Otilia Baraboi joined the Ethnic Heritage Council Board of Directors in 2019 and has served as Vice President prior to her election as President. She is the Executive Director and co-founder of the American Romanian Cultural Society, established in 2013. Baraboi has been managing the Romanian Film Festival in Seattle organized by ARCS and a community-based school for Romanian heritage students, as well as numerous other cultural and educational events taking place on the Eastside and Seattle area. Baraboi has a Ph.D. in French, with a focus on diaspora and unequal translation politics, and is currently an Affiliate Lecturer in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Washington. Before immigrating to Seattle from Romania in 2000, she was as a writer, literary journalist and translator.