co-Chair 

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Vie grew up on San Juan Island, in the Pacific Northwest. In 2007 they received their Bachelor of Music Degree from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. In 2011 Vie moved to Burlington. To plant their roots
in Vermont a little deeper, they recently bought a house with their wife in Winooski, with their frisky cat, and tender-hearted dog.

Since 2011 Vie has been involved in the theatre scene in Burlington. They performed with Spielpalast Cabaret for 8 years, assisting on the production team, and playing the role of Emcee for 3 years.

Vie loves teaching, being an advocate for diverse communities, and uplifting others. In 2009, they became certified in Vinyasa Yoga, and have taught Yoga and Bootcamp style fitness classes in Seattle and Vermont for over 5 yrs. Vie instructed Yoga classes for LGBTQIA+ youth at Outright Vermont, and LGBTQIA+ adults at All Wellness VT. In the Spring of 2020 Vie instructed a series called “Intro To Burlesque” at Spotlight VT, where dancers of all levels, abilities, body types, gender orientations and expressions are welcome and celebrated. Vie currently works at Retina Center of Vermont as an Ophthalmic Assistant/Surgical Coordinator. Vie has worked in healthcare for 8 years, and views this career choice as an opportunity to help others.

When Vie is not exploring the outdoors of Vermont, they are exploring their passion for culinary arts, comedy, and writing. This fusion unfolded for them about 3 years ago when they created their blog and social media presence: sprinkleofsage.com

Vie is thrilled to be a Board Member at Pride Center of Vermont with such an incredible group of folx advocating for LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, POC, and QTPOC communities.

co-Chair

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Max is a real, live, non-binary adult who lives and works in Waterbury, Vermont. They married their wife in 2009 and together they have two children. Max has over 10 years of experience working for and supporting non-profit organizations and professionally has worked in healthcare for over 15 years. They are passionate about amplifying diverse voices and advocating for underserved people and communities. 

Treasurer 

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Art has a life long love of Vermont having annually visited family as a kid and having gone to college in VT. He and his partner, Wayne (a native Vermonter), met 25 years ago in Boston, first bought a home in Vermont’s Upper Valley about 20 years ago, and have been married for 10 years. Art works in banking with a focus on risk management within commercial lending.

“We moved to Burlington in 2013 and since then helped with the formation of the LGBTQIA Alliance of VT, volunteered at the Pride Center with Momentum, and volunteer/are on the steering committee for Out in the 802 often with a focus on getting various groups and organizations to come together given the belief that the combined forces of the community offer the ability to make new connections and ties, and ultimately helps make the community stronger.”

Art is honored to have joined the board of an organization that serves such a strong LGBTQI+ community. He recognizes our community is our strength, is built on the sacrifices and courage of many people over the years, and hopes to further build on that strength with the Pride Center for all the members of the LGBTQI+ community.

Secretary 

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The proud father of an trans daughter, Rex is an avid activist and ally. In addition to being the author of Now What? A Guidebook for Families with Transgender Children, Rex has been a long-time, passionate advocate for the LGBTQ community. Prior to moving to Vermont in 2016, Rex served on the Board of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Center and co-founded the Kingston, NY, PFLAG Chapter. He has presented workshops and trainings at conferences and organizations across the nation and has mentored hundreds of families with LGBTQ loved ones. At the Pride Center, Rex has been an integral volunteer, and, through his work as facilitator for Transgender Extended Family Support, he has assisted many individuals in learning to better support their transgender loved ones.  

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Mary-Katherine Abdel-Ghany Stone is an Alabama native and proud Egyptian-American who graduated from The University of Alabama with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a Depth Study in Human Services and Special Populations. She then went on to pursue a graduate degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and post professional specialization through George Washington University’s Center of Integrative Medicine. She currently works as an occupational therapist at the University of Vermont Medical Center but spends a large majority of her time serving our community through volunteer work including serving as: a Justice of the Peace for the City of Burlington, President of the Junior League of Champlain Valley, Vice President of the Inclusive Arts Vermont Board of Directors, a committee member for the Burlington Advisory Committee on Accessibility, a committee member of Burlington City Art’s Education and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committees, Junior Membership committee chair for the Green Mountain Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and as a Deacon of College Street Congregational Church. When she’s not volunteering and serving in the community, she spends her time dancing with Green Mountain Cabaret and Ballet Vermont, creating stained glass art at Shelburne Craft School and enjoying the great outdoors.

