Speakers

Alex Fennell is a committed advocate leveraging policy and community relationship building to advance housing justice as racial justice. Currently, she facilitates the Racial Impact Study Coalition in New York City; acts as the Chief Policy Advisor for Atlanta City Councilmember, Liliana Bakhtiari; and is JD candidate at the Georgia State University College of Law. Over her tenure as a political and housing organizer in NYC, she worked with community organizations to expand anti-harassment protections for NYC residents citywide and built power with grassroots organizations throughout the City and RISC to pass Local Law 78 of 2021 which created new disclosure requirements and a citywide data tool to address race in land use decision making.

Alicia Garza is the Special Projects Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the nation’s leading voice for dignity and fairness for the millions of domestic workers in the United States. She is also the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter, an international movement and organizing project focused on combatting anti-Black state-sanctioned violence. She is an organizer, writer, and freedom dreamer, and lives and works in Oakland, California.

Ana Silvia, originally from Mexico City, immigrated to the US at 13. She earned a full scholarship to Colorado State University, majoring in international studies with minors in Spanish and French. Passionate about social justice, she addresses issues like femicides, immigration, and domestic violence and regularly contributes to community panels on equity, race, and gender. Ana Silvia serves in local government, consults as an Expert Consultant, and leads a parent group at her children's school. She's also a principal dancer with ArtistiCO Dance Company, enjoys swimming, hiking, and snowboarding, and loves lazy mornings with a book and family board games.

Andreina Kniss joined Public Advocates in 2023 as the Project Manager of the Alliance for Housing Justice. Before joining Public Advocates, Andreina directed the Los Angeles Homeless Youth Count, a yearly county-wide census of unhoused children and youth in Los Angeles. Prior to launching her career in project management, Andreina developed significant experience protecting tenants as a paralegal specializing in eviction defense at the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County and through fair housing litigation at the Housing Rights Center of Southern California. Watching the effects of eviction and homelessness on the poor and marginalized encouraged her to seek out other ways of building community and support for those in need. This pushed Andreina to become an organizer with various mutual aid groups focusing on direct outreach and political advocacy with unhoused communities. She continues to passionately advocate for the universal right to housing. She is based out of the Los Angeles area.

Annissa G. McCaskill is the Executive Director of Forward Through Ferguson. Annissa has called the Greater St. Louis Area home since 1996. A graduate of HBCU Livingstone College (B.S. Political Science), and Indiana State University (M.P.A.), she has worked in the municipal government and non-profit sectors for over 25 years. In understanding the the need for convictive action toward racial and social equity, she believes her work should be one of service. Annissa is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated® takes the most pride in being a mother, sister, friend, and advocate.

Anu Yadav is a theater artist, facilitator, and cultural worker dedicated to poor people’s organizing, economic justice, and liberation. For over two decades, she has created solo and collective theatre work as vehicles for public dialogue on housing, healthcare, and poverty. Her work was featured in the documentaries CHOCOLATE CITY and WALK WITH ME, as well as media outlets such as The Washington Post, The Crisis, and MTV.  She was the 2019-2020 inaugural Creative Strategist Artist-in-Residence at the LA County Department of Mental Health. She is a Leadership Circle member of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice, a Senior Civic Media Fellow at the Annenberg Innovation Lab at University of Southern California, 2024 Race Forward Housing, Land, and Justice Artist Fellow, and a 2023-2025 Dramatist Guild Foundation Catalyst Fellow.

As a facilitator, she applies arts-based tools for dialogue in a variety of community, civic, and organizational settings towards visioning, strategic planning, community engagement, team-building, and institutional change. Partners include the Excessive Wealth Disorder Institute, Institute for Policy Studies, United Workers, the National League of Cities, and the state of Kansas Department of Commerce. She is a member of the Actor’s Equity Association, Dramatists Guild, We Cry Justice Movement Arts Collective at the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice, and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and holds an M.F.A. in Performance from University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently developing WE THE POOR, a musical.

