Productive Flourishing

About Team PF

While it's true that Charlie may have started Productive Flourishing, keeping this site, business, and community going is now a team effort with 5 full-time employees and a handful of other folks from around the world, too. Scroll down to learn more about Team PF.

Charlie Gilkey

Founder, author, speaker, business strategist, podcaster, and more

Charlie hails from Arkansas, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon. Before starting Productive Flourishing, he was an Army Joint Force Logistics Officer while working on his Ph.D. in Philosophy. He gets excited by seeing people accomplish more than they thought was possible.

  • Loves playing coop strategy games
  • Is a self-taught singer-songwriter who plays acoustic guitar
  • Was a cheerleader in high school (pictures on Facebook serve as a public record, sometimes to his chagrin)

If you'd like to learn more about Charlie, read more here.

Angela Wheeler, PhD

Co-Founder, coach, speaker, facilitator, and more

Angela is a coach, author, speaker, and facilitator who teaches people how to thrive and lead by becoming aware of their strengths, creating nourishing boundaries, and cultivating the courage to become their best selves. She's the co-founder of Productive Flourishing and co-host of the Productive Flourishing podcast.

  • Attracts stray neighborhood animals who run from blocks away to love on her
  • Can't remember movies after she watches them
  • Is often the receiver of secrets that people tell her but never share with anyone else

If you'd like to know more about Angela, read more here.

Shannon McDonough

Administrative Miracle Worker

Shannon was born and raised in the shadow of Mt. Rainier and is a lifelong resident of Washington state. Admin work combines her love of helping people and her obsessive need to follow up on details. In her free time, she's a political and social justice junkie and loves football (go Seahawks!).

  • Played the lead in her high school’s production of the musical “The Pajama Game”
  • Is addicted to lip balm and uses it multiple times a day
  • Is neurotic about recycling and will take things out of the trash if they can be recycled

Josephine Cherry

Operations Coordinator and Project Manager Extraordinaire

Jo lives in the desert of sunny Southern California, but is originally from Florida (yes, THAT Florida). A prior business owner and client of Charlie's, she's realized that owning a business isn't for her, and working for Productive Flourishing combines everything she loves to do into one job. When she's not at work, Jo loves playing tabletop and video games, obsessing over her chihuahuas (Punky Chewster & Rhubarb) and her houseplants/yard full of cacti, BAKING, and curating her list of TV shows to watch.

  • Severely dislikes kitchen sponges
  • Has formulated the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe after innumerable tests (SO. MANY. TESTS. 🙃 )
  • Can be bribed with and accepts apologies when they include a houseplant or cactus

Jess Sommers

Content Marketing Specialist

Jess comes to Portland by way of the Midwest, and spends her days in design and marketing, loving the continued challenge of being able to learn something new every day. When she's not playing around on the computer, she loves being outside in nature, practicing yoga, and hangin' with her hubby.

  • Is a 200-hr registered yoga teacher and can't get enough to getting upside down
  • Played French horn throughout middle school and high school
  • Favorite fiction book is The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut and favorite non-fiction is Porcelain and Then It Fell Apart by Moby (you have to read both!)

Steve Arensberg

Content and Product Development

Steve is a long-time writer and editor (who hates to write about himself in the third person). He’s excited to bring his years of experience in corporate roles and in online business to Productive Flourishing. Steve originally hails from Michigan (Go Blue!), though he currently lives in San Antonio, Texas. When he’s not writing and editing and creating stuff (for PF and his own projects), Steve likes to play games (board, RPG, video), walk or hike, and chill with Hobbes the bulldog.

  • Was also the lead in his high school musical
  • Played piano and percussion through his school years (and wants his own conservatory room someday)
  • Can't name a favorite book or author (so many books, so little time!)

Osheyana Martinez

Administrative Assistant

Osheyana lives in Portland, though she’s hardly a Portlander. She moved to the PNW straight out of high school from Maui, Hawaii, but she did the majority of her growin’ up in Central Texas and strongly regards herself as more of a Texan than an island-lady or Northwesterner. She is excited to bring her organization-brain and people-person skills to the team. When she's not engaging with the PF Community, you can expect Oshey to be cuddling with her cat, enjoying the outdoors, munching on good eats, or singing the day away. 

  • Performed in various choirs and theater productions for the better part of 12 years and was also a lead in her high school musical
  • Lived in South Africa for a semester of college in 2016
  • Sings and plays with an Americana band in Portland since 2019

Anthony Carter

Information Architect / A/V Wizard

When Anthony's not up to his ears in Google Docs or thinking deeply about information architecture, you can generally find him with a guitar in his hand, or staring into the soft glow of a laptop, programming a perfect beat... or behind a drum set. Or at the piano. He loves the stage, playing video games (the retro kind that you kids wouldn’t understand), cooking, writing, and the art of film.

  • Hails from Minneapolis, but has lived in NYC, Little Rock, and San Jose
  • A few of his favorite authors are Hunter S. Thompson, James Baldwin, and Henry Miller. 
  • In the process of writing a pilot in the style of Freaks and Geeks about his high school days
  • Not currently in a band but definitely looking for one to join!
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