Collective
Blossom House is a collective of artists, teachers, facilitators, practitioners, and folks with a keen eye on social justice and a passion for cultivating healthy and resilient communities.
Amanda Bent, RYT
Amanda Bent is a Registered Yoga Teacher, RYT-200, in Tantra Yoga. She also loves Core, Power, New Yoga, Kundalini, Moving Meditation, Vinyasa Flow, and Hatha Yoga. Amanda teaches Yoga Variations which is a class for exploring different branches and concepts in yoga. While her classes will always have roots in tradition, they will also be approached creatively. Students are encouraged to bring concepts and practices to the mat. Expect either a traditional class with sequences and approaches from various branches blended together, or a workshop style class where subjects such as modifications or inversions are discussed at length. All levels of yoga experience are welcome.
Kendra Calhoun, MS, RYT
Kendra Calhoun is a Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance. Kendra began studying Thai Bodywork (Norat Boran) in 2012. She began practicing yoga seriously in 2009 and received her 200 RYT certification in 2013 from Yandara Yoga Institute (RYS). She’s been teaching yoga to children in after school programs in Alaska and has also taught and assisted adult yoga classes in and around the Fairbanks area (Infinite Yoga, UAF Yoga Club, Lathrop High School, Tanana) for the last couple of years. She’s also completed workshops with Lynne Minton and Sara Joy Marsh.
Kendra enjoys working with individuals who are new to yoga or who may have a specific yoga goal in mind that they can work toward together. She does her best to provide information and movement that is best suited to her students needs incorporating Thai body techniques into her yoga practice and teaching.
Sarah Doetschman, PhD
Sarah has been the Treasurer for Blossom House since its inception. She has degrees in English, German and Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies and Paralegal Studies; nevertheless, she enjoys accounting and numbers in general. Sarah has been a writer, editor, teacher, court visitor, currently works at the job center, and is a volunteer court appointed special advocate (CASA) for children in state custody. Sarah has a husband and two adult sons both of whom live in Fairbanks: so much yay! She is honored to be among this caring group of people who are walking their talk and making room for others.
Tiumaluali'i Jody Hassel, M.F.A., E-RYT, TCTSY-F
Tiumaluali'i Jody Hassel is a third generation Alaskan raised in the unceded territory of the Lower Tanana Dené also known as Fairbanks. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing which she has put to use as an artist and teacher in Alaska since 1995. Miss Hassel taught English and Drama for the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District for ten years at Ryan Middle School and Effie Kokrine Charter School. Jody has taught for the Fiarbanks Drama Association, University of Alaska Fairbanks' Upward Bound, and RAHI, and has directed shows for Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre among other community productions.
As a transracial adoptee, she is sensitive to her complex positionality within the framework of colonization in Alaska. Through her writing and work, Jody shares an understanding of personal and community struggles and the ways in which yoga and the arts create access to healing and shared power. Jody is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500) with Yoga Alliance and is certified as a Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator (TCTSY-F) by the Justice Resource Institute’s Center for Trauma and Embodiment in Boston. She is also the licensed TCTSY Trainer for Alaska and Hawai'i, and a Mentor of the 300-Hour TCTSY International Certification Program. She teaches both English and Yoga classes at UAF and is a co-founder and Program Director of Blossom House, a nonprofit service organization providing accessible, trauma-informed interventions to isolated communities in Fairbanks.
Jody is part of a collective of artists and yogis who teach writing and practice yoga at Fairbanks Correctional Center, Fairbanks Youth Facility, and Family Centered Services Residential Treatment Center (formerly the Boys and Girls Home). She and her colleagues at Blossom House work with people to create healthy strategies fostering effective action toward community wellness and resilience.
Too Oozhrii Nickoli, B.A.
Too Ooozhrii Nickoli is a social advocate whose primary focus is on Indigenous peoples of Alaska. She uses her gifts as an organizer, strategist, artist, poet, actor, writer and motivational speaker to bring awareness to inequities that marginalized people are subject to as well as to inspire and activate allies in positive social change.
Too received a B.A. in psychology from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2015. She became a Licensed Practical Nurse in 2011. She uses her educational background to address social inequities from a multidimensional perspective. She was a founding core group member and strategist of the Free the Fairbanks Four social movement. She is a founding member of Breadcrumbs Theater, which seeks to give voice to marginalized populations especially to youth.
Too has been speaking publicly for 23 years addressing topics such as the cycle of substance abuse in family systems, socio-economic inequities of the prison industrial complex, Alaska Native empowerment, strengthening cross cultural collaboration and communication, suicide awareness and childhood abuse.
In February of 2016 Too spoke on how the wrongful imprisonment of the Fairbanks Four affected her experience as a mother to Indigenous sons for TEDx. In April of 2016 she acted in a leading role in The Winter Bear, a play addressing suicide awareness and the need for developing safety networks within Indigenous Alaskan communities.
Too is currently working on designing a cross cultural communication class for Explore Fairbanks. In her spare time she is engaged in the ongoing project of writing an autobiography to bring awareness to the challenges adults face when processing severe childhood trauma.
Solveig Pedersen, M.A., CPC
Solveig Pedersen was born and raised in Fairbanks. She is a Certified Professional Coach and holds a master’s degree in Professional Communication. Solveig has been teaching university-level communication courses (public speaking, small group communication, interpersonal communication) since 2006 and became a Certified Professional Coach in 2013. She has a background in nonprofit work - and has worked professionally with issues of peace and nonviolence, literacy, empowerment, women’s wellness, social justice, and youth development. As a coach, Solveig specializes in supporting changemakers and creatives to live, love, and lead with open hearts. She is committed to creating a more peaceful and loving world through her work as a teacher and coach. Solveig resides in Anchorage, but provides life, love, and leadership coaching via distance, and facilitates in person workshops in Fairbanks at the Blossom House throughout the year. You can connect with Solveig via email at solandheart@gmail.com.
Allan Hayton, M.A.
Allan Hayton grew up in Arctic Village, and is the son of Lena Pauline Hayton from Fort Yukon, Alaska, and James T. Hayton from Natick, Massachusetts. His grandparents are Robert and Lena Albert from Tanana and Fort Yukon, Alaska. His Athabascan name is Diton, after his great-grandfather Joseph Hunter of Tanana. Allan serves as the Language Revitalization Program Director at Doyon Foundation. Allan studied Theatre and Film at Haskell Indian Nations University and the University of Kansas, finishing his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1992. Allan later earned a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Amber Reichardt, R.N.
Amber's a lifelong Alaskan who grew up in Anchorage but is now happy to call Fairbanks home. With a professional background in real estate and nursing, she's spent the last few years pursuing a handful of interesting projects with her husband Dan, like home remodeling and engineering consulting. This varied schedule allows for time to volunteer, including running a free weekly community meal called The Well and helping organize a community yoga class at UAF. She's excited to start as the Blossom House Secretary and find new neat ways to serve our great Fairbanks community.