April Callen is the Vice President of Racial Equity Programs and Narrative Strategy for Purpose Built Communities, a nonprofit dedicated to resident-centered, holistic neighborhood revitalization. In her role, April designs and implements a comprehensive suite of strategies that enable the organization and its Network to advance that purpose through a racial equity lens. She has worked in the equity, justice, and narrative change space for more than 15 years, working with a number of nonprofit organizations across various issues, including health, housing, and education. She has also authored numerous articles examining the intersections of race, gender, education, culture, and politics.

Arkayla Tenney-Howard is an accomplished Digital Engagement Manager with a rich background in journalism, PR, and community advocacy. With a fervent dedication to strategic storytelling, her work has included running digital advocacy campaigns for the Los Angeles Youth Uprising Coalition and teaching meme workshops to art and law activists at UCLA. Arkayla's expertise extends to managing multi-state environmental justice events advocating for clean air and founding her own PR firm focused on grassroots organizing. Over 6 years, she has excelled in crafting compelling social media campaigns, securing grant funding, and fostering community engagement.

Asma Elhuni is a Lead Organizer for Race Forward’s Honest Education, Action & Leadership (H.E.A.L.) Together initiative. She helped launch the initiative where states across the country organize to protect, promote, strengthen, and transform public education. Supported by a career rooted in organizing around issues of immigrant rights, racial justice, economic justice, educational justice, Palestinian liberation, and fighting xenophobia, Islamophobia, and state-sanctioned violence.

Before joining Race Forward, Asma served as the Movement Politics Director for Rights and Democracy (RAD) in New Hampshire. During this time, she organized with movement champion elected officials, helped impacted communities have access to the decision-making tables, and conducted training and political education on a variety of topics. Locally, Asma is also an organizer with American Muslims for Palestine NJ.

A proud Muslim and African-Arab immigrant born in Libya, Asma lifts up anti-colonial spiritual practices that require radical love and collaboration to get to collective liberation.

Autumn Breon is a multidisciplinary artist who investigates the visual vocabulary of liberation through a queer Black feminist lens. Using performance, sculpture, and public installation, Breon invites audiences to examine intersectional identities and Diasporic memory. Breon imagines her work as immersive invitations for the public to join in the reimagining and creation of systems that make current oppressive systems obsolete. Breon has created commissions for Target, Art Production Fund, Frieze Art Fair, and the ACLU of Southern California. Breon’s performance history includes Hauser & Wirth, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Water Mill Center. She is an alumna of Stanford University where she studied Aeronautics & Astronautics and researched aeronautical astrobiology applications. Breon is a recipient of the Crenshaw Dairy Mart Fellowship for Abolition & the Advancement of the Creative Economy and the Race Forward Fellowship for Housing, Land, and Justice.

Ben leads Partners for Dignity & Rights’ New Social Contract initiative, helping develop strategy and capacity behind co-governance efforts that give frontline communities genuine, equitable power in policy-making, policy implementation and oversight of government and private industries. Before joining Partners for Dignity & Rights, Ben planned a conference on grassroots community organizing, conducted worker-led labor research, supported community development organizations, and ran an international volunteer program, a fellowship program for young people of color and a day camp. He has worked with the Urban Justice Center, Center for Urban Pedagogy, Hester Street Collaborative, Food Chain Workers Alliance, Restaurant Opportunities Center-United, DataCenter, Interpretive Media Laboratory, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Yayasan Dian Desa (an Indonesian appropriate technology organization), and an Ecuadorian shelter for street children.

Betsy Hodges was the 47th mayor of Minneapolis. Mayor Hodges currently serves as an advisor to cities, mayors, and the non-profit and private sectors about how to support progressive policy and improve equitable outcomes for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. She is a Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Fellowship for Racial Equity (AFRE) and the Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California-Berkeley. She has written about politics and race for the New York Times, CNN, USAToday, American Prospect, the Huffington Post, and others. She and her husband  Gary Cunningham live in Washington, DC.

