Santa Barbara Beautiful (SBB), a nonprofit focused on beautification of the built, green, and cultural environment, has elected a new slate of officers for 2023. They include:
Kerry Methner, president; Susan Bradley, treasurer/CFO/VP; Marcella Simmons, vice president; Stephanie Williams, vice president; and Lucrezia DeLeon, secretary.
Methner has been the editor and publisher of “VOICE Magazine” for the last 20 years and is committed to building a community characterized by inclusivity and equity. A lifelong student, she holds a BA, masters of divinity, and Ph.D in depth psychology.
Methner has been on the SBB Board since the early 2000s. She is a past SBB president (2009/10), secretary and treasurer/CFO.
Methner has also served as president of the Santa Barbara Sculptors Guild and the Performing Arts League, and recently opened Voice Gallery in La Cumbre Plaza.
Bradley is the deputy director of external affairs at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Originally from the Boston area, she and her husband Mark moved to Santa Barbara in 2018. She volunteers for local organizations and serves on the boards of Santa Barbara Associates and the University Club of Santa Barbara.
With regard to her volunteer service on the SBB Board, Bradley said she is “proud to be part of an organization that literally has its roots in the city it serves.”
Simmons is a Realtor with Village Properties and the 2023 vice president of the Santa Barbara Board of Realtors, where she chairs the education committee.
She holds a BA from UCSB in business economics and has been a Santa Barbara business person for some 40 years, with retail, sales, and interior design as part of her collective work experience.
Simmons’ nonprofit work has supported the Pearl Chase Society, Friendship Center, Community Kitchen, VP Teachers’ Fund, and the Mission Historical Park Rose Garden, adding to the elixir of life in Santa Barbara.
Originally from Florida, Williams went to college in Boston, and moved to California in her 20s. She pursued a career in advertising sales for national magazines. Over the years,, she has mentored young women interested in working in advertising and volunteered at a human resources nonprofit.
Currently in addition to her work at SBB, Williams is a board member of The Pearl Chase Society.
DeLeon is an architectural designer, with some 15 years experience. She holds a BS in architecture, with a focus on sustainable built environment and socio-equity. Her career has taken her all over the country studying the effects of demographic determinants of health through the built environment.
In addition to serving as an officer on the SBB Board of Directors, DeLeon is the communications chair and Board of Directors officer for Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County, and a board director for Hillside Housing.