Who Works for NYLN?

Betsy Valnes, Executive Director

Betsy Valnes currently serves as the Executive Director for the National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN) and the National Youth Information Center (NYIC). NYLN and NYIC represent the first solely youth-led nonprofit organization and federally supported alliance of organizations for young leaders with disabilities in the U.S.

She previously worked with the National Council on Disability, providing support for the Youth Advisory Council and the Cultural Diversity Advisory Council. In addition, she contributed to the national Association of Youth Leadership Forums, the South Dakota Youth Leadership Forum, and the South Dakota State Independent Living Council.

On an international level, Betsy serves on the Roundtable Consortium for the National Clearinghouse for Disability and Exchange. She has participated in and presented at international forums in England, Scotland, Norway, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Barbados, and Bahrain.

Stacey Milbern, Community Outreach Director

Stacey Milbern lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina and is currently serving as Community Outreach Director for the National Youth Leadership Network. As Community Outreach Director, she gets to build power and community with other disabled youth.

Stacey identifies as a powerchair-roaring, queer, disabled woman of color. Her experience living at the intersections of these communities greatly shapes the way she see the world. Some of Stacey’s past organizing experience includes: co-founding the Disabled Young People’s Collective (formerly known as the NC Youth Leadership Network), working to pass a bill that requires public schools to teach disability history, and co-hosting trainings around topics of youth power, people of color organizing, and disability justice.

Outside her life as an organizer, Stacey likes to play around with her blog, write poetry, and spend way too much time in her neighborhood coffee shop.

Ryan Pinion lives in Durham, North Carolina. Ryan works as NYLN’s Director of Partnership and Action. Ryan is excited to be working with the NYLN team on a Family and Youth training project.

Ryan has been actively involved with disability activism and advocacy since 2006. He is a proud member of NYLN and the Disabled Young People’s Collective, a group of young disabled activists in North Carolina. In addition to being a staunch activist and general rabble-rouser, Ryan enjoys playing video games, listening to records, and sewing.

Elizabeth “Ely” Guerrero
Age: 28
Disability: Chronic health issue, Learning disability, mobility disability
Location: Portland, OR
School/Job: Stay at home Mom
Disability Area of Interest: Latino outreach, different forms of art done by people with disabilities
Free Time: Photography, spending time with son Emmanuel, painting jello-s, listening to music, cooking, dancing, etc.

Jessica Smith is a twenty-one year old visually impaired female from Raleigh, North Carolina. She majored in Social Work and was the president of the Disabled Student Organization/Delta Sigma Omicron at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Though some life changes have caused her to put school on hold, she is currently a very active member of The Disabled Young People’s Collective. Her interests include reading, writing, traveling, media-making, socializing, music, an appreciation for talent in all forms, and empowering youth with disabilities to reach their full potential. Jessica is very excited about being an NYLN intern this year, and cannot wait to see what new opportunities and possibilities 2010 will bring!

Camille Leacock is a resident of Fayetteville, North Carolina, who is currently serving as an intern for the National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN). She is a graduate of Fayetteville State University with a Bachelor of Science degree. From September to December of 2006, Camille served an internship in Washington, D. C. at the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE), which had the purpose of improving education for African-American children in the United States. She is a member of the Disabled Young People’s Collective (DYPC), which strives to raise awareness of people with disabilities and to improve laws that focus on accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Camille enjoys reading and conducting research, which she believes are useful in helping people with disabilities improve their lives.