Bill Pitkin is a senior policy fellow in the Research to Action Lab at the Urban Institute. He leads work on upward mobility, housing, and racial equity. Pitkin has worked at the intersection of research, policy, and social change for nearly three decades in nonprofit, philanthropic, and academic sectors. Pitkin has advised leading foundations and nonprofit organizations on strategy and catalyzing social equity through investments in collaborative leadership and systems change, and he has served as professor of practice at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He spent more than a decade at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, where he developed and directed US programs. Among his accomplishments at Hilton, he helped establish such models as the Home for Good Funders Collaborative, Los Angeles County’s pay for success initiative, and the Los Angeles County Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool. Pitkin served on the Funders Together to End Homelessness board of directors from 2008 to 2021 (and was chair from 2015 to 2018) and is a fellow at FrameWorks Institute and advisory board member of the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. He holds MA and PhD degrees in urban planning from University of California, Los Angeles.

Brian Ellison is a Houston-based conceptual artist whose work centers on expanding Black male access to the full emotional spectrum as a form of artistic practice. With an MFA from the University of Houston, Ellison explores cultural misconceptions such as emotional inaccessibility and one-dimensional expressions. His multidisciplinary approach, including performance art, captures the complexities of the Black experience—touching on gentrification, the physical and emotional toll on Black bodies, and the resilience, love, and solidarity within Black communities.

Cal D. Brown is a wife, mother, community healer, hcange agent, and co-founder of the Michael Brown Sr. Chosen for Change Organization. She is a passionate advocate for families across the world grieving the loss of a child to violence.

A firm believer that community care can help parents cope, heal, and reinvent themselves after a tragic loss, she co-leads grief support circles, resource drives, advocacy campaigns, and youth mentoring programs. These initiatives strengthen heartbroken families and build safer environments for marginalized youth to live freely.

Cathy Albisa is the Vice President of Institutional and Sectoral Change, leading Race Forward’s work with government and government institutions at the federal, regional, and local levels across sectors. She also serves on the Human Rights Commission in New York City and has published widely on economic and social rights, racial and gender justice, and human rights. Cathy is the co-founder and former Executive Director of Partners for Dignity & Rights (formerly NESRI), a social movement organization that supports community groups across the country in their campaigns for structural change. She has also been a Director at the Center for Economic and Social Rights, an Associate Director at the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School, a Co-director at the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic at CUNY Law School, and a Constitutional Rights Litigator at the ACLU and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Céshia Elmore is a community Organizer based in her hometown of Philadelphia. Céshia has been a professional educator for 13 years, specifically for Special Needs, and recently decided to align professionally with the work that affirms her as a Black, Queer Woman. She began her Organizing work with New Voices for Reproductive Justice as a Lead Organizer for the #SayHerName March for Justice to honor Breonna Taylor, and others who suffered from violence. Since then, she has mobilized for abortion rights, and helped launched the #SAYHERNAME Justice Fund for her work with New Voices for Reproductive Justice.

Charlyn Griffith-Oro founded Wholistic.art in 2008, a creative agency producing projects focused on liberatory practice, interrogating the balance of personal contemplation and collective action.

Charlyn leans into archival research to celebrate, uplift, and imagine new Black and Indigenous worlds. They are an award-winning multi-media artist, environmentalist, and birthworker. They have produced exhibitions, events, and mutual aid brigades that demand social justice and honor Black radical traditions. From land stewardship to film making they are forging a path toward a safe sustainable future for Black, queer, and trans people of color.

