Our Team
Erika Nowlin, Founder & Executive Director
Erika is a native Austinite and former teacher. Austin Allies is her brainchild - born from a need to counteract the increasing negativity she was seeing in the world, and to teach her kids empathy, understanding, and compassion for everyone in their community. She wanted to find a way to make volunteering easier for families (including her own) by creating events and activities with local organizations who needed support. Erika lives in Southwest Austin with her husband and their two daughters.
Marjory Grogan, Administrative Assistant
Marjory was raised right down the road in Wimberley, Texas and has lived in Austin for about 17 years now. Her work background has been in Recruiting and Administrative work up until about 5 years ago when she became a Stay-at-home Mom. Marjory has a very active four year old son who keeps her on her toes and laughing, most of the time. She also loves photography and has really enjoyed taking family photos for friends and of her kiddo. Marjory was drawn to Austin Allies because of the family volunteering opportunities and the chance to really teach her son the value of helping others.
Amy Davis, Project Coordinator
Amy has lived in southwest Austin since 2007 with her husband and 3 children. She is a graduate of Texas State University and has taught grades Pre-K through 2nd grade and coached gymnastics. She has volunteered with her church, schools, scouts, and Austin Allies. Living in 5 different states, Amy discovered it was difficult to find volunteering opportunities for her children. She was immediately drawn to Austin Allies because of the emphasis placed on family volunteering. Amy believes such experience nurtures children into becoming compassionate adults who will develop lifelong commitments of service to their communities.
Our Board
Lea Loy, Board President
Lea Loy is a Strategy Consultant for Ascension Seton, supporting major capital projects for Central Texas hospitals and clinics. Originally from New York, she graduated from Tulane University in 2012 and joined Teach for America as a 6th grade Reading teacher in New Orleans. Lea moved to Austin to earn her Master's at the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and is passionate about the systems that help organizations thrive. She loves how Austin Allies brings families together with the community to make volunteering not only easy but impactful. Lea lives in northwest Austin with her husband, James, and their two dogs.
Kristin Davidson, Treasurer
Kristin is a Senior Manager in Health and Public Service working with Accenture for over 20 years. In her role, Kristin focuses on program management of government programs and integrating IT. Born and raised in Florida, Kristin graduated from Florida State University with a BS in Management Information Systems. When not volunteering with Austin Allies, Kristin and her husband are cheering on her 2 daughters at gymnastics meets or theater performances. Kristin is treasurer/leader of 2 Girl Scout Troops.
Monica de Leon, Board Member
Monica de Leon is a Senior Manager in of the office of Strategy and Operations for Cisco’s United States Public Sector business. In her role, Monica provides program management leadership, focusing on State Government, Local Government, and Education, as well as its US Federal business. A graduate of Texas A&M University, she has been a Seedling Mentor since 2016 and is a Girl Scout Troop leader for her two young daughters’ troops.
Julie Gualandri, Board Member
Julie Gualandri, founder of Julie G Home LLC, is an Austin real estate broker affiliated with Austin Portfolio Real Estate at Keller Williams. She has been serving Austin real estate clients since 2010, and has always integrated community service into her life and practice. As the mother of a now-teenage boy, she discovered the Allies in 2016 as she was working to find community service opportunities she could engage in and include her whole family. Shortly after, she partnered with the Allies as she hosted her own service drives for such organizations as Safe Austin, the Central Texas Food Bank, and Community First. Julie is a Super Fan of the Allies, and became its first Corporate Sponsor in 2020. She is extremely honored and humbled to have the opportunity to continue and expand her support of the Allies as she joins its expanded board of directors.
Katie Creel, Board Member
Katie is co-owner of a higher ed marketing company. She moved back to her home state of Texas in 2009 after working for several nonprofit organizations in the DC area. Katie chose Austin because she and her family wanted a city full of kind, compassionate, and unique individuals who believe in community. She and her husband have two daughters and know that volunteering is an essential part of raising good people who will help others. Katie and her family started volunteering with Austin Allies when her older daughter was only three and remain grateful there is an organization where even the littlest humans can play a part.