She is honored to serve on the board and looks forward to investing her passion and experience of serving this community into the work being done at the Pride Center of Vermont.

Mary-Katherine resides in Burlington.

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Wendy is a lesbian civil rights attorney and mom to two amazing teenage sons. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Juris Doctorate from Boston University School of Law. She began her legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, NY, specializing in domestic violence cases.  In 1992, after tiring of life as a NYC attorney (and coming out as a lesbian), Wendy discovered Vermont and moved to Burlington. She served as Executive Director of Women In Crisis in Bristol, Vermont, and was one of the founding members of the Vermont Network Against Domestic Violence.  She joined the original Right To Marry Taskforce and volunteered with the nascent Outright VT.

Wendy then returned to the practice of law, joining the Mental Health Law Project of VT Legal Aid, protecting the rights of individuals living with major mental illness.  This began her life’s work as a mental health civil rights attorney. For almost 2 decades, Wendy served as Chief Counsel to the VT Dept. of Mental Health, where her responsibilities included: supervision of DMH’s legal division, advocacy at the state and federal level, drafting and implementation of internal and statewide legislation and policy, advising the Vermont State Hospital and community mental health agencies, and working with numerous statewide committees tasked with improving Vermont’s mental health service delivery system. Wendy left DMH to head up the Vermont chapter of the National Alliance of Mental Illness VT (NAMI VT).  

It’s been a while since Wendy has been an active volunteer in the LGBTQ+ community.  She is thrilled to have the opportunity to join the Pride Center board at this critical point in the queer rights movement.  She’s looking forward to using her professional experience and skills to improve the lives of LGBTQ+ Vermonters. Wendy lives in South Burlington with her two teenage sons and a bunch of much-loved animals.

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Caryn grew up in the heart of NYC. At 22, she moved to Vermont alone, and it felt like home immediately. Caryn has an alternative education and art background and enjoys being creative in many ways. In her free time she likes to play, bike, ski, hike and walk. Caryn values slowing down through her mindfulness practice.

Most of Caryn’s recent life’s work has been as a Middle School Counselor. In South Burlington where she worked for 23 years, she also served as the Peer Leadership Advisor and QSA (Queer Straight Alliance) Advisor. Caryn has also worked with much passion in many different VT schools, with many different ages and populations of kids/teens. She feels it has been a very gratifying career as she has learned from so many of her students and families.

Caryn now lives in Burlington, though most of her years in Vermont have been spent living rurally. She raised her 2 children in a very unique home in Monkton. They are both now thriving young adults that she is forever grateful for and very proud.

As a member of the Queer community, Caryn is so excited to be working with so many interesting, inspiring people on this Board to support our great LGBTQ+ community. Caryn loves to think outside the box to understand and encourage people to be who they truly are. She is also very committed to understanding and supporting marginal communities. Please do not hesitate to be in touch with Caryn, as she welcomes all communication.

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Skylar Maguire is a multimedia artist and photographer, born in Burlington, and currently living in Barre. Skylar brings an activist background and commitment to grassroots organizing, plus work experience in the nonprofit industrial complex. They held various social work positions in New York City. Skylar supervised Transgender Housing at the Ali Forney Center, a transitional homeless shelter in Brooklyn for transgender youth aged 16 to 21. Skylar went on to become a Certified Peer Specialist in a Manhattan-based hospital-alternative program for adults experiencing a mental health crisis. To cope with such high-intensity jobs and trauma, Skylar began learning stand-up comedy and continues to perform whenever they can. Skylar is now attending CCV for a certificate in graphic design. On the board, Skylar aims to amplify the voices of LGBTQIA+ people most impacted by intersecting identities and relationships to oppression.