As a British immigrant with Caribbean heritage, Charlyn’s work blends historical research and profound genealogical studies. Their enduring socially engaged project, The Free Brunch Program (FBP), has been a vehicle for sharing food traditions while investigating the importance of radical generosity to survival. Additionally, their latest sculpture-oriented work, “A Provenance” (“AP”), incorporates cowrie shells—an undervalued currency, symbol of pre-colonial civilizations, and revered tool of spiritual practitioners worldwide. Everyday objects serve as markers of time and memory, while the cowrie embellishments are the imprints of those who have held and utilized them. This growing collection preserves the stories of Black Indigenous people that have remained hidden in archives and museums. Through unearthing documentation and recalling oral histories, these artifacts become voice to those forgotten or excluded from the historical narrative. “AP” presents a data visualization that engages the viewer’s sense of sight, while FBP stimulates the olfactory system—both tactile experiences aimed at healing the memory loss inflicted by colonization. Their commitment to documenting Black life extends to filmmaking, and their short film “The Aunties” made its world premiere at Philadelphia’s BlackStar Film Festival in 2023. Charlyn is completing two fellowships this year with the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project’s Critical Juncture Fellowship and Race Forward’s Land & Housing Justice Fellowship.

Major is a vibrant, values-driven communicator who believes in working smart, achieving meaningful results, and having fun in the process. Major's specialties include media relations and training, internal communications, staff engagement, content creation, DEI initiatives, event production, influencer marketing, community relations, and crisis management. She has more than 15 years of agency, freelance, and leadership experience with companies spanning the United States, ranging from startups to global brands. She is currently oversees communications for a place-placed nonprofit in Central Florida and runs her own boutique communications firm.

Christopher Coes serves as the Acting Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy in the Office of the Secretary. Prior to this he served as the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy. Coes previously served as Vice President for Land Use and Development at Smart Growth America (SGA), Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, Professor at George Washington University, and Deputy Director and Senior Advisor for the Transportation for America campaign.

Chung-Wha Hong (she/her) is Co-Executive Director of Grassroots International. Grassroots International supports Global South social movements through mobilizing resources through donor organizing, taking social action and grantmaking.
Since coming to Grassroots in 2014, Chung-Wha has worked with the phenomenal staff and board to expand long-term partnerships with more social movements and to grow donor organizing projects to support movement building for food sovereignty, grassroots feminisms, human rights, climate justice, and healing. For over 30 years, Chung-Wha has worked to advance immigrant rights, health care, labor, anti-militarism and human rights at various organizations including the NY Immigration Coalition.

Claire is a capacity-building & strategy consultant focused on creating organizations where everyone can thrive. She recently launched Claire Schell Consulting to provide consultation and capacity-building to cross-sector leaders around DEIB & anti-racism, team well-being, and organizational culture. For 8 years, she led the Employee Experience and DEI team at USBCDC and prior to that she led DEI training and consultation for St. Louis-area organizations at DAP. She serves as vice-chair of the Forward Through Ferguson board. She received her MA at the University of Chicago and a BA from Wellesley College in Sociology and Religion.

Cynthia Silva Parker brings an eagerness to learn and willingness to share the joys and struggles of building collaborative capacity for social justice and racial equity. A senior associate at Interaction Institute for Social Change since 1998, Cynthia offers training, consulting, coaching, and facilitation services to nonprofit, public, and philanthropic organizations and networks in many different fields. Cynthia’s prior leadership experience includes Boston Freedom Summer and The Algebra Project and currently volunteers with the Poor People’s Campaign. She holds a BA from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges and a Master of Public Policy from JFK School of Government at Harvard.

Daphany Rose Sanchez has worked as a community organizer and is an expert in climate and housing, focusing on community and social justice. Born and raised in New York City public housing, she witnessed and lived through the intersections of housing discrimination, climate divestment, and economic injustice. Her experience moved Daphany to fight for climate resiliency in the communities she grew up in, organizing communities across every borough while working alongside renewable energy companies and climate resiliency organizations to provide people with the tools they need to reduce their energy bills and protect their homes from natural disasters.

