Dejah Griffin creates with purpose. For the past seven years, the Flagler College graduate has thrived in Bellingham, working for organizations and nonprofits, putting their best foot forward and providing enormously beneficial services out into the community. The multidisciplinary creative has spent ten years building a foundation of work with these organizations and has persevered, taking her talents and education to the highest levels.
“My biggest professional accomplishment is getting my Master of Fine Arts in Poetry in the Expanded Field,” she says. “I went through a divorce, changed jobs, and was raising my daughter, all while going back to graduate school. I’m the first on this side of my family to earn a master’s degree. Looking back, I’m proud that I kept showing up for my daughter, for my work, and for myself, even when it would’ve been easier to put one of those things down.”
A few years ago, Griffin shifted her focus from retail marketing to community and nonprofit programming, feeling the urge to create empowerment and growth. “I didn’t want to spend my career convincing people to buy things they didn’t really need,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong, I can shop with the best of them, but I wanted to use my skills as a photographer, designer and writer for something that could make a tangible impact.”
This desire drove her fully into the nonprofit sector, working with organizations like Northwest Youth Services and Lydia Place in Bellingham. “That path eventually brought me to North Coast Credit Union, a not-for-profit cooperative where I get to ride the line between nonprofit and business,” says Griffin. “It’s the best of both worlds. I get the structure and reach of a financial institution, but I still get to support the causes I care about directly, including deciding where our community giving goes through our North Coast Cares Fund.”
It’s no surprise that the community has had the greatest influence in Dejah Griffin’s life, both personally and professionally. And the number of people who have left a lasting impression on her is too great to name them all. In fact, Bellingham’s one-of-a-kind community made Griffin into the person she is today. “Ten years ago, I struck up a conversation with a man sitting next to me at a bar,” she says. “He asked me, ‘Would you rather do what you love in a town you hate, or hate what you do in a town you love?’ All these years later, I’ve realized you can have both, and Bellingham is proof of that for me.”
Aside from Bellingham, Griffin is also inspired by the likes of Brené Brown, James Baldwin, Simon Sinek, Cornel West, and Suleika Jaouad. “Their work has shaped how I think about leadership, vulnerability, and showing up fully for the people and places around me,” she says.
When it comes to her approach to leadership, Griffin starts with the understanding that people are whole individuals, not defined by isolated moods or moments. “That means recognizing the difference between someone having a bad day and someone having a bad attitude and knowing when to lean in with empathy versus when to push someone toward the best version of themselves,” she says. “I think good leadership holds both of those at the same time.”
Griffin defines community leadership as a “scaled up” version of those ideals, most effective through understanding how to use influence and when to step up in moments that matter. “I don’t think that requires a title,” she says. “Some of the best examples of leadership I’ve seen have nothing to do with a formal position. It’s about how you choose to use your voice.”
Though she has faced each one with grace and determination, Griffin is no stranger to challenges. “One of the harder moments in my career was getting let go from a position, totally out of the blue,” she says. “At the time, I was just a few weeks from moving into my own apartment and becoming a single mom. I took that job mostly because I needed stability. Looking back, getting let go ended up being a bit of a blessing in disguise. The culture wasn’t the right fit, and there were things that didn’t sit right with me. I don’t regret what I learned there, but I do regret not asking harder questions before I took it.”
Griffin’s experience and principles make her a priceless font of wisdom, especially for those who are just getting started in their careers. Her biggest piece of advice? If you want to be part of a community and flourish, make connections. “That’s how I got to where I am now,” she says. “I moved here in 2019 without any community, and now I can’t imagine leaving this place. It’s because I said yes to new things. I joined boards, showed up to local events and fundraisers, and talked to people I didn’t know yet. My advice to anyone starting out here is simple: show up before you feel ready and let the connections build from there. Whatcom County rewards people who put themselves out there.”
In the years to come, Griffin strives to uphold the tenets she believes in, continuing to step up, make connections, and do the work that truly matters in her professional life. “Personally, I want to publish a book,” she says. “I finished my Master of Fine Arts in June 2026 with a poetry manuscript. It’s not quite ready yet, but I’d love to get it published, and I want to keep writing fiction too. I have the beginnings of a romance novel and two children’s books, and I don’t want this passion to be forgotten. Being a writer doesn’t always pay the bills, but it fills my soul in a way a 9-to-5 doesn’t.”
Fun Facts About Dejah Griffin
- I own about 1,000 books. I read as much as I can but also enjoy the process of collecting books like special editions or rare covers.
- My bachelor’s degree is in Graphic Design. When I was 18, I wanted to be a creative director like Stanley Tucci’s role in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
- I took piano lessons for over 12 years and can still play!
- I was born in Florida but raised in Texas. I moved to Bellingham in 2019 from Florida.
- I have three cats: Phillip, Chili, and Selena Penny
- My two favorite quotes are:
“The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light.” – James Baldwin
“If you don’t doubt, you don’t change. If you don’t ask questions, you stay stuck wherever you were. If you have to have finite answers to infinite questions, you’re not going to move.” – Madeleine L’Engle
The Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and Whatcom Young Professionals have announced the 2026 Top 7 Under 40 honorees, recognized annually for their contributions as young professionals in Whatcom County. The awardees will be celebrated at the Barron Home Services-sponsored Top 7 Under 40 Awards on October 15 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal, where one will be named Young Professional of the Year. Click here for event details and tickets.
