Paulina Dasse (she/her)

Senior Director Companion Engagement and Global Personnel

Session: Accompaniment & Mission
Email: paulina.dasse@elca.org

It was serving in Global Mission that she found her passion and vocation through international connections with companion churches, mission personnel, relationships, strategic priorities, and accompaniment as the foundation of the work of the global team. This long trajectory of 19+ years of service has included serving in different capacities for the Latin America and the Caribbean desk, the Companion Synod Program, and the Global Service team. All this experience has prepared Paulina with a depth of knowledge in international relationships and priorities of the global mission team intertwined with a personal faith journey. Paulina is currently leading the global mission team as the Senior Director.

Paulina has two twin sons, Alex and Benjamin, and lives with her husband, Guillermo, in Northfield, MN, and their dog Loky. She loves spending time with family and friends, running, and gardening.

Rachel Eskesen (she/her)

Director, Europe - ELCA

Session: Regional Presentation
Email: rachel.eskesen@elca.org 

Franklin Ishida (he/him)

Director, Asia Pacific - ELCA

Session: Regional Presentation
Email: franklin.ishida@elca.org 

Benyam Kassahun (he/him)

Director, Africa - ELCA

Session: Regional Presentation
Email: benyam.kassahun@elca.org 

Jaime Dubon (he/him)

Director, Latin America and Caribbean - ELCA

Session: Regional Presentation
Email: jaime.dubon@elca.org 

Tess Tait (she/her)
Development Assistant, Congregational Generosity - ELCA

Session: Communicating Your Global Experience
Email: tess.tait@elca.org

Tess Tait serves as the Development Specialist for Leadership Circle and has been with the ELCA for three years. She collaborates with the Service & Justice and Christian Community and Leadership home areas to implement fundraising strategies for ELCA churchwide ministries, with a particular focus on supporting global mission personnel. Tess establishes, nurtures, and maintains relationships with congregations that sponsor ELCA global mission personnel, including long-term missionaries and Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) volunteers.

Venis Hamb (she/her)
Global Services Manager - ELCA

Session: Logistics
Email: venis.hamb@elca.org

Vance Blackfox (all)
Director, Indigenous Ministries & Tribal Relations - ELCA

Session: Blanket Exercise, An Indigenous Orientation II
Email: vance.blackfox@elca.org

Vance Blackfox, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, serves the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as the Director of Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations. An alumnus of Texas Lutheran University (TLU) and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), Vance has previously served the ELCA in multiple capacities, from being elected and serving as National President of the Lutheran Youth Organization during his TLU days, to later working as a diversity and cultural education professional for the Women of the ELCA, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, California Lutheran University, ELCA Youth Gathering, and LSTC’s Youth in Mission. In addition to serving numerous ELCA and ecumenical teams and committees throughout the years, he is at present the Indigenous Theologian and Coordinating Team Member for the ELCA’s Theological Round Table, as well as creator and producer of the Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium hosted at LSTC.

Vance is also the founder and director of Other+Wise, a multi-site cultural education and cultural immersion program for youth and student groups from across the country, and also previously served as the Director of Communications at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, as the Director of Communications for Native Americans in Philanthropy, and has held executive director positions at the Haskell Foundation, which supports Haskell Indian Nations University, and the Oaks Indian Mission. Vance teaches about many things Indigenous as founder and primary of Blackfox Institute, he has served as the Guest Curator of the Indian Museum at the University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures, and presently serves as the Indigenous Theologian for the Faith-Based Initiative for the City of San Antonio, where he currently resides.

Shannon Baker (she/her)

YAGM Alum, Former Short-Term Recruiter, Seminarian

Mexico 2023-2024

Session: Spiritual Backpack & Discernment
Email: shanbake13@gmail.com 

My name is Shannon Baker, and I have recently returned from a YAGM year of service in Guadalajara, Mexico, where I served in a migrant center and two member churches of the Iglesia Luterana Mexicana (Mexican Lutheran Church). Inspired by the boots-on-the-ground, love-in-action Catholic priest who runs the migrant shelter--and after about three years of debate with God on the subject--I’ve begun my first year of graduate school at Denver Seminary (online), where I hope to complete my Master's of Divinity, concentrating on Social Justice, Advocacy, & Theology. In my hypothetical free time, you'd be likely to find me writing fiction or poetry, reading the same, playing a ball sport of any kind, verbal sparring with family and friends, or exploring the outdoors.