Staff

Rev. Molly Shoulta Tucker (she/her)

Senior Pastor | molly@ridgewoodlouisville.org

Rev. Molly Shoulta Tucker has pastored Ridgewood since January 1, 2020. 

She is a Louisville native and Louisville Cardinals fan, even in tough years. She attended Georgetown College and Duke Divinity School. She was ordained by Millbrook Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC and has served congregations in North Carolina, Florida, and Kentucky.

Pastor Molly serves as the Board Chair for Baptist Women in Ministry (National). She also serves on the Coordinating Council for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of KY. She is passionate about empowering women to follow their God-given call, as well as uplifting female voices in the pulpit and framework of the church - since the first preachers trusted with the Gospel message were, in fact, women! Rev. Shoulta-Tucker also serves as an adjunct professor at Baptist Seminary of Kentucky. 

Molly's husband, Rob, is a UMC Pastor and they have a human son and canine son. 

Margaret Velto (she/her)

Director of Discipleship & Community Engagement | margaret@ridgewoodlouisville.org

Margaret Velto is a white, queer, neurodivergent, disabled ciswoman originally from Cary, North Carolina. Inspired by her upbringing in the United Church of Christ and Quaker traditions, Margaret believes that spirituality and the struggle for justice are inherently intertwined. This belief led her to following a ministerial journey in faith-based reproductive advocacy, having served as a member of the Governing Board for the Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity (SACReD) since February 2022. 

Margaret graduated from Louisville Seminary in 2026 with her Master of Divinity and Oberlin College in 2022 with a B.A. in Religion and Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies. Outside of work, Margaret enjoys attending baseball games, binge-watching true crime documentaries, and chasing after her friends’ toddlers; she is also the proud human of her much beloved, and very clingy, orange tabby, Bart.