ASJA PNW Members
James Carberry is a former Wall Street Journal reporter, now retired and living in Barcelona, Spain. At the invitation of his son and daughter-in-law, who are long-time Barcelona residents, he and his wife Gail, a retired nurse, moved to Barcelona from Portland in 2020. James is the cofounder and a director of Pro News Coaches, a team of former WSJ reporters and editors that provides pro bono mentoring, editing, workshop and other services to local news organizations around the U.S. When he's not engaged in volunteer work, he's attempting to learn Spanish.
Cheyenne Elwell is a Seattle-based writer covering travel, coffee, and wine. Her work focuses on small towns, regional wine, and experience-driven travel across the Pacific Northwest. She contributes to outlets including Business Insider and The Spruce Eats, and runs Baked Brewed Beautiful, where she writes about coffee culture, local food, and travel.
Fred Gebhart covers the trade side of medical, pharmaceutical, and bioscience developments from Gold Hill, Oregon. Between gigs, he cooks, battles looping tendrils of blackberry and poison oak in a forest restoration project and tries to dissuade ground squirrels from snacking on lettuce, chard, and tomatoes.
Rosemary Keevil is a freelance journalist and the author of The Art of Losing It: A Memoir of Grief and Addiction and The Truth About Losing It: Voices on Grief and Addiction (September, 2025). She has been a TV news reporter, a current affairs radio show host, and managing editor of a professional women’s magazine. She was a can-can dancer, in Dawson City, Yukon, and drives a mean motorboat. Rosemary lives in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, with her partner and two doodles, Romeo and Hamlet.
Catherine Kolonko is a features writer based in Portland, Oregon. Catherine often reports on medical topics. Her additional journalistic interests include sustainability, design, technology, travel, and humor writing. Catherine has worked for a biotech company and began her career as a newspaper reporter covering breaking news and crime for a Southern California daily newspaper. She holds a journalism degree from San Diego State University.
Ilima Loomis is a freelance writer who has written for publications like Popular Science, Science, and Discover, and also writes about science and medicine for clients like the Cleveland Clinic, and the Wistar Institute. She is the author of several children's books, including 'Ohana Means Family and Eclipse Chaser: Science in the Moon's Shadow. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Bruce Miller is a writer, editor, IT consultant, and database architect and administrator. He has written for various regional and national publications ranging from personality profiles to natural medicine to technology and travel. He is the lead writer and co-author of The Smoke-Free Workplace, which helped usher in smoke-free venues. He has received awards for writing and audio production. He is a former board member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and was the organization's IT Manager for 14 years. Miller had the foresight in the early days of the Internet to secure domain asja.org for the Society.
M. Carolyn Miller, MA (she/her/hers) is the PNW chapter president and lives in Portland, Oregon. Called the Story Lady by her clients, she has worked with story for 30 years as a writer (books, articles, essays, short fiction), and as a narrative instructional designer (storyboards, immersive/interactive, games/gamification). You can learn more about story -- hers and yours -- by visiting her website.
Joanna Nesbit is a content marketer and service journalist who covers personal finance, higher education, family, and aging. She writes regularly about financial aid, student loans, and other college topics for Money Magazine and other publications. She got her freelance start as a family travel writer. She lives in Bellingham not far from the island where she grew up. You can find her on Twitter at @joannanesbit.
Michelle Rafter is a Portland-based ghostwriter on business and management topics, editorial project leader, and occasional freelance writer covering business, tech, freelancing, and the future of work.
Randy Stapilus is a writer, editor and publisher who lives in Carlton, Oregon. He has been a newspaper reporter and worked in TV news. Randy has since operated Ridenbaugh Press, first in Idaho and now in Oregon. He has written more than a dozen books for his own publishing company and for others (most of those for Globe-Pequot) and a weekly newspaper column on politics and society in the Northwest.
Sharon Elaine Thompson lives in Salem, Oregon, and is a Graduate Gemologist and Fellow of the Gemological Association of Great Britain. Her articles have been published primarily in jewelry publications. A docent for five years at the Los Angeles Zoo, Thompson has written about cheetahs, gorillas and Sumatran rhinos. She has authored three science-related young adult books. Sharon writes women's fiction/suspense under the name Liz Harley.
Rodika Tollefson is a freelance writer and copywriter specializing in technology and cybersecurity. A former award-winning reporter and managing editor, she currently provides copywriting, editorial, ghostwriting, and content marketing and strategy services. Her clients have ranged from global leading brands such as Dell Technologies, Cisco, and Lenovo, to marketing agencies, industry publications, and lifestyle magazines. Her book, The Freelancer’s Compass: Navigate Your Way from Corporate Cog to Solopreneur Star, was a finalist in the 2025 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and second-place winner in The BookFest Fall 2024 Awards' Business-Entrepreneurship category.
Seattle freelancer David Volk writes for a number of alumni magazines. His specialties are travel, food, business, humor and whatever editors happen to be buying. He is also the author of "The Cheap Bastard's Guide to Seattle" and "The Tribe Has Spoken: Life Lessons From Reality TV." He will write for food.
Darlene West lives in the southern Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. She covered the energy industry in Calgary, Alberta, before moving to BC, nearly two decades ago with her husband to grow wine grapes. Darlene divides her time between the vineyard and freelance writing, specializing in travel and the outdoors. She is the author of three travel guidebooks. Currently, Darlene is focusing more on essays and other creative nonfiction along with photography.
Minda Zetlin lives in Snohomish, Washington, and is a past president of ASJA. She writes about business, career and technology. Her work often appears in Inc.com, Business Insider, CNBC.com, and CIO.com. Minda's books include The Geek Gap: Why Business and Technology Professionals Don't Understand Each Other and Why They Need Each Other to Survive. Her next book, Career Self-Care, was published in 2022.