Our Team
Executive Leadership Team
Ashley Shelton
Program Director & Co-Founder
As Program Director, Ashley is passionate about creating spaces where people can access support without feeling like they are simply “in the system.”
Read Full BioAshley Shelton
Program Director & Co-Founder
As Program Director, Ashley is passionate about creating spaces where people can access support without feeling like they are simply “in the system.” She believes meaningful programs start with relationships, listening, and meeting people where they are. Her hope is that every person she works with feels connected and reminded of their own strengths, possibilities and unshakeable goodness. She has a deep love for people and a belief that we all belong to each other. She earned her degree in Geography from California State University, Fullerton, a field that deepened her appreciation for people, places, communities, and the many things that shape the way we experience the world. Those lessons continue to influence the way she approaches her work today.
Outside of work, you’ll find her spending time with her family, exploring the beautiful outdoors or having kitchen dance parties, cooking something delicious, or enjoying a good book and some good chocolate. She feels incredibly lucky to call Utah home and even luckier to spend her days doing work that is centered around people.
Tawnya Kirkland
Director of Community Partnerships & Co-Founder
As Community Outreach Director, Tawnya builds genuine human connections in our community, ensuring that young adults aging out of foster care never have to navigate adulthood alone.
Read Full BioTawnya Kirkland
Director of Community Partnerships & Co-Founder
As Community Outreach Director, Tawnya builds genuine human connections in our community, ensuring that young adults aging out of foster care never have to navigate adulthood alone. Her work is about meeting people where they are; volunteers, supporters, and the community at large, and inviting them into something bigger than themselves.
Tawnya’s professional world has never followed a single, tidy career path, and that’s exactly the point. From marketing and customer relationships to nonprofit work, her true expertise has always been people: raising four incredible men (husband included), showing up for her community, and believing that every person deserves someone in their corner. That belief is what draws her to foster youth advocacy. She knows, in the deepest way a mother knows, that no young person should have to figure out life alone.
She brings this same heart to everything she does, guided by authenticity, honesty, decisiveness, a hunger for knowledge, and a determination to find joy along the way.
Tawnya carries that same heart into her work at On Rising Wings, where she is dedicated to building a true sense of community, connecting people to each other and to a shared purpose, so that no one, especially the young adults she serves, ever has to feel like they’re walking alone.
Kristoffer Bailey
Executive Director & Co-Founder
As Executive Director, Kristoffer oversees the organization’s operations, long-term sustainability, and digital development strategy.
Read Full BioKristoffer Bailey
Executive Director & Co-Founder
As Executive Director, Kristoffer oversees the organization’s operations, long-term sustainability, and digital development strategy. He is deeply invested in ensuring that every initiative aligns with the nonprofit’s core mission: Ensuring that young adults aging out of foster care never have to navigate adulthood alone.
Kristoffer brings a highly specialized, modern approach to nonprofit development, rooted in his previous work in influencer marketing. There, he carved out a unique niche in online peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising and cause-based marketing, spearheading philanthropic campaigns entirely driven by content creators, particularly in the gaming sphere. By leaning into the authentic relationships that online creators have with their audiences, Kristoffer helped to seamlessly integrate fundraising into engaging digital content, demonstrating how coming together to do a little good can be an entertaining and highly rewarding community experience.
During his time in the influencer marketing space, Kristoffer managed creator ambassador programs and live-stream events in support of various nonprofit partners. His strategies successfully mobilized hundreds of digital creators to raise vital funds and awareness for a variety of charity initiatives, including cancer, rapid-response humanitarian aid, and even voice actor advocacy. Through these campaigns, he saw firsthand how mobilizing digital communities can generate massive, real-world impact.
A creative at heart, Kristoffer studied Vocal Performance at Utah Tech University and operates on the firm belief that arts and entertainment are incredible forces for positive change. He is guided by his personal values of creativity, authenticity, expression, and individuality, which he strives to weave into the daily operations and identity of On Rising Wings.
Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors provides critical oversight, diverse expertise, and a shared dedication to the potential of Utah’s youth.
Daneka Souberbielle
President
Daneka brings a 22-year tenure of progressive executive leadership in higher education, organizational development, and student affairs.
Read Full BioDaneka Souberbielle
President
Daneka brings a 22-year tenure of progressive executive leadership in higher education, organizational development, and student affairs. She currently serves as the Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President of Campus & Community Initiatives at Southern Utah University (SUU). She holds a Master of Science in Sociology from Brigham Young University and actively serves as a Commissioner on the Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Commission for the State of Utah.
Greg Brenchley
Treasurer
Greg provides strong financial oversight drawn from his background in accounting and his time at KPMG.
Read Full BioGreg Brenchley
Treasurer
Greg provides strong financial oversight drawn from his background in accounting and his time at KPMG. A seasoned entrepreneur, he understands the dedication required to build from the ground up, having previously owned a successful craft business before transitioning to his current work as a custom home builder.
Aimee Martinez Thoman
Secretary
Aimee is a practicing attorney based in Ogden, Utah, who brings a wealth of legal and structural expertise to the board.
Read Full BioAimee Martinez Thoman
Secretary
Aimee is a practicing attorney based in Ogden, Utah, who brings a wealth of legal and structural expertise to the board. Holding a Juris Doctor from the S.J. Quinney College of Law, she currently serves as an Administrative Law Judge. She previously operated Thoman Law, PLLC, and served as a Law Clerk for the Second District Court.
Dave Thompson
Board Member
Dave brings a profound personal connection to our mission, driven by his own six years of experience navigating the foster system.
Read Full BioDave Thompson
Board Member
Dave brings a profound personal connection to our mission, driven by his own six years of experience navigating the foster system. He is the proud father of eight children—two adopted through foster care and six through private adoption. Professionally, he brings extensive operational experience, currently serving as the Chief of Staff at Ogden-Weber Technical College following previous roles as VP of College Services / CFO and VP of Information Technology.
Angela Shields
Board Member
Angela is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the Clinical Director and Owner of Rising Sun Therapy.
Read Full BioAngela Shields
Board Member
Angela is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and the Clinical Director and Owner of Rising Sun Therapy. She provides critical clinical insight to the board, specializing in trauma work, couples counseling, and Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART).
Seint Beauty
Their contributions have been instrumental in launching On Rising Wings and ensuring we can provide immediate, direct support to our participants.
Become a Business/Corporate Donor
We are actively seeking to expand our community network. We invite local businesses to step beyond traditional charity and partner with us to invest in measurable community impact.
Sacred Sol Counseling
St. George, UT
Focus
Providers here specialize in treating anxiety, depression, PTSD/CPTSD, religious trauma, and substance use disorders. The clinic offers a strong focus on LGBTQIA+ clients, neurodivergent individuals, and diverse family structures.
Approach
Integrates holistic practices, mindfulness, somatic techniques, EMDR, and CBT/DBT.
Sunrise Mental Health Services
St. George, UT
Focus
A large, diverse clinic featuring experienced clinical supervisors and student counselors. They provide LGBTQ-affirmative and neurodiversity-affirming care, supporting teens and adults through trauma, faith crises, life transitions, OCD, and grief.
Approach
Offers a wide range of modalities including EMDR, Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), DBT, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Neurofeedback, and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (Ketamine integration).
Core Healing & Transformation
Hurricane, UT
Focus
Led by Elysia Young, LCSW, this practice specializes heavily in Complex PTSD, sexual abuse, grief, attachment wounds, and relationship challenges. Elysia also facilitates a free monthly women’s support group.
Approach
Utilizes empathetic, client-centered methods including fully certified EMDR, Ketamine-Assisted therapy, Humanistic, and Jungian therapies.