Leadership

Staff

Kate Huisentruit (she / her)

Executive Director

Kate Huisentruit is delighted to join Puget Soundworks as their new Executive Director. She is a lifelong performer and producer. Collaboration and creation are two of her very favorite activities. Her most recent role as producer of Art Zone with Nancy Guppy on Seattle Channel gave her a front-row seat to the development and showcasing of many Puget Sound artists from all disciplines. And it earned her a Regional Emmy Award in 2018.

Kate has worked extensively in Seattle and New York City with over twenty years as a television producer. In addition to Art Zone with Nancy Guppy, her favorite producing gigs have been New Day NW, The Rachael Ray Show, ISAAC for Style Network, Cash Cab, and Party Planner with David Tutera for Discovery Channel. Kate holds a BFA in Acting from Cornish College of the Arts. Her love of Acting and Directing has taken her into many stories and on many adventures. In pre-Covid years Kate sat as president of the board for Seattle’s only LGBTQ+ Theater Company, Fantastic.Z. She was instrumental in their annual fundraising Gayla and played on-stage as an actor, and off-stage as a Director in many of their productions. Prior to her love of theater, she had her heart set on being a “rock star” (this starting at age 3 following idols like Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, Madonna, and Cyndi Lauper). She was always in the chorus at school trying to work towards this dream and learn as much about music as possible. Her (amateur) rock-star dreams were finally realized when she founded 2 all-female punk rock bands in early adulthood.

Kate is currently starring in her most important role to date as Mama to her two sons (plus a dog, fish, and cat!) When she and her wife are not chasing their 3-year-old or laughing at some silly video with their 9-year-old, they’re working and pursuing their passions. One of Kate’s biggest passions is live performance so she’s incredibly eager to bring her skills to help advance the mission of Puget Soundworks.

Miriam Anderson (she / they)

Artistic Director

Miriam Anderson has been involved in music her whole life and started studying voice and percussion at the age of 10. She began her studies in both choral and orchestral conducting during her undergraduate years at UC Berkeley. After earning a bachelor’s degree in music and peace and conflict studies, she was hired to assistant direct the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, and to play principal timpani and run the percussion section for the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. In June 2017 she completed a master’s of music degree in choral conducting from the University of Washington.

Miriam is passionate about using choral music to build community and connection, and as a form of outreach, integrating her backgrounds in music and peace studies. Outside of Puget Soundworks, Miriam currently directs the Seattle Labor Chorus, Northminster Presbyterian Church choir, and the Piccolini and Entrata ensembles of Seattle Girls Choir. She also teaches choir at Seattle Waldorf High School, is a teaching artist at Seattle Opera, and is the Chorus Manager and a singing member of Choral Arts Northwest. Miriam also frequently gigs in the Seattle area as a percussionist, vocalist, and conductor.

When she is not making music, Miriam enjoys dance, yoga, knitting, cooking, and playing with her cat.

Jina Jansson (she / her)

Director of Operations

Proudly raised here in the Pacific Northwest, Jina has over 20 years of experience in visual & project management. Working with Sur La Table for the past 15 years, she currently manages Operations for the Visual Merchandising department. Musical since birth, Jina has shared her talent with various organizations including the Seattle Women’s Chorus, Sensible Shoes, and the Sing The World Chorus. As the Director of Operations for Puget Soundworks, Jina enjoys keeping all the moving parts and pieces in working order. When she puts down her clipboard, Jina lives at home with her husband, Brian, and their three beloved cats.

Sarah Colerick (she / they)

Marketing Associate

Sarah Colerick finds peace and connection through the joy of singing. They hold a Bachelor’s of Visual Communications Design from Eastern Washington University and a certificate in User Experience. In college, they played Dungeons and Dragons. Their favorite battle was against a flaming Beholder. Sarah loves the thrill of a great storytelling experience.

Sarah lives at home with their tiny Chihuahua/Shih Tzu, Ada.

Sarah prefers to be addressed with they/them pronouns in written communication.

Board of Directors

Christina Wilson (she / her)

President

Christina first served on Puget Soundworks Board in January 2020 as Board Secretary. In mid 2021 she began serving as Vice President, and was then elected to serve as President in 2022.

Christina has over ten years of corporate HR experience. In addition, she is a licensed mental health counselor and has been working in private practice for 14 years.

“I’m thrilled to be serving Puget Soundworks as a singer and board member. I’ve been a singer since Puget Soundworks’ inception, and became a board member shortly after. I’ve seen an increase in quality in our production and performances. Organizationally, the growth and change has been astounding. I believe in the heart of the organization and I’m very excited about our future!”

Christina holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business, with an emphasis in Organizational Development from Sonoma State University and a Master of Science in Systems Counseling from Bastyr University.

Carol Logan (she / her)

Vice President / Treasurer

Carol Logan was elected to the Puget Soundworks Board of Directors in February 2021 and serves as Treasurer and co-chair of the Artistic Director Search Committee. After receiving a Master of Science in Communicative Disorders, she pursued a career in Audiology, blending her interests in health science and caring for people. Carol then switched to the payment processing industry, where she has spent the past two decades applying her technical and people skills in management and training roles. As a proud member of the LGBTQ community who has enjoyed the community-bonding experience of choral singing since the 6th grade, Carol is delighted to contribute to the governance oversight of this invaluable organization. Carol lives in Kent with her husband, David, and enjoys making their dreams of European travel and improving their golf game come true.

Dena Hughes (she / her)

Secretary

Elected to the Board of Directors as Secretary in November, 2021, Dena Hughes is excited to join the Puget Soundworks community. Although her singing talents thrive primarily within the confines of her own home, she shares in the joy of music as both messenger and a communal, healing force. Dena’s professional background includes over 20 years of experience in the field of clinical data management, software configuration, and technical documentation. Prior to embarking on her clinical trials career, she spent 10 years in the field of environmental consulting, often to be found on a trawler out in Puget Sound, working toward a cleaner marine ecosystem for our entire Seattle community. With an endless appetite for travel, coupled with a love of the written word, Dena has blogged many an adventure abroad, with no plans to stop moving any time soon.

Founder

Vanessa Grose (she / her)

Vanessa Grose has worked in the technology industry for almost 20 years, including roles in software development, customer engineering, go-to-market strategy, and global sales. She served at IBM for most of her career where she had opportunities to work with an extended global team, helping customers across industries apply technology to solve business problems — especially through cloud, process automation, and AI. In 2019, she received her MBA from the University of Washington Foster School of Business.

In 2020, Vanessa joined Google as a Head of Cloud Customer Engineering for the Pacific Northwest. She has been a people manager for many years and loves building diverse, inclusive teams. She believes it is her responsibility as a leader to empower people to do great things, coach them to continuously grow, and support them in achieving their dreams.

Vanessa founded Puget Soundworks in 2018 and served as the volunteer Executive Director through late 2022. She has a lifelong love of choral music and believes in the power of music to change hearts and lives. She started Puget Soundworks to serve as an inclusive singing community — tearing down gender boundaries in traditional choral music, lifting up marginalized voices, and spreading love and kindness. After stepping down as the Founding Executive Director, Vanessa continues to support the chorus and sing as an alto.