Jessica Lowell Mason ~ Co-founder, Inter-regional Director, and Lead Organizer
Jessica has served as MITA’s inter-regional literacy director since the organization was co-founded in 2017. As inter-regional literacy director and a lead organizer, Jess dedicates much of her time to developing the organization and expanding the reach of the organization’s impact. Much of her time is also devoted to planning, developing, and facilitating meetings and events, engaging in outreach with other organizations, handling public relations for meetings and events, offering membership support to members and allies, managing MITA’s social media accounts and communications, developing and maintaining the organization’s website, and serving as a representative of the organization. Her voluntary work as a regional and inter-regional meeting leader, events coordinator, and project developer/facilitator is crucial to the survival of the organization.
Melissa Bennett ~ Co-founder, Regional Literacy Director and Lead Organizer
Melissa has served as a MITA lead organizer and regional literacy director for the western New York region (Erie and Niagara Counties, NY) since the organization was co-founded in 2017. Her leadership and dedication were vital to the creation and legitimization of the organization, at its inception, and her work as an ally to women and gender non-conforming people affected by the mental health system has helped to sustain and carry out MITA’s mission. Her voluntary work as a regional meeting leader, events coordinator, and project facilitator is crucial to the survival of the organization.
Hanna Etu ~ Rochester, New York Regional Literacy Director and Lead Organizer
Hanna has served as a MITA literacy director and lead organizer since the organization’s first year, in 2017. She started out as a member, but took on greater responsibilities and a leadership role within the organization from an early point in its development, leading meetings, providing editorial consultation, and offering time and expertise steadfastly. Her voluntary work as a regional meeting leader, events coordinator, and project facilitator is invaluable to the survival of the organization. In 2020, Hanna became our literacy director for the Rochester Region (Monroe County, NY).
Ebehitale Imobhio – Western New York Regional Director and Lead Organizer
Ebehitale Imobhio (she/her/hers) became a lead organizer and regional literacy director for the western New York region (Erie and Niagara Counties, NY) in June 2025. As a literacy director and organizer, she hopes to uplift the voices of MITA members and uphold the values of this organization. She has always strived to advance the march towards equity and hopes that she can help to create a world where marginalized people can be their authentic selves in all aspects of their lives without fear of censure.
Summer Javadi ~ Kansas City, Missouri Regional Director
Summer joined MITA in 2019 and began serving as a MITA literacy director for the the Kansas City, Missouri region in 2020. She has planning service collaborations with Poetry for Personal Power as well as provided literacy project direction within the intergenerational trauma action program. Summer was MITA’s July 2020 featured writer and published her work, Zen Tao Ghi: DNA Untangled, which she uses as a platform to help create dialogue and advocacy for Mad pride literacy campaigns. She also advocates for an intercultural relations approach among those with mental health adversities.
Arianna Taylor – Chautauqua County, New York Regional Director
Arianna’s first encounter with MITA was through her membership in the “Memoirs to Re:Imagine Mental Healthcare” workshop in the fall of 2024. She is now a founding member of the Mad Writing Collective and began serving as a MITA literacy director for the western New York region–specifically Chautauqua county–in 2025. Coming from a low-income household in Jamestown, NY, she has seen and experienced the harsh realities that come along with ineffective mental health treatments and extensive stigmatized views of addiction. Ari was MITA’s May 2025 featured writer, publishing “Mary,” a memoir piece dedicated to voicing childhood trauma that ultimately formed from a lack of sufficient resources to tackle prevalent mental health-based issues in the Jamestown area. Identifying as mad herself, she aims to redefine her personal spirituality, break generational cycles, and encourage others to share their stories.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer regional literacy director in your area, please contact us at madwomenofwny@gmail.com with a letter of interest and intent. Please include information about why you are interested and want to be a volunteer literacy director, your relevant experience with mental health or madness literacy, and why you feel will make you an effective literacy director in your local area. Literacy directors will stay in touch with MITA to send us agendas for local meetings – we ask that certain rituals be practiced, such as efforts to create a safer space for LGBTQ+ folx and an anti-racist non-coercive space, reading aloud the work of MITA’s featured writer of the month, and incorporating open sharing, support, and literacy projects into meetings.
Madwomen in the Attic 