelling experiences that invite visitors to reflect on their relationship to this place and see their stories as part of a larger shared human narrative of the Grand Canyon.
Christopher Hooper
Christopher Hooper is a Phoenix-based storyteller, educator, and performer specializing in personal narrative and live storytelling. For over 13 years, he has taught, coached, and performed long-form improv across the Valley and is a graduate of the iO Chicago Summer Intensive.
He combines improv with storytelling to create hands-on, immersive, and engaging experiences. He is a Professional Teaching Artist with Art Heals Arizona and a member of the inaugural Fellowship of the Storytelling Institute, developing workshops that amplify diverse voices, particularly within the LGBTQ+ community.
Doug Bland
Doug Bland is the founder and former Executive Director of Arizona Interfaith Power & Light—a spiritual response to the climate crisis. He now serves as AZIPL Ambassador. As a new grandfather, he has yet another reason to care for the future of our precious planet home.
He retired from the Community Christian Church in Tempe, where he served as pastor for twenty-three years. The church’s inter-religious and multi-cultural storytelling concerts earned the Diversity Award from the Tempe Human Relations Commission.
He is adjunct faculty at the South Mountain Community College Storytelling Institute, where he has taught Telling Sacred Stories, Storytelling & Advocacy, and Storytelling & Healing.
Dr. Melissa Soza Fees
Dr. Melissa Soza Fees is a Storytelling Adjunct Faculty member at South Mountain Community College, a graduate of the SMCC Storytelling Institute Academic Certificate program, and a board member of the National Storytelling Network.
As Program Director of the Community Storytelling Fellows, she is committed to developing the next generation of community storytellers. She is an Arizona native and loves celebrating our rich history and traditions.
Joi Fletcher
Joi Fletcher was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona. She is a graduate of Spelman College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and was deeply involved in the performing arts.
Joi currently serves as a Program Analyst at South Mountain Community College, where she works closely with the Storytelling Institute to expand access to literacy and STEM programming for K–12 students across South Phoenix.
Through her work, Joi has helped bring world-renowned storytellers, including Donna Washington, to the Valley, creating meaningful and engaging experiences for young learners. As a storyteller herself, she has performed in the Arizona Storytellers Project by the Arizona Republic.
Joi is excited to be part of the residency at the Grand Canyon and looks forward to sharing its rich and inspiring stories with others.
Kathy Eastman
Kathy Eastman enjoys creating meaningful experiences and stories with visitors and staff in the natural world. She has over 20 years of rewarding professional work in interpretive settings as an educator.
Kathy hopes to help create purposeful pathways for understanding the Grand Canyon through sharing and recording stories. Her interests include social time hiking, gardening, and reading/research.
Kathy takes pleasure in spending time with people and creating connections through shared life experiences.
Kyle Mitchell
Kyle Mitchell is a Navajo storyteller, Veteran, and advocate for Indigenous communities. Through Kiiłtsoi-bitó' ("the bushes where the yellow flowers are"), he honors Navajo oral traditions while building cultural understanding across organizations nationwide.
His storytelling has captivated audiences on KJZZ's Arizona Storytellers and PBS's Stories from the Stage. His work can be found at The Heard, an American Indian museum in Phoenix, Arizona.
As Program Manager at South Mountain Community College, Kyle develops transformative workforce programs for tribal populations, including the Construction Trades Institute and American Indian Student Center.
He currently serves as Vice President on the Board of Directors for Native Health, one of the nation's largest Urban Indian Organizations in the United States.
Liz Warren
Liz Warren is the co-founder, director, and faculty of the South Mountain Community College Storytelling Institute, where she teaches courses including Creating and Telling Personal Stories, The Art of Storytelling, and Multicultural Folktales.
Liz is the author of The Oral Tradition Today: An Introduction to the Art of Storytelling, a storytelling textbook that is used in classrooms across the country.
Liz is most excited to develop her concept of “story consciousness”—the art of taking in the stories unfolding around you. A fourth-generation Arizonan, she also has a special interest in our state’s history and proposes to research and develop untold stories about Mary Colter and other underrepresented stakeholder-stewards of the Grand Canyon.
Nereyda Martinez
Nereyda is the co-owner of The Healing Tree Collective in Tempe, AZ, alongside her husband and has been a student of the Storytelling Institute for five years.
As a storyteller, Nereyda believes in sharing the full spectrum of being human, bridging both the external and internal worlds we live in. Nereyda believes storytelling has the power to both uplift humanity and bring people together.
Nereyda loves supporting mothers in many capacities, and you will often find experiences of her motherhood journey embedded throughout her storytelling.
Nereyda is looking forward to exploring how stories of relating to places, humans, and animals as one is both healing for ourselves and collectively.
Summer Cherland
Summer Cherland is an award-winning writer, speaker, and teacher. She is the faculty historian at South Mountain Community College where, together with students, she co-founded and leads the South Phoenix Oral History Project.
Her recent publications include “Billie and Hawk,” first prize winner of the Phoenix Writers Club Centennial Award; “A College Down There: Resistance, Community Control, and Higher Education in South Phoenix, 1977–1981” in the Journal of Arizona History; and “Going to the Line: Boston’s Black Women Bowlers,” in Black Identity and Sport in Boston: New Essays on Racialized Space and Performance, edited by Doug Stark and forthcoming from the University of Tennessee Press.
Dr. Coral Evans
Dr. Coral Evans is a leader in social entrepreneurship and civic engagement with deep Arizona roots spanning six generations in Flagstaff and Northern Arizona. A small business owner, author, and social-profit executive, she brings more than 20 years of experience in community engagement and investment.
She holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Education and an MBA, and is a Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellow, Babson College Social Innovation Fellow, and Flinn-Brown Civic Leadership Fellow.
Evans also co-produces the award-nominated Lived Black Experience CommUnity Dialogues podcast. She has earned statewide recognition and multiple honors, including being named among the 48 Most Intriguing Women of Arizona (2022) and one of Arizona’s Most Influential Women in Business (2018).
Her doctoral research examined statesmanship, systems thinking, and sustainable solutions.