Our Board

Becky Baylor (she/her)

I have been engaged with YO since 2019, when I served as an intern for the organization. Since then I have volunteered periodically and closely followed the organization's development and growth. As a born and raised queer southerner, I am incredibly passionate about supporting and empowering the queer youth who grow up here. My role as a school social worker has allowed me to connect directly with youth, and I've proudly sponsored several GSAs. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for YO!

Irene Park Ulrich (she/her)

Irene Park Ulrich (she/her) is a clinical pharmacist at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC). In September 2022, she launched the MAHEC Gender Health Clinic serving gender diverse people in Western North Carolina. Irene has served as a Board member-at-large for Youth OUTright since March 2023. As a cisgender ally, Irene has chosen to engage with Youth OUTright because of her passion for equity and the fundamental belief that, especially youth, have the right to flourish.

Rebby Kern (they/them)

Rebby Kern (they/them) is a Black, nonbinary queer person whose personal experience and professional career has placed them in the work of opening hearts and minds to equity, inclusion and action. 

 Serving North Carolina, Rebby serves as the Director of Education Policy at Equality NC, advocating for and investing in young changemakers, supporting policy reform and implementing LGBTQ-inclusive training and professional development across North Carolina. Rebby joins colleagues as a board member of Youth Outright, empowering LGBTQIA kids and teens.

Expanding their work across the nation, Rebby is a Nationally Certified Trainer for Human Rights Campaign Foundation Welcoming Schools, the nation’s premier professional development approach for elementary schools. Locally, Rebby is a statewide facilitator for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction providing day-long trainings to school staff across the state. 

Rebby previously worked as the Director of School Outreach at Time Out Youth Center in Charlotte, NC, and as the Media, Communications and Programs Manager at Campus Pride. Rebby is an alumnus of the Community Builder’s Initiative Leaders Under 40 Program. 

In recognition of their work within youth policy, Rebby has been awarded with the 2017 Champions of Pride Young Catalyst Award from Charlotte Pride, the 2020 Impact Awards by the Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce and the 2020 Self-Care Revolutionary Award by Amplify and Activate Charlotte. 

Outside of youth policy and organizing, Rebby is a yoga teacher, race and gender equity educator, and consultant within yoga and wellness spaces. As of 2019, Rebby was named lululemon’s first Black, nonbinary ambassador at Charlotte’s Atherton Mill store.

Spike (she/they)

Spike currently resides in so-called Asheville (unceded Cherokee territory) as a community builder and thinker. They formerly served in the role of Youth Programs Manager at Youth OUTright and since her transition has continued to seek ways of deepening community local and wide. With a deep passion for programming in its many iterations, Spike believes that community is at the heart of who we are as beings.

Xelba gutierrez (They/them)

Xelba is a queer, immigrant, educator, facilitator and community organizer made of fierce indignation and gentle compassion. They were born in Venezuela, from revolutionary parents, and spent their formative years between Santiago, Chile and Miami, Florida. After living in the Bay Area and doing a Masters in Environmental Studies in Philadelphia she made their way to Asheville where they worked in sexual violence prevention. Xelba went back to Philly to do decarceration and abolition work and have been recently hired to be the new Campaign Manager for the Audre Lorde Project. Xelba is passionate about challenging the systems that are hurting us, and they love having hard conversations about decolonizing, unlearning harmful frameworks and remembering how to care for ourselves and each other so we can heal.