Our Team – WestSide Baby

**ANNA RYCKMAN**
Community Engagement Manager

COO at Babyproofing Your Relationship

Jessica is the co-founder of Babyproofing Your Relationship, a relationship support company that provides online courses and private coaching for parents with young children. Her background is in start-ups in senior operations and sales leadership roles. Jessica has been involved with WestSide Baby since January of 2021 and loves the sense of community and the proven power in our ability to supply children and families with essential items. She enjoys having a “front-row seat” to the hard work and dedication.

Jessica lives in Snohomish with her husband and their two children. Her favorite book as a child was Ella Enchanted.

Engineering Program Manager at Apple, Inc

Jo has been at Apple since 2008 spending most of her career with the Retail organization and most recently with AIML as a Program Manager focused on Machine Intelligence projects.

She loves (and studied) architecture and loves reading about furniture design— ask her about her mid-century chair collection! For fun, you can usually find her working on laser-made projects with her family or exploring new restaurants around Seattle.

WSB Board Treasurer
Facilities Executive at YMCA Greater Seattle

After going to Y camp as a kid, Josh joined the Seattle YMCA as a staff in 1985 and never looked back! He got to know WestSide Baby’s work and impact in the early 2000’s when the West Seattle Y hosted some Diaper Drives. His support of WestSide Baby continued to grow and he joined the Board in 2017. He believes that babies don’t get to choose their circumstances, and we all have a responsibility to support families that are in need. WestSide baby does that. Josh lives in West Seattle with his wife and their college age son.

As a kid, Josh loved reading superhero comic books.

Program Manager at Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)

In Lauren’s current role at REI, she works closely with merchants to progress their strategic initiatives and has spent the majority of her career working between the creative and business ends of companies. She has been involved with WestSide Baby for over 4 years. When asked what her favorite thing about being a WestSide Baby Board member is, she says “there are too many to choose from! But, if I have to pick, I love the community connection WestSide Baby has.”

As a child, she was obsessed with the Nancy Drew book series.

Principal Program Manager at AWS Finance at Amazon.com

Liz is passionate about strategic resource management and currently helps ensure that finance professionals at Amazon Web Services (AWS) have the resources they need to do their best work.

Before joining AWS in 2022, Liz served for ten years in various finance and strategy roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She has also worked in investment management and was trained as a credit analyst.

Liz has volunteered with Westside Baby as a member of Finance & Audit Committee since 2017. She lives in West Seattle with her husband, two sons, and rescue standard poodle. As a kid, Liz loved reading Frog & Toad adventures and now enjoys sharing then with her kids.

WSB Board Chair
Director, Philanthropic Gifts at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Nick has been involved with WestSide Baby since 2018 and his favorite part of this Board is meeting passionate people who want to better the children and families of our community. He believes that only together can we make the change we want to see in the world.

Nick and his wife Alex live in Columbia City with their asthmatic cat named Miles.

His favorite toy growing up (and favorite toy today) are Legos!

Senior Communications Officer at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

As a Senior Communications Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she’s been for more than six years, Olita oversees the digital strategy on the North America team and enjoy working with grantees and colleagues to bring the work to life through authentic and compelling storytelling.

Olita started volunteering with WSB about five years ago and instantly became a fan of the organization’s dedication to providing support to children and families.

She lives in Ravenna with her delightful and busy young daughters.

Independent Consultant

Rhea is an agile product management expert who helps organizations deliver valuable products in a complex, unpredictable world. After being involved with WestSide Baby since 2018, she most appreciates how, as a community, we can help children and families in need within our community access the necessities they need to thrive.

She was born and raised in Mumbai, India and has lived in Seattle since 2010. Her favorite book as a child was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

To contact any of our Board members, or to learn more about joining the Board please reach out to WestSide Baby’s Executive Director, Sarah Cody Roth.