Staff
Linden Brown-Wren (they/them)
Building Manager
Linden lives in East Lansing and spends their time as a proud spouse and a stay at home Mapa to 3 kids. They have been with Salus Center since its opening and currently act as communications director. They are passionate about LGBTQIA+ families, youth, and general community outreach.
Frank Heveran (he/him, they/them)
Program Director
Frank lives on the Eastside with his best friend, their two cats, and flock of five chickens. He loves playing in the dirt: making pottery, hiking, and trying new things in the outdoors. He's passionate about creating programming that builds community by forming new connections and friendships, fulfilling folks' needs, and welcoming all.
Board of Directors
Cait Schneider (she/her)
Cait is a longtime Eastside Lansing resident, where she co-parents two amazing kids, renovates houses, and runs a community garden. She is passionate about LGBTQIA+ empowerment and creating healing through shared spaces of joy. Currently, she is the garden director at a low-income housing nonprofit, where her work addresses the intersectional barriers to healthy food access. You can frequently find her at the Allen Farmers Market or Babe's Corner, laughing very loudly.
Chelsea Fristoe (she/her)
Chelsea Fristoe grew up in Lafayette, Indiana and came to Michigan for her Master's program at MSU in 2008. She decided Lansing was a pretty cool place, and has lived here ever since. Chelsea is passionate about community, dogs, and the power of strong communication. Outside of work, she enjoys being outdoors, renovating her 1927 home, traveling, and spending time with her wife and their many fur children. She is thrilled for the opportunity to serve on the Salus Center Board of Directors and looks forward to continuing to expand the resources available for the LGBTQIA+ community of Greater Lansing.
Geoffrey Johns (he/him)
Treasurer
Geoffrey lives in the Eastside neighborhood with his best friend and their two cats. He teaches writing at MSU, where he's also an alum. As a queer educator, he's committed to dismantling everyday binaries (including what "good" and "bad" writing looks like). He taught for three years in CMU's Women and Gender Studies program, and has worked closely with the Institute for Transformative Dialogue to facilitate conversations that promote social equity and focused allyship. He loves tabletop gaming, learning (and making) new recipes, watching (and riffing) old movies, and anything related to house genealogy or local history research.
Jae Puckett (they/them)
Jae Puckett is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University. They also direct a research team (Trans-ilience) focused on the experiences of stress and resilience in transgender and gender diverse communities. As a clinical psychologist they also provide therapy services at Wild Ferns Wellness. In their spare time, Jae enjoys gardening and spending time outdoors.
Julia Kramer (she/they)
Secretary
Julia Kramer is a queer white person who lives in the Eastside neighborhood of Lansing. She is currently employed as the Assistant Director of the Michigan Farmers Market Association, where they support farmers markets and other food access and food justice initiatives all across the state. She volunteers at Tender Heart Gardens, a queer & trans gardening collective. They are interested in cultivating queer joy, interdependence, and strategies to move us towards a more equitable and pleasurable community.
Laurel Tilot (they/them)
Co-President
Laurel is a lifelong learner, writer, and friend to many. They moved to Lansing in 2017 and got connected with their southside community through yoga and the Salus Center, which they then joined in 2022. Laurel works in diversity, equity, and inclusion for a Lansing-based public policy firm, advising on internal policy and external communications efforts. Outside of work, they’re a cat-loving, nature-situated, Americano-addicted cryptid.
LeChele Parris (she/her)
LeChele was raised in Haslett, Michigan and now resides in East Lansing. She is the extremely proud mother of three beautiful children, the loving and devoted spouse to her wife, and fur mom to her American bulldog. She is spiritual and is learning how to be present, enjoys camping/kayaking, a lover of dogs (she wants all the dogs), enjoys building community, loves traveling, loves tending to her flowers and garden, and believes there are no better foods on earth other than wedding cake and nachos.
She is looking forward to this opportunity to get back into community/outreach/resource work! Her heart has longed for this for quite some time, especially having worked in state government for the last 20 years. Additionally, she placed raising her children and completing her bachelor of science in Psychology, as priorities, which delayed her ambitions. However, although still a 40hour a week employee, her children are much older now, she has completed her degree, and has thee most supportive spouse she could ask for, so, "let's do this!"
Mick Teti-Beaudin (she/her)
Mick is an abolitionist educator who has been teaching reading and writing at community colleges for over ten years. She grew up just outside Philadelphia and moved to Lansing in 2021, where she lives with her husband, four cats, and the world's sweetest elderly pitbull. She is a lifelong cat lover, avid reader, prolific knitter, novice gardener, and devoted DND player (chaotic good alignment, if you're wondering).