Dariely Rodriguez is deputy chief counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under Law. Dariely most recently served as a political appointee Chief of Staff in the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor under the Biden Administration. She previously spent four years at the Lawyers’ Committee as the Director of the organization’s Economic Justice Project. Dariely has co-authored amicus briefs before the Supreme Court. Rodriguez served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Bureau in the Office of the Attorney General of New York and worked in private practice.

Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. Her work is rooted in Asian American, South Asian, Muslim, and Arab communities where she spent fifteen years in policy advocacy and coalition building in the wake of the September 11th attacks and ensuing backlash. Currently, Deepa leads projects on solidarity and social movements at the Building Movement Project, a national nonprofit organization that catalyzes social change through research, strategic partnerships, and resources for movements and nonprofits. She conducts workshops and trainings, uplifts narratives through the Solidarity Is This podcast, and facilitates solidarity strategy for cohorts and networks.

A St. Louis native with a passion for painting, mixed media, and baking, DeZha aims to be of service to their community; specifically, in support of Black women and girls who are often overly disciplined and underprotected in and outside of their communities. During her tenure with Creative Reaction Lab as a Seeds of Power Fellow, Dezha piloted Emotion Molding — an arts-based workshop utilizing research in art therapy to provide a safe space for Black girls to better process and articulate their emotions. About the workshop, DeZha stated: "Black women will always struggle to express themselves or to be understood and heard when expressing themselves. Using clay as a medium of creative expression she will be able to see a physical manifestation of their emotions to better understand them and communicate them."

Dr. Maha Hilal is a Muslim Arab American and an expert on institutionalized Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and counternarrative work. She is the author of the book Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11 and her writings have appeared in Vox, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Newsweek, Business Insider, The Daily Beast, and Truthout, among others.

Dr. Hilal is also the founding Executive Director of Muslim Counterpublics Lab, an organization whose mission is to disrupt and subvert dehumanizing narratives that are designed and deployed to justify state violence against Muslims and an Adjunct Professorial Lecturer at American University in Washington, DC. She earned her doctorate in May 2014 from the Department of Justice, Law and Society at American University in Washington, D.C. She received her Master’s Degree in Counseling and her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dwayne T. James, PE, EdD serves as the statewide Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and the Community Development Specialist in St. Louis County for the University of Missouri Extension. As the Director of EDI, Dwayne works to build a culture within MU Extension. As the County Engagement Specialist, Dwayne co-facilitates leadership programs such as the Neighborhood Leadership Fellows and Youth Empowerment Program. Dwayne is a trained facilitator in Strategic Doing and Navigating Difference. He is also a certified CliftonStrengths Coach.

Elliot is a social scientist, mixed-methods researcher, and PhD candidate at the University of Arizona School of Sociology. Their research considers economies of punishment, racialized inequality, digital technologies, and epistemology through the lenses of Black Feminist and postcolonial theory. Elliot has more than a decade of professional experience in project management, academic and applied research, and business analysis. Prior to joining Narrative Initiative, they served as the lead delivery manager for the current iteration of HealthCare.gov and implemented the core Marketplace functionality that determines eligibility for subsidized coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Emma is a strategist and advisor who helps teams and organizations move from vision to action. She takes a systems approach, examining structural and connected challenges and community-based solutions to inform her work. She works on economic justice and guaranteed income initiatives, providing program design and development, policy advocacy strategy, and field building. Most recently, she designed and launched Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ flagship $3.5 million artist guaranteed income program and advised on policy advocacy for Creatives Rebuild New York, a $125 million investment into artists across New York State. Prior to consulting, she developed and led financial justice policy advocacy, field building, and strategic communications at Beneficial State Foundation with the goal to fundamentally change the role banks play in society. She has held social justice fellowships with the Institute for the Future, Bend the Arc, and Avodah, which guide her work toward a more just world.

