KaTania "Kat" Brown-Shepherd
Operations Manager

Kat is a freelance virtual assistant and founder of Virtually Possible 365. She left the corporate environment in 2019 to launch her business venture, which would allow her to use the skills and talents she has acquired over the past 30 years to help businesses, associations, and non-profit organizations achieve their goals.   

She has a BA in Marketing and a BA in Healthcare Administration Management/Human Resources. She is a published children's book author. 

When she is wearing a cape trying to save the world, she enjoys spending time with her husband and her rescue pup, Jett. She loves spending time near the water, listening to audiobooks, watching an interesting documentary, true crime, traveling, and seeing her best friends as often as possible. She is a native Detroiter.

She believes the best thing about launching her business is the freedom to pick and choose her clients, so she was eager to join the team.  Working for a purpose.

Raúl Echevarría
Resilience and Advocacy Manager

Raúl is a community development practitioner with more than 20 years of experience, primarily in Humboldt Park, a historical Puerto Rican community in Chicago, IL and, more recently, in the Latino community of Southwest Detroit. Raúl currently is contracted by the Michigan Roundtable for Just Communities to develop and facilitate community organizing trainings and assist in outreach to the Southwest Detroit community.

Raúl is a student at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit pursuing a Doctorate in Ministry degree. He successfully defended his dissertation in December 2025 and will graduate in June 2026. He approaches his work by uniting theories centered on community building/development with theologies based on the liberation of the oppressed, social justice and decolonization. Raúl reflects and expounds on this experience in community building as an Adjunct Faculty at the University of Detroit-Mercy, where he teaches in the Master of Community Development program in the School of Architecture and Community Development.

Raúl has been married to Ana for 23 years, and they have two adult children, Nicholas and Jazzmin. Raúl resides in the Downriver City of Wyandotte, MI.

Dawnesia Johnson-Garland
Program Manager 

Dawnesia enjoys mission and impact-driven work. She has over 20 years of experience in grant administration and non-profit leadership. MIIPL is a chance for her to truly put her faith into action and help to create a more equitable world. She is a proud alumna of Cass Technical High School and Michigan State University. She is a Fellow with Aspen Institute’s Workforce Leadership Academies.

When Dawn is not working to uplift others, she is either shopping or spending time with family and friends. Or busy serving in her local Congregation.

Nicky Marcot
Communications and Special Projects Coordinator

Nicky is a freelance strategist based in Detroit. She works with environmental and conservation nonprofits across southeast Michigan, providing strategic support with community engagement, operations, fundraising, and communications, advancing environmental protection and climate resilience. With over two decades of supporting nonprofits, her background includes urban education and grassroots nonprofit organizing. 

She holds a BA in Secondary Education and English from the University of Detroit Mercy and an MA in Linguistics from Wayne State University.

When she’s not working on environmental and climate issues, she’s tending her urban garden and homeschooling her three daughters on Detroit’s west side.

Leah Wiste
Executive Director

Leah has been on staff at Michigan IPL since 2013 and has been the Executive Director since December 2018. She is deeply invested in advocating on behalf of our sacred, living Earth and all of its creatures. She identifies as a "seeker" and believes people of faith and conscience have a critical role to play in bringing us into the right relationship with the Earth and with each other.

Leah has a BA in Women’s Studies from Carleton College and is ABD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California-Davis.

When she’s not fighting climate change, she’s weeding the garden, buying more books than she will ever read, and trying not to get electrocuted while renovating her house in Detroit's North End.