Staff & Board of Directors

Previously a LitNet board member, Leigh has been at the helm as LitNet’s Executive Director since June 2020. An experienced school administrator, Leigh has served as the Associate Head of School at Berkshire Country Day School, as the Lower School
Director at the International School of Boston, and as the Lower School Head at Community Day Charter Public School in Lawrence, MA. Prior to that Leigh served as a Curriculum Coordinator at two international schools, one in Belgium and the other in Namibia. She has also been a preschool, elementary and middle school teacher mainly in multilingual settings.

Leigh was named as an honoree by Berkshire Magazine in their 2021’s “Berkshire 25”. This recognition is bestowed on community members who have made “extraordinary contributions to our way of life” in the Berkshires. In 2023, Leigh was awarded the Executive Leadership Award by the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires.

A Boston native, Leigh and her family moved to the Berkshires permanently when Leigh was in high school. As an adult, Leigh has spent many years living and working in Boston, in the Bay Area, as well as internationally (Namibia and Belgium) where she served as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, and teacher trainer on the international school circuit. Additionally, Leigh is a certified Executive Coach and has worked as a career, leadership, and team coach.

As LitNet’s Grants & Communications Coordinator, Amanda manages all aspects of LitNet’s grant writing, prospect research, and reporting. She keeps the community apprised of LitNet’s work by producing the organization’s monthly e-newsletter, writing press releases, and sharing LitNet stories and news in a variety of other ways. She is also a volunteer tutor.

Before joining LitNet in 2020, Amanda taught college writing as a professor in University at Albany’s Writing and Critical Inquiry Program. She has an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Pittsburgh. Her writing has been published in various magazines and literary journals, such as Virginia Quarterly Review, North American Review, Orion Magazine, and Sierra online, among others, and has three times been selected as “notable” in the Best American series.

Miguel joined LitNet in 2021 as our newly appointed Learner Liaison. In 2023, Miguel was promoted to be our Director of Tutoring.

Miguel possesses a professional certification in TOEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign Language), training in TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Story Telling), and a certification in Medical Interpretation.

Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Miguel loves languages and appreciates being able to share the gift of language and communication with people. Fluent in Spanish and English, Miguel is also proficient in Portuguese. His previous experience includes teaching Spanish at Berkshire Country Day School, at St. Joseph’s in Pittsfield, and as a long-term substitute teacher at Lee High School. Miguel also served as an interpreter of Individual Educational Plans (IEP) at the Muddy Brook Regional Elementary School in Great Barrington, MA.

Miguel came with his family to the US from Colombia at age 10 and has been here since. He is a graduate of Monument Mountain High School. A talented soccer player who was inducted into the Berkshire County Soccer Hall of Fame in 2014, he has been an active soccer coach since 2015. Miguel continues to be the Head Coach for the Monument Mountain Girls’ Varsity Soccer Team and has done so since the 2021 season.

Susie joined LitNet as our Development and Operations Associate in May 2025. She brought her five years of experience managing fundraising databases and working with small non-profits to increase community engagement. First at Shaker Museum in Old Chatham, NY and then at the Stockbridge Library, Museum & Archives, she worked successfully with staff, board, and varied committees to implement annual appeals, execute galas and concerts, and develop creative community events, all designed to celebrate and amplify the message and values of each institution.

Susie has been a stay-at-home mom, an interim Library director, served on the Lee School Committee, and was a Lee town representative. She is an avid reader, an obsessive knitter, and an aspiring weaver. She and her husband, Jim, raised four children in Lee and then re-filled their empty nest by becoming a Host Family for international students at Miss Hall’s School.

Raised in Great Barrington, Deisy Escobar is LitNet’s First-Generation Coordinator coming on board in August 2023. Previously a LitNet tutor, LitNet’s first teen tutor, Deisy has experience with community advocacy through her work with Railroad Street Youth Project as their Health Coalition Co-chair and Intern. She is also a Spanish Community Advisory Network (SCAN) advisor with the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. While in high school and again in 2024, she was one of the Samya Rose Stumo Youth Leadership Category nominees from the Berkshire Nonprofit Awards. Also in high school, Deisy founded the New Day Club, a support group for immigrant and first-generation students with her school’s ESOL department. Deisy has also been co-hosting the award-winning bilingual radio show Mundo Latino on WTBR 89.7FM with her mom Martha Escobar for over four years. A first-generation college student herself, Deisy is currently working toward obtaining her B.A. in Psychology.