Eric K. Ward, a nationally-recognized expert on the relationship between authoritarian movements, hate violence, and preserving inclusive democracy, is the recipient of the 2021 Civil Courage Prize – the first time in the award’s history that an American has won the prize, revealing the dangerous proliferation of hate crimes and political violence by authoritarian and extremist movements in the United States.

Eric brings over three decades of leadership in community organizing and philanthropy to his roles as Western States Center’s Executive Director and Senior Fellow with Southern Poverty Law Center. Since Eric took the helm in 2017, Western States Center has become a national hub for innovative responses to white nationalism, antisemitism, and structural inequality, towards a world where everyone can live, love, work, and worship free from bigotry and fear.

Originally from Los Angeles, Eric began his civil rights work when the white nationalist movement was engaged in violent paramilitary activity that sought to undermine democratic governance in the Pacific Northwest. Eric founded and directed a community project to expose and counter hate groups with the Community Alliance of Lane County (1990–1994). With the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment (1994-2002), Eric worked with leaders from government, law enforcement, business, and civil rights groups to establish over 120 task forces in six western states, and successfully encouraged some violent neo-Nazi leaders to renounce racism and violence.

Joining the Center for New Community as National Field Director (2003-2011), Eric assisted immigrant rights advocates in addressing the growing influence of xenophobia on public policy. As Program Executive for Atlantic Philanthropies (2011-2014), Eric led grantmaking in immigration and national security and rights.

During his tenure as a Ford Foundation Program Officer (2014-2017 he invigorated the field that counters Islamophobia through innovative investments that opened up space for Muslim and South Asian leaders. Currently Chair of The Proteus Fund, Eric co-founded Funders for Justice with the Neighborhood Funders Group and has served as consultant or advisor to numerous philanthropic institutions including Open Society, Tides, and the Brooklyn Community Foundation.

Eric is an Advisory to the Center for Entertainment & Civic Health, a member of the Pop Culture Collaborative’s Pluralist Visionaries Program, and a former Rockwood Leadership Institute Fellow and OSI New Executives Fund recipient. Past board service includes Revolutions Per Minute, America’s Voice, Windcall Institute, The Moenkopi Group, Social Justice Fund Northwest (A Territory Resource), Western States Center, and McKenzie River Gathering Foundation. Eric has a special interest in the use of music to advance inclusive democracy.

In 2020 he helped to launch the Western States Center Inclusive Democracy Culture Lab which works with musicians to create new narratives that puncture the myths driving our political and social divisions, and invite people who don’t always trust politicians and movement leaders into the safe and trusting conversational space that exists between a performer and their audience.

The recipient of the Peabody-Facebook Futures Media Award, Eric is an aspiring singer-songwriter under the name of Bulldog Shadow. In high demand as a speaker and media source, Eric has been quoted recently in The New Yorker, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, ESPN, Black News Channel, NPR, BBC, Rolling Stone and numerous other media outlets.

The author of multiple written works credited with key narrative shifts, Eric currently publishes regularly on Medium; he contributed to the Progressive Media Project from 2008-14, and published the daily blog Imagine2050 from 2008-11. Seminal articles include “Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism” (The Public Eye, 2017); “As White Supremacy Falls Down, White Nationalism Stands Up” (Pop Culture Collaborative, 2017); “The Evolution of Identity Politics” (Tikkun, 2018). Popular recent essays include “Who Are We, America?” (Southern Poverty Law Center, March 2020); “The Struggles That Unite Us” (Oregon Humanities, April 2020); Authoritarian State or Inclusive Democracy? 21 Things We Can Do Right Now (Medium, May 2020); Winning the Peace (Medium, August 2020); Are We Moving Towards a Better Society or Regressing? (Moment Magazine, Sept/Oct 2020); Conspiracy Theories are Killing Us, America (Medium, February 2021); With Philanthropic Support, Artists Can Help Rebuild American Democracy One Song at a Time (Chronicle of Philanthropy, April 2021); The Hard Work of Democracy: A Case for Leisure (Center for Effective Philanthropy, April 2021).

