SIT STAY READ STAFF
Deirdre Harrison CFRE
Executive Director
Deirdre (she/ella) brings over 28 years of diversified philanthropic and nonprofit leadership experience to SitStayRead. She leads and supports staff, collaborates with the board on the organization’s strategic goals, drives fundraising initiatives, and cultivates SSR’s commitment to equity, inclusion, access, belonging, and justice. Her rescue cat, Oona, is not yet a dog-lover, but likes to share a warm lap with a good book. Deirdre is the storyteller for children’s literacy band The Lucky Trikes in her free time.
Cynthia Marroquin
Program Manager
Cynthia (she/ella) is A Chicago native with a passion for helping the city’s youth develop their leadership skills. She is integral to the design and evolution of SSR’s curricula and co-created SitStayRead’s first bilingual curricula and its pilot early childhood family literacy program in 2025. She works with the Executive Director and third party educators to review and revise all curricula and contributes to volunteer training, evaluation, and feedback. Cynthia has directed SitStayRead’s program interns in an ongoing partnership with NEIU since its inception in 2023.
Lexsie Hernández
Volunteer Program Manager
Lexsie (she/ella) is a first-generation college graduate from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a degree in Psychology combined with Pre-Veterinary track studies. Her passion for human and animal well-being and activism inform SitStayRead’s volunteer program and culture. Lexsie leads recruitment, orientation, training, and certification of Book Buddies and Certified Reading Assistance Dog Teams, as well as connecting event and office volunteers with administrative staff. She wants to hear from you!
Sam Baudinette
Program Lead
Samuel Baudinette (he/him) graduated with a PhD in religious studies and theology from the University of Chicago, and is currently a candidate in the scholar's program at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Sam has lived in the South Side of Chicago since 2016 and is passionate about teaching literacy and critical thinking so that young students can discover how to interpret and transform the world they live in, as well as narrate their own personal and collective stories. Committed to the view that the classroom can be both a pedagogic and a therapeutic space, Sam works to foster the creative imagination of his students by attending to the way that our emotions and our bodies inform the way we learn. Sam began volunteering with SitStayRead as a Book Buddy in 2025 and is excited to work in the 2025-2026 school year as a Program Lead at St. Ethelreda's School in the Auburn Gresham community.
Vanessa Benitez
Program Lead
Vanessa Benitez (she/ella) recently earned her degree in Psychology at Northeastern Illinois University. She is the first former NEIU intern to be hired as a Program Lead at SitStayRead. Passionate about working with young children, Vanessa values meaningful interactions that allow her to learn and grow alongside them. She’s excited to bring her Spanish language skills into SitStayRead classrooms, build strong connections with students, and help foster a lifelong love of reading. Vanessa enjoys cinema, trying new cuisines, and spending quality time with her family and friends.
Boni Fine
Program Lead
Boni (she/ella) has served in executive management roles in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Over the years of a career largely devoted to the newspaper business, she developed a passion for literacy and understands that the earlier a child acquires foundational literacy skills and habits, the more options they will have, and the better their academic and life outcomes will be. Her dog, Toby, is a Certified Reading Assistant Dog. She has been a dedicated volunteer with Toby for many years and has joined the team as a Program Lead in spring 2025, and looks forward to returning to Brunson and Drake CPS first grades in 2025-26.
Briana McLean
Curriculum Consultant
Briana (she/ella) holds an M.S. in Early Childhood Education and has over 14 years of experience working within the world of early learning as a classroom educator, coach of new teachers, children’s author, curriculum developer, and program developer. Her current work is rooted in expanding access to joyful literacy programs that center and celebrate the lived experience of students and families. Briana believes community learning spaces hold the power to be transformative and is thrilled to be a part of the SSR team. Over the summer of 2025, Bri worked alongside staff, volunteers, program partners, and participant families to refine and evaluate SitStayRead’s pilot early childhood family literacy program. Check out Bri’s first book, Too Fly Not to Fly.
Selena Clark
Operations Coordinator
Selena (she/ella) joined SitStayRead as an experienced Gallerist, Bookseller, Events Organizer, and Artist. With an M.A. in Art History and Curation, she has a strong background in supporting the arts. At SitStayRead she supports operational and fundraising capacity, helping optimize the flow of information across systems and between people, while fostering a culture of transparency, belonging and recognition.
She is a passionate advocate for literacy and the arts, a devoted dog and cat mom, and is thrilled to be a part of the SitStayRead team.
Deitra Lawson, CPA MBA
Accountant
Deitra Lawson (she/ella) is the Owner and Principal Accountant at Dignissim Accounting, LLC, where she brings over 16 years of specialized expertise in nonprofit accounting.
Deitra holds an MBA with a concentration in Healthcare Management from Loyola University Chicago, is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the State of Illinois, and is QuickBooks ProAdvisor Certified. Under her leadership, Dignissim Accounting has become a trusted partner for nonprofit organizations, and is proudly certified as a Women Business Enterprise (WBE) and Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) by the City of Chicago.
Outside of her professional life, Deitra enjoys traveling with her son and spending time outdoors with her two playful puppies.
SIT STAY READ BOARD 2025-26
Sarah Inciong, Co-President
Senior Vice President, Allstate Property-Liability Sales and Distribution
Qiana McNary-Licorish, Co-President
Senior Talent Acquisition Partner, Bezos Academy
Jeannie Folk CPA, Treasurer
Program Director, Northwestern University
Luciano DeNisco CPA, Secretary
Director - Business Performance Improvement, Protiviti
Caitlin Boline EdD
Solution Architect, LEGO Education
Jamillah Davis
Principal Embedded Systems Architect, Motorola Solutions
Carmen Gonzalez
DEI Consultant and Community Leader
Christina Ho PMP
Senior Environmental Program Manager, Comed ~ An Exelon Company
Kevin Kinnamon CPA
Audit Managing Director, KPMG
Peggy Walden CPA
Community Leader
Andrew Weiner CPA
Principal - Strategic Resources Group, Cressey & Company