At Mother Mentors, we envision a community where all families with young children on Whidbey Island thrive through support and connection
Our Leadership
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Laura McAlister
Board President
Since joining the Mother Mentors Board of Directors in 2022, Laura McAlister has drawn on her decades of expertise in early childhood education, parent education, literacy development, and anti-bias curriculum to serve as Board President. With a career encompassing leadership in nonprofit management, program innovation, and professional development, Laura has devoted herself to supporting children, families, and educators in building equitable, high-quality learning environments. Laura enjoys hiking, traveling and spending time with grandchildren (ages 3 and 6).
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Jane Bothel
Executive Director
Jane has served with Mother Mentors since 2014 as a Board member, mentor, and Playscape volunteer. As Executive Director, she draws on her career as a project manager with a specialization in finance, legal affairs, and management of consultant teams. Her commitment to Mother Mentors is fueled by her desire to support Island families and to mentor and equip the next generation of leaders in this important work. As the organization transitions from its founding leadership to a new group of Board members, she looks forward to new ideas, energy, and opportunity for growth. She is also involved in various artistic endeavors as a musician.
Our Staff
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Diana Bergman
Playscape Facilitator, Oak Harbor
Diana brings over a decade of early childhood education experience to Mother Mentors, including seven years as a lead infant teacher, three years as a nanny, and two years running her own in-home childcare. As a military spouse, Diana was brought to Whidbey Island, where she was introduced to Mother Mentors' Playscape program after being recommended by STEPS, a partner organization where her son was receiving speech therapy. After two years as a participant, she was invited to join the staff as a facilitator. Growing up in Hawaii surrounded by military community, Diana understands the unique challenges and strengths of military families. She lives in Oak Harbor with her wife and two children.
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Megan Gaydosh
Program Coordinator
Megan is a former special education teacher and local doula who first came to Mother Mentors in 2019 when she was struggling to make connections with other moms. She attended baby group and Playscape with her newborn son and never left! From participant to Board of Directors member (2020-2025) to staff, Megan has experienced Mother Mentors from every angle. As Program Coordinator, she facilitates Playscape and Baby & Me at the Langley locations, volunteers at the Parent Pantry, and works alongside Tasha Miller as Mentor Match Coordinator, where she helps bring together and train experienced mentor volunteers and match them with families with young children to provide in-home support. Megan is thrilled and honored to work for an organization that helped her so much as a new parent, and she's passionate about helping other families build their village. She lives locally with her two sons, Owen (7) and Calvin (5).
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Tasha Miller
Program Coordinator
Tasha is passionate about nurturing parents and building community. She LOVES connecting with families and bringing together a dedicated team of volunteers who share Mother Mentors’ vision. For Tasha, it's the relationships, the sense of belonging, and the network of support that families and volunteers create together that truly drives her work at Mother Mentors. She is inspired daily by the families she meets and by the dedicated folks at partner organizations who are all working together to weave a web of support across Whidbey Island. Watching families find their people and seeing volunteers discover their own strengths through service fuels her every day. At Mother Mentors, she supports families with young children, and through Mother Wild—the global motherhood collective she co-founded—she co-facilitates retreats and an online community for mothers. When not chasing her three children and chickens, she leads a local Girl Scouts troop, encouraging the next generation of community leaders.
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Jeanette Bothel
Finance and Data Manager
As Finance and Data Manager for Mother Mentors, Jeanette helps keep the organization running smoothly by overseeing finances and managing data that supports programs for local families. With more than 20 years of experience in IT and project management, she loves finding ways to make systems work smarter and more efficiently. Jeanette has called Whidbey Island home since 2019 and enjoys exploring the island’s trails and beaches with her boyfriend and two lively dogs.
Our Board
Values We Practice
We foster healthy, positive family relationships for those we serve, for our staff, and for our volunteers.
We facilitate relationship-building among families in our programs and between families with staff and volunteers.
We value the inter-generational nature of our work.
We demonstrate integrity, honest, and transparency at all levels of our organization.
We are accountable to our families and our community.
We acknowledge that there are opportunity gaps for many young children and families based on race, ethnicity, gender, income, ability, culture, and geography.
We commit to eliminating these gaps and addressing the root causes.
We commit to approaching our work with a sense of cultural humility and inclusion.
We commit to becoming better listeners to the voices and concerns of people of color and those from non-traditional family structures to further our understanding of how to combat disparities and better support all families in our community.