Erika's (white, she/they) work connects intentions and impact, in solidarity with BIPOC and our collective humanity. Through Equity & Results, Erika works with nonprofits, collective impact collaboratives and government to use antiracist Results-Based Accountability and antiracist principles to build capacity and frameworks for systems change. Erika's work challenges how systems have been designed and helps organizations develop new ways of being that address the root causes racism; Erika has a particular expertise in supporting other white people in their accountability as leaders. Prior to E&R, Erika worked at PolicyLink, the NYC Department of Homeless Services. She loves people and music.

Eshe Shukura is a storyteller and a story witness, crafting stories into narratives through writing, listening, and creative campaign development. They are a performance artist and theater maker; whose latest works mostly exist on their Instagram feed. They have a non-profit background in economic and reproductive justice. Most recently, they were the Narrative and Culture Strategist at the GRO Fund; now a freelance culture worker and artist. They believe in the power of narrative and culture as the main connectors of people and that we can shape new worlds when we dare to exist (even in a fraction) in ways that promote a liberated future. 

Fatema Ahmad is the Executive Director at Muslim Justice League, where she leads MJL’s efforts to dismantle systemic Islamophobia by addressing the criminalization, policing, and surveillance of marginalized communities. She joined as Deputy Director in 2017 and increased MJL’s focus on community organizing.

Fernando is the Communities for Our Colleges Campaign Director at the Alliance for a Just Society. He has twenty years of organizing and policy experience with many labor, community, and racial and economic justice organizations in Washington State and across the U.S. Fernando migrated from Mexico at sixteen years old and recently became a U.S. citizen and voted for the first time in 2021. He sits on the board of the Tubman Center for Health & Freedom and the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs.

Genesis currently serves as Chief of Staff and Resilience Officer for the City of Dallas where she leads the implementation of the Resilient Dallas Strategy, Digital Equity efforts, and the
coordination of special projects and other city-wide interdepartmental initiatives. She has oversight of the central operations and administrative affairs of the Mayor and City Council Office and the City Manager’s Office. Genesis holds a Master’s in Public Administration and certificate in nonprofit management from the University of Washington; and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Public Policy at the
University of Texas at Arlington.

Giulia Pasciuto (she/her) is a strategic advisor with the Seattle Equitable Development Initiative, where she demystifies real estate and public funding processes in support of community-led land acquisition and development projects. Before joining the City, she supported BIPOC-led coalitions to advocate for community control of land and development with Puget Sound Sage. She has a graduate degree in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA.

Grace Bagunu is originally from Kansas City, Missouri, and currently works as a Program Manager for the City of San Diego's Department of Race and Equity.
Grace focuses on Training & Systems Integration. As an educator and lifelong learner, Grace feels one of the best parts of the job is the personal growth that comes from teaching. This role requires staying up to date with what’s happening around San Diego and keeping an eye out for opportunities to participate with and support the diverse groups of people who call the City home, an aspect of the role that Grace appreciates.

Guerline M. Jozef is a leading human rights advocate, thought leader and strategist who dedicates her life to bringing awareness to issues that affect us all locally and globally, such as immigration, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and other human rights issues. Guerline is the Founder & Executive Director of the Haitian Bride Alliance, the only Black-led, womxn-led, Haitian-American-led organization serving migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border with offices in Tapachula, Tijuana and San Diego focusing people of African Descent in migration and beyond. She is the creator of “Tales from the Borderlands and beyond” as well as the co-founder of the Black Immigrants Bail Fund (BIBF) and the Co-Founder of the Cameroon Advocacy Network.

