Bridges of Belonging Community Storytelling Showcase

Kaila Davis Nsimbi is a Seattle native who has spent nearly 20 years working in youth development and educational equity. She currently serves as Executive Director of the Seattle site of Rainier Scholars, where she has worked for the past 15 years in roles spanning direct service to executive leadership. Kaila is passionate about building strong communities and expanding access to opportunity for young people. Outside of work, she can usually be found in her garden or on a yoga mat.

My name is Sherry Tillman, and I am the Director of the Call Center at Mary’s Place. I oversee the King County Family Emergency Shelter Intake Line, and my team works collaboratively with 13 partnership providers across King County to connect families to emergency shelter.

I have been at Mary’s Place for 8 ½ years. I serve on the King County Convening Board, and I am a member of Coordinated Entry and System Performance.

My commitment to this work is deeply rooted in my lived experience. I am a domestic violence survivor and a mother of five. I entered nonprofit work because I was once homeless with my five children. As an African American woman with a low credit score and a large family, that was one of the hardest seasons of my life. There were very few resources for big families, and support was limited.

Families need to know there are people like me out here who understand, who will support them without judgment, and who are committed to helping them get back to stability.

Toka Valu is a South King County based Tongan illustrator and public artist whose work explores belonging, memory, and relational space. With years of experience creating large scale murals and digital works across the Pacific Northwest, his practice bridges Pacific cultural wisdom with contemporary storytelling. Toka has partnered with municipalities, universities, and major organizations to create community centered public art that reflects shared histories, present realities, and possibilities. He currently serves on the Burke Museum Association Board and continues to build work that honors ancestry while imagining what connection can look like in the world we are shaping.

Ben McBride is a bridge builder and storyteller committed to widening the circle of human belonging. His work begins with a simple belief: our stories are not meant to compete, they are meant to connect.

As co-founder and CEO of Empower Initiative, Ben partners with communities and institutions to strengthen culture and build the capacity to stay in relationship across difference. He is the author of Troubling the Water(Broadleaf Books, 2023), a reflection on othering, power, and the personal work required to build bridges in divided systems.

Over the past five years, Ben has supported the Seattle community through multiple bridge building and belonging initiatives, walking alongside local leaders and institutions committed to shared humanity. His bridge-building work was also featured in the Sundance Award–winning documentary The Force, which chronicled efforts to transform culture and accountability within law enforcement.

For more than two decades, Ben has worked with leaders navigating complexity and cultural change, yet he believes the most transformative work happens when everyday people feel seen, heard, and valued in their full story.

He lives in Northern California with his wife and business partner, Gynelle. Together they are the proud parents of three adult daughters.

Dr. Linda M. Smith is a pastor, spiritual director, author, speaker, coach, and equity, inclusion, and justice consultant dedicated to personal and community transformation. She is the founding pastor and Executive Director of the SKY Urban Institute (Empowerment and Transformation Center), Pastor of SKY Vision of Hope, and Senior Pastor of Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Baptist Church in Renton, Washington. Dr. Linda is also the principal owner of Dr. Linda Smith Speaking, Consulting, and Coaching. Her work centered on healing the mind, body, spirit, and soul, with a particular focus on reconciliation, justice, and advocacy for marginalized communities. She has conducted many healing circles in diversity communities She is the author of Pathway to the Soul and host of the podcast Reclaiming Hope through Prophetic Truth, offering a prophetic voice of hope, purpose, and transformation.