Our writing seminars are where the best writers of today pay it forward to the most promising writers of tomorrow. The stories of military spouses during 17 years at war have largely remained untold. We are excited to work together alongside our third class of War Horse fellows to change this narrative.
Meet the Fellows
Joanna Guldin-Noll
Joanna Guldin-Noll lives in Central Pennsylvania with her husband, John, who served in Afghanistan from 2012 to 2013. Joanna has worked in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She has been published by digital and print publications including Urbanite, Huffington Post, and Military Spouse. Currently, she is the social media manager at Military.com. She is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Matthew Hefti
Matthew J. Hefti is the author of “A Hard and Heavy Thing.” He spent 12 years as an explosive ordnance disposal technician, deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan four times. While enlisted, he earned a bachelor’s in English and an MFA in fiction. He is now in his final year at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He has contributed to the anthologies “MFA vs. NYC,” “Retire the Colors” (Hudson Whitman, forthcoming), and “The Road Ahead: Stories of the Forever War” (Pegasus, forthcoming). Among others, he has been published in Electric Literature; Vol. 1 Brooklyn; Literary Hub; and War, Literature & the Arts. He is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Sue Hoppin
Sue Hoppin is a nationally recognized expert on military spouse and family issues, working to bridge the cultural gap between government, private, and public groups and military communities. She is an advocate, published author, and consultant with more than 20 years of experience and expertise in military community programs. She is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Mike Lee
Mike Lee is the manager of brand and creative services at Team Rubicon. Over the past decade, Lee’s commitment to serving others led him to attend a Jesuit university where he organized service trips for students and staff to Costa Rica, the Gulf Coast, Haiti, and Tanzania. Lee became involved in working with our nation’s returning veterans, first through the student veterans organization at Loyola Marymount University and as a volunteer and staff member at Team Rubicon. He currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Liz, and an uncoordinated polydactyl cat named Pilar. He is a long-suffering Chicago sports fan who may or may not have openly wept when the Cubs won the 2016 World Series. He is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Kate Logan
Kate Logan served in the U.S. Army as a mechanic, a member of a female security detachment, and a public affairs specialist. She deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, with the 1st Infantry Division in 2007-08, joined the Army Reserves in 2009, and finished her service in the Michigan Army National Guard. Logan is a Central Michigan University graduate, earning both a bachelor’s degree in public administration and community development and a master’s degree in health services administration. Logan was the founding member and president of two Student Veterans of America chapters and now works for the Michigan Veteran Affairs Agency as the Metro-Detroit regional coordinator. She is a board member for the Women’s Alliance of Oakland County and is an advocate for women in public office. She is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Sally Ma
Sally Ma is a research librarian in the defense industry. She was a community blogger for HamptonRoads.com, a regional guide to southeastern Virginia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and sociology from California State University, Long Beach, and a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A California native, she currently lives in El Paso, Texas, with her family. She enjoys being outdoors, trying new foods, and volunteering in the community. She is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Samantha Moorhead
Samantha Moorhead grew up in Greenville, South Carolina. She moved to Columbia, South Carolina, where she met her wife, Kirsten, playing rugby for the Columbia Bombshells. Moorhead has played rugby for 11 years for four different teams. She currently plays for the D.C. Furies. When she’s not on the rugby field, Moorhead is an avid hiker, climber, and reader. She is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Molly Pearl
Molly Pearl is a social worker and veteran spouse/caregiver. She is passionate about economic justice, dis/ability, and exploring the space between science fiction and reality. Pearl resides in Brooklyn with her husband and cats. She is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Elizabeth Persaud-Lawler
Elizabeth Persaud-Lawler is an educator, committed to student-centered learning and changing school culture. She holds a bachelor’s in early childhood education and sociology from the University at Buffalo and a master’s in special education from Hunter College. Persaud-Lawler is currently working on a post-master’s degree in educational leadership from George Washington University. Persaud-Lawler was born and raised in New York City and currently resides in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband and two dogs. She is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Sara Poquette
Sara Poquette served in the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 139th and 112th Mobile Public Affairs Detachments in Madison from 2001-2012. She now lives in Colorado with her husband and son. She is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Angela Ricketts
Angela Ricketts is an Army brat turned Army wife who has spent her entire life submerged in the often secretive and tightly knit subculture of Army infantry families. She holds a master’s degree in social psychology. Her first book and memoir, “No Man’s War: Irreverent Confessions of an Infantry Wife,” was critically lauded and featured on NPR’s Fresh Air. Ricketts has appeared on MSNBC and CNN and is a reluctant and frequent guest of Fox News. She lives in Bloomington, Indiana, with her husband of 26 years, a retired infantry officer with eight combat tours during his 31 years of military service. Together, they have three spirited children. Ricketts is hard at work on her second memoir. She is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Sarah Schmidt
For the past decade, Sarah Schmidt has advocated for children and families across the United States and overseas. Schmidt has worked as an early childhood educator; director; preschool coordination, family resource, and referral specialist; and currently as a parent educator. The majority of her professional experience has been serving children and families who are considered “at risk.” Schmidt has volunteered with various Marine Corps Family Readiness commands all over the world since 2009 and was recognized as an Outstanding Military Spouse in 2012 for her commitment to serving military families. In her spare time, Schmidt enjoys being a soccer mom and managing the chaos of her two brilliant and beautiful children, random acts of kindness, and spending time in the Northwoods of Wisconsin sipping an old-fashioned. She is a 2018 War Horse fellow.
Meet the Mentors
Thank you to each of the generous guest speakers who volunteer their time to inspire and mentor our War Horse fellows.
Mark Bowden —Award-winning author and bestselling author of “Black Hawk Down”
Josh Friedman —Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and vice chair at The Carey Institute for Global Good
Elana Newman — R.M. McFarlin professor of psychology at The University of Tulsa
Finbarr O’Reilly —World Press photo winner
Robert Rosenthal —Award-winning journalist and former executive director of The Center for Investigative Reporting
Stuart Krichevsky — Literary agent at SK Agency
Wendy Wolf — Vice president and associate publisher of Viking
We did a lot of staying in our lane as spouses, and kind of kept quiet, but in reality we have all of these incredible stories to be told. To be able to be offered this week to do nothing but reflect on the life we’ve had thus far and to dedicate that to writing and making something meaningful from that was really incredible.
