Our Board Members

Melainya is a licensed clinical professional counselor, a yoga educator, a meditation instructor, and a transformational coach.  She has more than a decade’s experience working in the mental health field and collaborating with community organizations to address the gap in mental health resources in Beaverhead County.  She is passionate about and advocates strongly for the freedom and joy that each of us have access to within ourselves. Her greatest joy is love: the opportunity to love herself and others and believes deeply in the good of humanity. Her soul guides, her heart listens, and her human aligns.

Lou is a yogic practitioner, teacher and spiritual guide whose path began early in life, with a formal awakening unfolding in India more than 17 years ago. Traveling there for instruction, Lou returned profoundly changed; carrying an embodied understanding of practice rather than theory alone. Her teacher, Yogirishi Vishva-ji, shared Hindu philosophy through light-hearted devotion and presence, teachings that continue to inform her work and way of being. Lou has completed over 1,600 hours of training and teaching in Kundalini, Kriya, Hatha and Shabd Yoga, alongside extensive continuing education in Reiki, sound healing, Ayurveda and most recently Inner Alignment somatic coaching. She is a Registered Yoga Alliance Teacher, a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider, and is listed on the American Yoga Council directory. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Colorado State University, allowing her to bridge spiritual depth with grounded leadership and structure.

Sally is a writer/teacher/Mom/yoga practitioner/hiker from Dillon, Montana. Originally from Ohio, she’s lived in Chicago, Connecticut, and California. However, she fell in love with Montana when she came here for graduate school. Having received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Montana in Missoula, she's had work published in rattle, Ekphrastic Review, Writing in a Woman's Voice, the Sun, Room, Hole in the Head Review and Oyster River Pages. Surprisingly—to her—she recently got honorable mention for her poem “Airbnb” for a humor contest. She doesn’t really think of her writing as funny. She’s taught writing for many years now, at colleges, at elementary schools, for teens, for tweens, and at all-girls writing workshops. Currently, she teaches at University of Montana Western. Besides writing, she loves hiking and taking pictures on her iPhone.

Pam enjoyed a career as an environmental scientist. Spending the last 10 years of her career administering State grants to protect water quality. After retirement she moved to Dillon and enjoys many different activities most involve moving the body. She has volunteered with the Walking School Bus, obtained her Level 1 certificate to coach Crossfit at Topo Fitness, and is learning to practice yoga. She also enjoys reading and is currently involved in two book-clubs. She is continuing to pursue a healthy active life with her husband  of 33 years.

Jess found her way to Vibrant Lives through what she loves most; community, creativity, and the transformative power of wellness. After a career in optical, some time at the Dillon Public Library, she then began volunteering with Vibrant Lives before stepping into her role as the new incoming director. She brings her passion for connection to coordinating workshops, nurturing relationships with facilitators and donors, and supporting the organization's mission. An eclectic spiritual explorer Jess believes in the transformational power that happens when people gather with intention to explore wellness, creativity, and personal growth.