Our Staff
Alessandra Nysether-Santos, Director of Religious Exploration
Director of Religious Exploration
religious.exploration@uutallahassee.org
Alessandra Nysether-Santos (she/her/hers) is the Director of Religious Exploration at UUCT since August 2023 and is the Worship Leader as of July 2025. Alessandra is a writer, educator, artist, and reiki healer. They formerly served the UU Congregation of Greenville, NC as DRE.
Learning and teaching is a creative and spiritual calling for Alessandra – she loves facilitating lifespan faith formation through programs like Our Whole Lives and Date with Death Club. Shared ministry is a focus in Alessandra’s work at UUCT: working with lay leaders in the community to create worship, programs, and other explorations that center and serve the needs of folks in our beloved “community of communities”.
Alessandra is married to a wonderful partner named Mike, and they are the well-loved humans of Fig, the dog, and Ickis and Krumm, the cats.
Adriane Pitt, Church Administrator
Office Administrator
office@uutallahassee.org
Adriane (she/her/hers) is from Northwest PA but, tired of driving in snow, came to Tallahassee in 2004. She brings over twenty five years of office management, human resources, and community outreach experience. Adriane keeps the church administrative functions running smoothly and works hard to keep our community connected. She publishes weekly eBulletins and our monthly newsletter, maintains our website, and events calendars, and is admin to our Zoom account and Facebook pages. She also handles facility rentals/inquiries, HR tasks such as payroll, background checks, and insurance claims as well as assisting congregants and leadership with miscellaneous requests.
In her free time, Adriane enjoys creating new pizza concoctions for her partner, Charles, crafting, and the daily unexpected adventures that being a mom to her son Hank brings.
Valarie Howington, Music Director
Music Director
music.director@uutallahassee.org
Valarie (she/her/hers) is originally from Jacksonville, Florida. She moved to Tallahassee to attend FSU Music School, receiving her Bachelor of Music Education degree with an emphasis in Choral Conducting and Collaborative Piano. She has been playing piano and singing in churches and a variety of different choirs since she was a young girl.
Her association with UUCT began 20 years ago filling in as a substitute musician. Valarie now also enjoys leading the UUCT Chalice Choir.
She has called Tallahassee her home for 45 years and spends her free time making music with others, swimming, puzzling, traveling and spending time with her husband, Jerry and son, Cody.
Les Campbell, Sexton
Sexton
Les (he/him/his) is a multi-talented handyman who loves the outdoors. His family has been in the Big Bend for generations and he is a wonderful unofficial local tour guide. He volunteers much of his free time with organizations that focus on cleaning up the environment.
Les does an amazing job of keeping the buildings and grounds at UUCT looking their best and is quick to lend a helping hand.
If you ever stop by on a Friday, you may be able to meet his trusty sidekick and rescue dog, Oliver.