Rabbit Box is run by volunteers.
Our Executive Director is Dr. Narke Norton.
Advisory Board:
Brittany Barnes, Molly Croft, Donna Fee, Ashley Garrett (Chair), Dr. Paul Guillebeau, Dr. Stephanie Paladino, and Heather Slutzky,
2025-2026 Advisory Board
Brittany Barnes is a Research Professional in Forest Entomology in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at UGA. When she is not looking for insects in the woods, she enjoys having a nice glass of wine on the porch with her family, friends, and five cats. She finally considers herself an Athenian after living here since 2005! She has told a few stories on the Rabbit Box stage and is ecstatic to contribute even more to bringing stories to our community.
Donna Smith Fee was given a reversible raincoat when she was five and that began her education on the power of stories. When wearing the yellow side, she did as she was told but once it was reversed to the kelly green side with huge daisies, she became her own evil twin who told wild stories to teachers, crossing guards, and playground peers. An Athens native with wanderlust, she mostly sells real estate and trains others to create content in her role as Founder and Director of Partnerships for Learnie, a community microlearning app. She has two teenagers who challenge her constantly but mostly they eat their veggies and are kind and wonderful human beings. Currently, she is renovating a house she once lived in with her grandmother and will have paint on her hands for weeks and weeks.
Ashley Garrett has been telling stories of gratitude, grief, and growth for years at baddestmotherever.com and is a veteran storyteller and emcee for Rabbit Box. Ashley’s day job is as a professional communicator for a large hospital system’s local branch. Her other job is teaching her exceptionally good looking and brilliant children how to act like regular people.
Dr. Narke Norton is a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at UGA. Narke is originally from Miami, Florida but considers Tifton, Georgia his hometown. Narke has an Associate’s degree from Political Science, Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration, and is currently pursuing a part-time doctoral degree as a first-generation high school graduate and first-generation college student. Some of the passions that Narke has includes debate, theater with Town & Gown Players, and karaoke at Cine. Narke is also a TED Talk speaker.
Heather Slutzky has lived in Athens for nearly 20 years. She is a secular celebrant and a public speaker on healthcare culture. When interacting with small children she often makes a frog shape with her hands, a skill she learned from a storyteller in her early adulthood. She loves her life of being paid to see beautiful places while holding a microphone then returning home to her son, husband, three dogs, three fish, six snails and a yard cat.
Dr. Stephanie Paladino Stephanie Paladino is a plant and dirt person for whom gardening is involuntary, like breathing. Having grown up, lived, and worked in many countries and parts of the U.S., she appreciates the importance of all opportunities that allow us to get outside our mini-universes and learn first-hand about each other’s lived experiences. If appointed Empress, she plans to require that every U.S. resident spend a serious, substantive amount of time in a cultural setting very different from their own. In the meantime, she supports spaces like Rabbit Box, where storytelling, the oldest social medium, allows us to think about who we individually and collectively are, where we’ve come from, and just where we might be going.
Molly Ford Croft loves skipping, flying kites, hula hooping, blowing bubbles, and wearing costumes at breweries. Prior to retirement, Molly raised lots of money as the head fundraiser for Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering. Both her children are GT engineering graduates …. So, yes, Molly is an avid Yellow Jacket living amongst lots of people who bark like dogs. It’s not easy. Fortunately, Molly’s awesome partner Eric is a UGA professor, so it’s worth it. Molly is currently a fund raising consultant for University of Virginia, her alma mater. That is, while not wearing a costume at a brewery.
Rabbit Box 