Farewell Kellen and Kim
November 4, 2025 | Categories: General
We have a mix of happy and sad news to share. Kellen Braddock and Kim Treviño-Kiraly will be transitioning to new roles in November. Kellen, our Associate Director of Administration and our longest-serving staff member, will be joining the UNLV Foundation team as Director of Board Relations & Strategy. Kim, our Associate Director of Development, will be returning to her home state of Texas to join UT San Antonio as Director of Alumni Strategic Partnerships.
We’ve asked them to reflect on their time at BMI and share their most memorable moments:
What first brought you to BMI, and what kept you inspired during your time here?
Kellen: The opportunity to support creative writers from around the world, across the US, and those who live and work in Las Vegas! Over the last nine years, I’ve had the chance to hear hundreds of writers read and describe their creative processes. Watching writers succeed and move others through their creative work is absolutely inspiring to me.
Looking back over your time at BMI, what moments or projects stand out as especially meaningful to you and why?
Kellen: The joy (and relief) that comes with welcoming City of Asylum fellows to Las Vegas. Assisting fellows and their families with settling into their new homes, where they can rest and be in community, is an unmatched feeling.
In your view, what makes BMI’s community unique, and what do you hope continues to grow after you leave?
Kellen: BMI’s community is special because it’s composed of many, many communities. BMI serves students, educators, writers, community leaders, arts and culture seekers, avid readers as well as those who don’t consider themselves “Literary.” This is fantastic and not something that I’ve often found in other arts communities and cities. I know BMI will continue to welcome the public and foster a sense of audience belonging through its programs.
What first brought you to BMI, and what kept you inspired during your time here?
Kim: Coming to BMI was a very serendipitous moment. It was at a birthday party for a past fellow’s daughter, where I first met Colette and Kellen. I had been a long time fan of BMI and truly cared about what they were bringing to the city in terms of literature and creativity.
I’d say more than anything, what has kept me inspired during my time at BMI has been able to see firsthand the lives we’ve been able to change through providing safe spaces for people to express themselves freely. That is something that I feel has kept all of us inspired to keep doing the work we’ve done. And something that will continue to inspire me long after.
Looking back over your time at BMI, what moments or projects stand out as especially meaningful to you and why?
Kim: Wow, so many! I’d have to say the moments that have stood out to me personally have been creating such lasting and strong relationships with so many writers. I never would’ve been able to meet the exceptional and talented and kind people I’ve met like Alejandro Heredia, Edgar Gomez, Tanya Shirazi Galvez, Maryam Ala Amjadi (among many) if it hadn’t been for BMI. Those relationships have changed my life for the good and I feel so blessed that they were formed at BMI. As for projects that have stood out to me (again, so many), I’d have to say Julián Delgado Lopera’s live storytelling event at the Majestic Repertory Theater; our very first Poetry Kitchen; and Elevations: A Salon (that mariachi band brought me and so many to tears). Being able to continue the Latinx Book Club that Edgar Gomez created in 2023 and turning that into the Libros & Chisme has been one of my proudest and fulfilling moments. The community that has been able to be reached through that club — all over a love of reading — has deeply impacted my heart. And I will carry that with me forever.
In your view, what makes BMI’s community unique, and what do you hope continues to grow after you leave?
Kim: The BMI community is one that has strong ties to, in my opinion, what matters the most: freedom of expression. It’s a community that thrives on the arts and culture, but one that also understands the importance of literature, bringing people together through stories, and providing spaces for people to share those stories openly without fear. It’s a community that really cares about each other, embraces each other, and one that opens your eyes to the many ways literature impacts a life – through all its different forms. My hope for BMI is that it continues to power through and that it continues to show the wonderful Vegas community and beyond, the importance of bringing people together through words. My hope as well, is that people continue to support everything BMI not only strives to do, but is doing to make this amazing, unique, strange, beautiful city even cooler! What this team has done has been *tens across the board* and I will always be so grateful to have been part of that! I will miss them and BMI so, so much!