Lora-Ellen McKinney has always been an artist skilled at turning lines of dialogue into dances, poetry, and stories.

Dr. Lora-Ellen McKinney is a writer turned dancer turned child psychologist turned hospital administrator turned health policy analyst turned writer. Becoming a psychologist combined her creative passions and parental expectations for service to others. Healing children fulfilled her community and spiritual commitments. Writing allows her to make gifts to others of characters, poetry, stories and perspectives. And it keeps her head quiet. Sort of.

Dr. McKinney received an A.B. from Vassar College, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Seattle’s University of Washington, and a Master's degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Lora-Ellen was recognized for the Kellogg Leadership Fellowship Program when she began the Clearinghouse for Drug Exposed Children at UCSF Medical School; this program was later used as the model for those begun by federal health and education departments. She later became a Salzburg Seminar Fellow selected to design conflict resolution strategies for the Balkans, Israel and Palestine. Lora-Ellen worked in health policy for hospitals and think tanks in the nation’s capital, during which time she was honored as a Public Health Fellow. As a Fulbright Senior Scholar, Dr. McKinney traveled Pakistan interviewing women who, at risk of  life and liberty, were educated and passed knowledge forward, engaged in entrepreneurial ventures, and ran for political office. McKinney has been recognized by Seattle-area organizations for contributions to social justice, race relations, the arts and compassion efforts.

A lover of knowledge, she has certificates in environmental conservation (George Washington University), French (several Parisian academies), television writing (Michigan State University), poetry (California Institute of the Arts), songwriting (Stanford University) and fiction (Wesleyan University). She has also delved into her genealogy, unearthing more stories, some sweet, some scandalous, all interesting, and helpful for personal growth.

Though often asked if she is or once was a fashion model, Lora-Ellen responds that the answer is no. She is too tall for runway and that would be the only place for her keen face and lean physique. However, she did a groundbreaking modeling campaign for diamonds, a North American first for a woman of color, as not surprisingly, the worlds of fine jewelry, advertising and modeling are as infected with systemic racism as any other American structures. She was carrying on a family tradition as her mother, Louise McKinney, modeled in Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1940’s (a rarity) and her dog, Scout, showed out in a variety of Seattle venues as a canine model in 2014.

Once again focused solely on writing as her gateway art, her books about African American faith and practice have won awards. McKinney now applies clinical, policy, faith and political experience to fiction about children who learn to heal themselves and adults who slay metaphorical dragons. Creative components of her as-yet unsold television scripts have won recognition from national screenwriting contests. She was granted an artist’s award by the Richard Hugo House in Seattle to create (write and act in) a limited-run one-woman show.  As part of her new nonprofit organization, Cedar River Creative Productions+, Dr. McKInney became a producer during the 2020 pandemic, providing curated virtual stages that raised funds to support a variety of artists from the African diaspora. 

Lora-Ellen knits, cooks delicious gourmet gluten-free vegan meals, bursts into songs from well-known and obscure musicals, practices guitar and piano, and dreams of once-again spending a finger-wrinkling amount of time in swimming pools. Lora-Ellen lives on the Cedar River south of Seattle on which she daily walks and occasionally dances with her model of a charming dog, Scout.