Meet The Team: Board of Directors

Loren Lachner (she/her) is a disabled + neurodivergent person in San Francisco, California, USA. She is proud to be on Basically Wonderful's first Board of Directors and volunteers where needed. She originally came upon the organization by first attending the Disability (Is Not A Bad Word) space during her chronic illness and pain journey. This space helped her immensely with her healing journey by introducing her to a beautiful community where she could share her lived experiences and connect with others. Loren also volunteers for a non-profit called SAVE as an Advocate for domestic violence survivors. She helps survivors understand their options, provides emotional counsel, helps them navigate the legal system, provides resources and referrals, prepares them for their hearings, accompanies them to their hearings, and provides post-follow-up support. She has received 110 hours of DV Advocacy training with two certifications. Before her disabilities, she worked in the tech industry with over 8+ years of experience, including Program/Project Management, Release/Incident management, IT, Compliance & Information Security, SCRUM & Agile development, and QA Assurance. She has detailed experience helping companies scale from start-up to midsize level. Loren has spent many years navigating Federal, State (CA), and local (Bay Area) benefits programs, with solid knowledge of Cal-Fresh, Medi-Cal, Medicare, CA-State Disability, and Social Security benefits. She strongly believes in creating and providing disability-centric resources and helping others through their unique journeys so they don't have to go through it alone. She is dedicated to sharing her story and learnings with others and advocating for her peers, whether disabled or just needing support. Loren is vegan, has two cats (Bromeo & Bruno), loves reading, and writes haikus! When she is feeling well, she loves to dance (specifically a dance style called shuffling)! She is also known for wearing cat ears. Meow!

Tony DePalma (he/him) is honored to be a part of Basically Wonderful’s initial Board of Directors. Tony currently has the privilege of serving as the Public Policy Director for Disability Rights Florida, the state’s federally-authorized Protection and Advocacy (P&A) system benefitting all Floridians with disabilities through the provision of free-and-confidential legal and advocacy interventions specified across ten or more federal grants. Previous to this, Tony worked as an attorney, policy & budget analyst and special master for the Florida House of Representatives and was an assistant general counsel for the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. Tony attended Florida State University, receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communications and a law degree from the FSU College of Law. Tony moved to Tallahassee for college in the late nineties, never left, and once owned a t-shirt proclaiming the city to be “Florida, with a Southern accent”.

Grey scuffy Wise (xe/xem/xyr) is a neurodivergent, mentally ill, queer, genderfuck, trans person currently located on Seminole land, aka Orlando FL. Xe has a passion for art, trans rights, disability justice, anti-racism, animal liberation, and cats. Xe graduated from Rhode Island College in 2012 with a degree in Social Work and a minor in studio art. During xyr time in Rhode Island, xe volunteered with Youth Pride Inc, a drop-in center and outreach organization serving LGBTQIA+ and questioning youth. Scuffy also did xyr Social Work internship with RHD-RI (Resources for Human Development - Rhode Island), an arts-based day program for disabled adults.  Scuffy currently works co-facilitating an online weekly craft group and monthly games night for non-binary people, as well as a group for playing cozy games together.

Maddie Crowley (she/they) is a storyteller, writer, listener, marketer, blogger, learner, podcaster, and lover. Maddie currently works as Disability Rights Florida’s Social Media and Content Specialist. As a multiply disabled person, Maddie brings authenticity and intentionality to their work in the disability rights space. Maddie also has personal advocacy accounts under the name 'ur fav disabled gal' where they share their lived experiences and resources with others. They graduated from the University of Florida in December of 2021 with two degrees in Linguistics and Education Sciences and a minor in Disability Studies. Maddie has worked in social media marketing for over 6 years and in advocacy for much longer. Having taught themselves most of what they know, they are invigorated and excited to help others achieve their goals through community learning. Maddie is a firm believer and advocate for disability justice, access, and liberation of disabled folks and holds a Black disabled feminist frame in the work they do. They have done community organizing for nearly a decade and hold disability and accessibility consultant roles to ensure that cross-movement organizing remains intentional and accessible for the disability community.