Ms. Jozef was named one of POLITICO’s 2021 40 Most Influential People on Race, Politics, and Policy in the United States for her leadership and is the recipient of prestigious awards—most recently, the Las Americas’ 2021 Border Heroes Award, the 2021 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the 2022 National Haitian-American Elected Officials Network Community Champion Award, the 2022 American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award, and was named one of the Haitian Times' Newsmakers of 2022 and received the prestigious Dutty Boukman award. She has been featured in Forbes Magazine and has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Politico, Time Magazine, The Miami Herald, Democracy Now, and many other publications. Guerline has also testified in front of the United Nations, the United States Congress and the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to demand the humane treatment of Black immigrants and all peoples of African descent. She went to the Border for the Haitians but she stayed for everyone seeking safety and protection.

Philadelphia State Representative Chris Rabb is a father, educator, author, and social justice activist.

Rabb — who has supported efforts to reform special elections, repeal the death penalty, and redistribute school funding in Pennsylvania — introduced legislation that would establish a reparations plan for slavery and systemic racism for people of African descent due to the laws, court rulings and practices of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1776.

Irene Marion serves as the Director of the Departmental Office of Civil Rights (DOCR). As leader of DOCR, Director Marion oversees USDOT’s enforcement of civil rights laws and regulations, which prohibit workplace discrimination in employment and the provision of government services. DOCR’s core programs areas include Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) initiatives and employee complaint processing; Title VI; Disability; and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise. Director Marion also serves as co-lead of the USDOT-wide Equity Taskforce and is responsible for strategy and implementation across equity initiatives. DOCR is leading equity initiatives specific to Workforce Equity, Economic Justice, Gender Justice and Public Engagement.

Jada Thompson is a first year graduate student in the MPA program at George Washington University from Reading, PA. Prior to this, she studied Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice at Lincoln University, a small HBCU in Pennsylvania. Jada currently works for an organization called New Voices for Reproductive where she is the Voter Outreach Coordinator specifically doing outreach to Black women, girls and gender expansive people.

Jamila Owens-Todd, Naturopathic Doctor has dedicated her life to supporting those in their healing. Her career started out as a Chemist and then she graduated from the four-year, Naturopathic Doctor degree program at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. As a Naturopathic Doctor, Jamila has pledged to educate and provide insight in regaining your innate healing power. She serves as the Director of Clinical Education for Power4STL, a community of health, working to reduce the impact of trauma with a focus on trauma healing for Black people. Jamila is Adjunct at St. Louis University and at Harris-Stowe State University.

Jane Mantey, Ph.D. is a first-generation, queer Ghanaian-American born in NYC to working-class immigrant parents. A biomedical scientist by training, Jane has spent more than a decade organizing and advocating for racial justice, voting rights and participatory democracy, environmental and climate justice, police and prison abolition, as well as tenants’ rights and housing justice—seeing them all as interconnected if we want to achieve health equity and vastly improve life outcomes for all peoples.

Jane comes to Race Forward after working for nonprofits such as Ceres and the Sierra Club, as well as in state government in California for both the legislative and executive branches. Additionally, she is a freelance writer and movement journalist with articles published in Civil Eats, The Root, Essence, AAPF’s Forum Magazine, etc. Jane is an educator, having taught college-level courses and presented guest lectures on human biology, medical humanities, scientific racism, environmental and climate justice, youth/student-led organizing, and social movement.

A product of HBCUs, Jane earned her Ph.D. from Meharry Medical College and B.S. from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She is also a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Jane currently lives in Houston TX, where she spends her downtime catching up on the latest pop culture, especially Black podcasts, TV shows, films, and other media, and playing armchair sociocultural/sociopolitical critic with her wife.

Jarvis Williams has more than 20 years of experience working at the intersection of religious, academic, policy, and non-profit institutions. As Director for Race and Democracy, Jarvis leads the development and implementation of a cross-cutting portfolio of work within the Horizons Project to embed a racial justice and equity lens into all areas of our ecosystem organizing. Jarvis provides both external and internal thought leadership on the inextricable linkages between racial justice and pro-democracy organizing as well as serves as a network weaver between leaders and organizations working on different aspects of this work.

Dr. