June 12, 2025
Book Launch

Artifact Events, Chicago

Stephanie Rogers

**Stephanie Rogers** (songwriter) is the host, creator, and producer of STORY JAM. She’s been in dozens of rock, pop, and folk bands, and she she has acted in theatre, film, and TV. With a B.A. theatre degree from Northwestern University, and a master's in writing from National Louis University, Steph leads storytelling classes and workshops for Story Jam Studio., which she created in 2018. Learn more about Steph .

Chuck Lacy

**Chuck Lacy** (drums) was encouraged to go into music by his talented family. He started playing drums at age 12 for his church and soon began working for various churches and community choirs. He went on to study music in high school learning to read and study different genres of music. In college he began working in local Jazz, Blues, R&B, and Rock clubs as well as working for many cooperate bands. Today he is a working fixture in Chicago’s music scene and beyond playing everything from country to neo-soul. He has worked with: Ana Popovic, Buddy Guy, Keb Mo, Rahsaan Patterson, Avery Sunshune, Regina Belle, Shirley Murdock, Angela Winbush, Miki Howard, K-Jon, Kenya, Mike Phillips, Shana Tucker, Vince Ingala, Steve Oliver, Marion Meadows, Norman Brown, Larry Carlton, Marc Antoine, Phil Denny, Paul Taylor, and many more. He tours with Folk/Rock artist Peter Himmelman, Gospel Legends The Caravans, Edwin Hawkins, Richard Smallwood, Donnie McClurkin, and many more. In addition to being a drummer he is also a songwriter and producer. One of the projects he produced, “Music Made Rhythm” by Kenya, was considered for a Grammy nomination. Another project he co-produced was #1 on the UK Soul Charts. He is also the music director for Just Friends as well as MTV Star Maker runner up Melody Angel. Chuck is equally busy on stage and in the studio drawing on his various influences to create good music. Chuck Lacy is a Sabian Cymbals and Reunion Blues artist.

Xoe Wise

**Xoe Wise** (songwriter) began playing music around 8 when she was enlisted as a triangle player for a local Zydeco band. Her releases have spanned folk to rock. Xoe has also been seen and heard in Netflix shows such as Sense8, and Showtimes Work in Progress. Xoe enjoys making records, comedic improv songs, and homemade hot sauce. In 2020 Forbes magazine and Chicago Tribune featured her series “Curbside Live” where she played pop up shows off her motor scooter to raise money for local music venues and bring some joy to carry out lines. Wise’s music has been recognized by NPR and Huffington post. You can find her not only on stage but also developing songwriting and music programs for Chicago LGBTQ youth that help inspire self-exploration, like music did for her as a young queer artist looking for ways to heal. Xoe holds a BS in psychology and a master’s in social work, focusing on music as body-focused (trauma responsive) psychotherapy and creative arts care.

Rafe Bradford

**Rafe Bradford** (bass) who studied double bass performance at the University of Illinois, has toured and worked with many great jazz, pop, and R&B greats, including Nancy Wilson, Stanley Turrentine, McCoy Tyner, Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, and David Foster. On The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Rafe performed with Luther Vandross, Mavis Staples, and many others in the live house band. He was in The Bonnie Hunt show band with Paul Shaffer, The Swell Season, and Dave Koz, and he is famous for playing bass for Patti LaBelle on Oprah’s theme song. Rafe teaches, plays all around Chicago, and he owns music mastering company.

John Bowes

One of the “go-to” guys in Chicago when looking for a soulful sax sound, **John Bowes’s** (sax, flute) early influences include Rufus, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Tower of Power, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and almost anything Motown. He received musical training at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.
John has recorded with and arranged for a variety of bands in Chicago, among them the Grammy-nominated debut CD of the 911 Mambo Orchestra, The Buckinghams, Pete Special, BrotherBrother, Dick Holliday and the Bamboo Gang, Uneek, and The Robert Cornelius 7.
Artists who have called upon John to lend his talents to their concerts include Aretha Franklin, Melissa Etheridge, The O’Jays, The Funk Brothers (Motown Studio Band), Bettye LaVette, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Lou Rawls, The Supremes, The Dells, and many others. He can be heard on the soundtrack to the Stanley Tucci film, “The Impostors”. Theater performances include “Love, Janis” (based on the life of Janis Joplin) at the Royal George Theater, Chicago, and “Imagine Tap”, which had its world premiere at the Harris Theater, Chicago.

Cathy Colton

**Cathy Colton** (storyteller) is a recently-retired English professor, who has enjoyed her time in the Writing Room over the last few years. She lives very close to Lake Michigan, one of her favorite places to walk, sit and think, or play in the water. Inside, she is often required to serve as a lap for one of the six cats sharing her and her husband’s home. Her poetry and creative non-fiction have been published in *Willow Review, Seeds,* and now *Stories from the Writing Room.*

Oshada

**Oshada Jagodzinski** (storyteller) is a psychic medium, teacher, and author. She is a spiritual counselor who works with the dying, the bereaved, and those seeking an understanding of continued life after the change called death. Her book, “My Life Among the Spirits,” is a memoir of her experiences with the spirit world. She can reached at www.oshada.com

Marya Frankel

**Marya Frankel** (storyteller) grew up in San Jose CA and Chicago. In the 1990’s she worked in a bank, taught junior high, and most notably, was one of the worst office temps in the Windy City. In 2019, Marya took a Story Jam story telling workshop and has been performing ever since. Now that Marya and her husband are empty nesters, she decided to re-enter the workforce, this time as a preschool teacher. Oh the tales she could tell!

Maggie Cain

Maggie Cain (storyteller) has been an actor for a long time and a storyteller for a short time. She has also been short for a long time. She has played old ladies in Pornography at Steep Theatre and in the Jeff-award winning Men Should Weep at Griffin Theatre. She played Amanda Wingfield in 100+ performances of The Glass Menagerie at Mary-Arrchie and Theatre Wit. She has also worked at Goodman, Steppenwolf, Northlight, Chicago Dramatists, The Factory, Broken Nose, City Lit, Pride Arts and Raven theatres, pretending to be everyone from Anne Frank to Mrs. Claus. She’s a three-time choral gold-medalist with Sweet Adelines International and is now a member of the champion New Tradition Chorus. You may have seen her on Chicago Fire, in her COVID TIME YouTube videos or Watching Game of Thrones with Your Mom. She is now enjoying performing as herself.

Ria Spencer

**Ria Spencer** (storyteller) is an aspiring world traveler and wannabe foodie who’s spent years belting classic rock and sweet soul music for marginally sober audiences with her band Girls on Top. She’s also delighted to be a grown-ass woman who’s lived long enough to have some stories to tell. Ria produced and hosted Where Are They Now: The GenX Years in the New York Frigid Festival and has also appeared on the No Name Comedy/Variety Show, RISK!, Better Said Than Done, Dead Rock Stars and The Volume Knob.

LaShera Moore

**LaShera Moore (singer)** is a singer, lyricist, actress, member of the Chicago Cabaret Professionals, and Graduate from Columbia College Chicago, where she received her B.A. in Vocal Performance.
In 2022, she was the 1st recipient of the prestigious Denise Tomasello Emerging Artist Scholarship Award.
At Columbia, she became known for her versaility, which led her to work with such greats as New York Voices, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Mavis Staples, Brian Culbertson, and other respected pros. Since college, she has sung with Frieda Lee, Lynne Jordan, Kimberly Gordon, Margaret Murphy-Webb, Michele Thomas, Anne Burrell, Tecora Rogers, Greta Pope, Cynthia Clarey, Jenifer French, Jeannie Tanner, Ellen Winters Reynolds under Daryl Nitz Entertainment, and Story Jam.
She is currently a freelance vocalist while singing with the Soundtracks of a Generation, embodying Aretha Franklin in the show titled "R.E.S.P.E.C.T." She regularly works with Mike Zabrin & the Funktastic Band, and the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective.