Dr. Kris Robinson
Kris Robinson has lived in Austin since 2014, after moving from Minnesota. She is a psychologist specializing in neuropsychological assessment for pediatric and adult populations and co-owned a private practice until recently. Her doctoral degree is in clinical psychology, with emphasis in areas of neuropsychology and forensics. When not participating in Austin Allies activities with her family, she can be found reading and enjoying the beauty of the Austin area. She is thrilled to be part of Austin Allies and hopes to actively support goals of social justice, empathy building, and community connection.
Lisa Raphael, Board Member
Originally from Rochester, NY, Lisa has lived in Southwest Austin since 2007. She is a research and evaluation consultant who is passionate about equitable evaluation approaches that elevate community voice. Her interest areas include mental health/well-being, social and emotional learning, and K-12 education. She has a PhD in Educational Psychology from Michigan State University. Lisa is honored to join the Austin Allies board --an organization that partners with non-profits, engages meaningfully with the community, values the experiences of community members, and actively engages children. Lisa has two children who regularly participate in Austin Allies activities.
Tammy K. Nelson, Secretary
Tammy is a Payment Operations Manager at Apple and a leader in global contact center and financial services operations. She spent 12 years in India, Egypt, the Philippines and Mexico managing international operations for global companies including Citibank. An opportunity in the tech industry brought her to Austin in 2019. She holds an MBA in International Business from the University of Phoenix and a BS in Psychology and International Relations from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, VA.
Tammy has a passion for supporting under-represented communities, providing mentoring/career-building opportunities, building supportive networks for women and raising “good humans.” She loves cooking (exploring new flavors), reading and spending time hiking & biking with her husband, their 2 children and 3 dogs. Since moving to Austin, she has fostered 9 dogs for Austin Pets Alive, supported “get out the vote” initiatives, served as executive advisor to Pride@Facebook, served as co-chair of the Racial Justice Education and Awareness Committee for Facebook global operations, coordinated job description revisions to encourage diverse job applicants and is now eager to extend her passion for community involvement to Austin Allies.
Stella Bromley, Board Member
Stella is a Realtor servicing Northwest Austin. As a former school librarian, she enjoys reading all levels and genres of fiction and even some nonfiction. She is excited to bring her knowledge of K-12 and school libraries to Austin Allies by working in grant coordination and literary events.
She and her husband, spend time gardening, walking the community with their dog, Rango, and watching MotoGP Motorcycle racing. Stella is a trained pastry chef that keeps her skills by preparing family and friends' birthday cakes. She is service-oriented. Volunteering has always been a choice of hers starting with creating a “Volunteer Table” and “Adopt-a-Grandparent” program at the elementary school she worked. This continued with her personal volunteering with Meal-on-Wheels, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Breast Cancer Resource Center, and board member of the Brush Square Museums Foundation.
In Memoriam
Vanessa Lowe, Co-Founder
Vanessa, Austin Allies co-founder and a dear friend, passed away in October 2021 after a fight with cancer. Vanessa was one of the strongest, fiercest, and bravest women we have ever known and we will miss her tremendously.
Vanessa, Erika and two other friends started this organization in 2016 around our kitchen tables. We hoped it would be a way to inject some kindness into a world that we saw spiraling into ugliness, and to teach our own kids the value of doing for others. What Austin Allies has become since then is truly incredible, and Vanessa was so proud of its growth.
Our Kids’ Book Club was her brilliant idea (once a teacher, always a teacher) and what a fun ride that has been. Partnerships with BookPeople and the Texas Book Festival, personal meetings with incredible authors, and watching our Book Club members expand their reading lists and their awareness of the world - it was one of Vanessa’s favorite Austin Allies programs.
Thank you, Vanessa, for your ferocity, your fight for equity for all, and your giant heart. Austin Allies would not be what it is without your influence, drive, and friendship. We love you.
