Meet the Board
Regine L. Sawyer
Coordinator & Founder
Regine L. Sawyer is a comics writer, editor, and founder of Women in Comics Collective International. She is the author of The Rippers, Eating Vampires and Ice Witch. She is owner, writer, and creator for Lockett Down Productions, a small press publishing house that established in December of 2007. Women in Comics Collective International aka “WinC” was founded in May 2012 after hosting a Women in Comics panel at Bronx Heroes Comic Con. At the panel, she recognized a highly underrepresented community of women of color in the comic book industry. She is also a 3 time Glyph Award judge, a 2019 Glyph Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient, a National Book Foundation Writing Camp Fellow, and a Kickstarter Creator-in-Residence Alum. In addition, Regine has written articles and essays discussing Race, Culture and Gender in Comics via Marvel Comics, Lion Forge, Graphic Policy, The Freelancer’s Union, Comic Book Resources and Time Magazine.
Michele St. Martin
Founding Member
Born in NYC on a cold winter’s night in December (year unknown, shame on you nosy people), Michele was joyfully initiated into a strange family who weaned her on Famous Monsters magazine, EC / Warren / Marvel & DC Comics, Heavy Metal (both the genre and the magazine), Acid Rock, Kung-Fu & Exploitation flicks and all things Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Later in life she attended and graduated from Manhattan’s High School of Art & Design and took art classes at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute. Soon after she began illustrating for various companies, publications and private clients. In addition, Michele is a veteran Corporate Book Buyer and has been a field reporter and co-host at Catch ‘Da Craze podcast, a guest host for The Monster Sci-Fi Show podcast as well as a contributing writer and media reviewer for Blerd Galaxy Magazine.
Vanee Smith-Matsalia
West Coast WinC Chapter Leader & WinC-EDU Creator
Vanee Smith-Matsalia is a veteran educator who is passionate about Educational Justice and Anti-Racism in schools. She serves on the board of BeBlac.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to the social and financial well being of the Black community and BlerdGalaxy.org, a Nerd Media outlet focused on black, indie and educational intersections.
Alice Meichi Li
Alice Meichi Li is a bisexual illustrator who grew up in Detroit, MI and currently lives in Queens, NY. She has won several awards for her artwork from the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles, including the Silver Award for Graphic Novels. Her art has been published in Oni Press, Dark Horse, Image Comics, Archie Comics, Titan Entertainment, Del Rey, Insight Editions, and more. She currently exhibits her art at Gallery 1988, and contributes think pieces to Idobi Radio on Asian American pop culture.
Dr. Shamika Mitchell
Dr. Shamika Ann Mitchell is English faculty at Rockland Community College, State University of New York. Her interests are Hip Hop, American literature, comics, popular culture, ethnicity, identity, and subjectivity. She is the creator of #SalaamFandom, an initiative to celebrate and uplift Muslims in all aspects of fandom. Her writing has been published in various texts, including Unstable Masks: Whiteness and American Superhero Comics, Black Muslim Reads, Gloria Naylor’s Fiction: Contemporary Explorations of Class and Capitalism, Icons of Hip Hop, and Women on Women: Indian Women Writers’ Perspectives on Women.