Fred Simon

**Fred Simon** (keys) has been making music for more than thirty years, composing for records, live performance, film, dance, and television, with instrumentation ranging from solo piano to symphonic orchestra. His recorded work includes seven albums of original music under his name, three albums (as principle composer) with the Simon and Bard Group, numerous appearances on compilations and samplers, and many appearances as side-musician.

Dave Hiltebrand

**Dave Hiltebrand** (guitar) has been a full-time musician for over 25 years. Since graduating from DePaul University School of Music, Dave has had extensive experience as a performer, composer and studio musician. Highlights include the Broadway National Tour of Jersey Boys, co-writing and co-producing two national top-ten songs, composing work for clients including the Oprah Winfrey Show, Nike and Allstate, and tours to South Africa, Cuba, Spain, Italy and Egypt. His debut solo guitar album Yoguitar, Vol. 1 was released in 2016. Dave is currently an adjunct professor of Digital Music at Elmhurst University.

Jerome Collins

**Jerome JC Collins** (vocalist) is a vibrant artist known for soulful melodies and powerful storytelling. Originally from Chicago's South Side, he now enriches Charlotte, NC, with his diverse cultural blend (fine-arts painter, singer/songwriter, music producer, photographer, author.
A seasoned performer and songwriter, Jerome skillfully blends neo-soul, gospel, R&B, and jazz, creating heartfelt music that deeply resonates with audiences.
Jerome JC Collins’ music thoughtfully explores life's beauty and complexity. He also advocates for creative empowerment through initiatives like Harmonic Impact Studio, promoting creativity and community.
Jerome serves as Board Chair of JOYEMOVEMENT, a nonprofit contemporary dance company dedicated to artistic excellence.
Today's performance promises an inspiring, soulful experience celebrating art and storytelling.

Alisa Niles

**Alisa Niles** (vocals) hails from the Windy City as an accomplished vocalist and songwriter. Alisa's vocals have been featured in lead and background vocals for a number of award winning artists locally and nationally, including Samotta Acklin, the daughter of legendary artist Barbara Acklin and Marshall Thompson of The Chi-lites. Her work can be viewed on Facebook and InstaGram.

Francesca Sobrer

Recognizing that her first career choice of professional sea siren was too ambitious, **Francesca** (storyteller) went to the next obvious option: High school English and theatre teacher where she realized the power of the personal narrative. Semi-retired from teaching, she is also an actor and stage director. Her favorite thing to do is work with other artists and help them craft and tell the best version of their stories. A multi MothStorySLAM winner Francesca tells stories wherever and whenever she can.

Kory May

Kory May tells stories to make sense of the world. Since the world doesn’t make sense, he continues to tell stories.
From childhood storytelling to winning Moth GrandSlams and performing on a Moth Mainstage, Kory has made his mark as a powerhouse storyteller across the Midwest. As a founding member of TellersBridge, an Eastern Iowa storytelling collective, and a facilitator for Story Jam’s “The Cocoon,” he’s deeply committed to building and enriching storytelling communities. His latest venture into personal narrative prose adds another layer to his creative journey.
For a taste of his work, check out a clip of his last appearance at Story Jam, or Grit Talks in the Des Moines Storytellers Project. He’s also shared his talents with Spring Grove Storytelling.

Katherine Hoffman

Katherine E. Hoffman is an anthropologist and professor at Northwestern University. Her research on law, colonialism, and language is based in North Africa and France from the early 20th c. to the present. She is author of We Share Walls: Language, Land and Gender in Berber Morocco (2008, Wiley-Blackwell) and the forthcoming Mirror of the Soul: Amazigh Legal Worlds and Words under the French Protectorate (2026, Indiana University Press) and is co-editor of Berbers and Others: Beyond Tribe and Nation in the Maghrib (Indiana University Press, 2010). Katherine is a life coach, asylum expert, and consultant with clients such as National Geographic and Fodor’s. She lives in Highland Park with her high school fisherfolk twins.

June 12, 2025 Book Launch

Artifact Events, Chicago

June 12, 2025
Book Launch