Advisory Board

Leah grew up as a member of the Portland urban Indian community and comes from a background in Portland-area social service and environmental justice nonprofits, primarily in grant writing and donor development. She comes with an MA in writing and is an alum of the Portland Emerging Arts Leaders mentorship program and the Coalition of Communities of Color’s Bridges program. Leah is currently enrolled in the low-residency MFA in creative writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her passions include beadwork, poetry, cooking, and playing pool; she has two daughters.

Porscha Burke is Assistant Publishing Director and Senior Editor with the Clarkson Potter, Ten Speed Press, and Harmony / Rodale imprints at Random House—where over her sixteen-year career she supported various executives, acquired works by Dr. Maya Angelou, Jon Meacham, Rev. Dr. Amy Butler, and Chief David O. Brown, and spearheaded new editions of The Autobiography of Malcolm X and The Black Book, originally edited by Toni Morrison. A Queens, New York native and University of Virginia graduate, Porscha received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College, where she currently teaches.

Seth Dellon is a 15+ year publishing veteran who currently serves as director of strategic development at Publishers Weekly where he oversees the digital media department. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Independent Book Publishers Association. His career is publishing includes a stint as associate publisher of Foreword Reviews, as a bookseller, and the founding of the online rights network PubMatch. He lives in Sleepy Hollow, NY with his partner and their two literary-named children.

Michele Cobb, a frequent speaker at conferences, workshops, events and panels, is a recognized expert in the audio publishing industry. In 2013, after more than a decade working for the British Broadcasting Corporation US audiobooks division, she launched Fortè Business Consulting which provides PR, Sales, Marketing and Business Development services for the publishing industry. Her client list includes Panoply, Ideal Audiobooks, LA Theatre Works, The Audio Publishers Association, AudioFile Magazine and PubWest, among others.

Brian O’Leary is executive director of the Book Industry Study Group, a U.S.-based trade association that disseminates information, creates and implements standards and conducts research to benefit the book publishing supply chain. Before being named to this role in 2016, O'Leary was principal of Magellan Media Consulting, which helped publishers improve how they create, manage and distribute content. In that role, O’Leary wrote extensively about issues affecting the publishing industry. With Hugh McGuire, he co-edited Book: A Futurist's Manifesto (O'Reilly Media, 2012). O’Leary served as senior VP with Hammond Inc. and oversaw production and distribution operations at several Time Inc. magazines. O’Leary joined Time Inc. after earning an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He also holds an A.B. in chemistry from Harvard College.

DongWon Song is an agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency representing science fiction and fantasy for adults, young adult, and middle grade readers as well as select non-fiction. He was formerly an editor at Orbit, a product manager for an ebook startup, and has taught as an adjunct instructor in the publishing program at Portland State University.