Member Spotlight: Alora Sionn
Author: Jahily al'Karee
Published: April 29, 2021 Tar Valon Times Blog
To close the month of April, we bring you the latest in our series of Member Spotlights — featuring “Mama Wolf” herself, Alora Sionn, Gaidin of the Val'Cueran Company (VC). Alora has recently taken on the job of leading VC as Company Commander, and I am excited to share a little more about her with all of you.
In real life, Alora is married to Lok Enkee, Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah. They have a house in the woods, which they share with her dad, a 15 year old pomeranian, and a three year old cat. A lover of animals, Alora works for a local veterinarian office. “My favorite part of the job is when we get exotic pets in, I love the snakes, lizards, birds and other odd pets!”
Alora and Lok are also the loving parents of David, their son who passed away last year after he was born prematurely, and went through a tough fight for his life in Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU). In honor of him, they started David’s Night Lights, collecting donations to make gift bags for local NICU families a couple of times a year.
Alora’s hobbies include several artistic endeavors, like singing, painting/drawing, and writing; as well as outdoor activities like gardening and fishing. She is planning to start beekeeping by getting a hive started next spring.
Alora found TarValon.Net while looking for shawl making tutorials, and there was a reference to our site on a blog post. She joined up, and started interacting with people, including the unofficial group the “Brandsworn.” Alora began her journey through the Tower, and was originally raised as Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah. She bonded with a Gaidin of VC, where she got to know the members of the Pack. When Integration passed, she made the tough decision to demote and explore a new path. VC’s core values, particularly of loyalty, really spoke to her and she knew that she had found her home.
I bet many of you are wondering, where did she earn the nickname “Mama Wolf?” Alora recently spent time serving on the City Council, and among other things, helped coordinate free week activities. The Citizen group was having trouble coming up with a theme, and VC “adopted” the Citizens as wolf cubs. And so, Alora became our Mama Wolf and the name stuck. (Author’s note, this was one of my favorite free weeks as a Citizen!)
Now that Mama Wolf is the Leader of the Pack, what does she have planned during her tenure?
“I’d always wanted to serve the pack in that way and this time around I was finally able to take it on. Revamping the awards we have, and getting us some sweet wolf swag are just a couple things on my list. I’m also happy to do all the behind the scenes admin stuff like facilitating guesting; and recently my favorite was being able to welcome our newest aspirant Dar (Dar'Jen Ab Owain) to the Pack!!”
One thing’s for sure, there’s never a dull moment with the VC Wolves around, and we wish Alora Gaidin all the best during her time in leadership!
We’ll close with her final thought: “I guess if I had to give a closing statement here it would be to say no matter what happens in life, to never give up because you have survived 100% of your worst days so far. That’s a pretty good record so keep it up. 🙂 “
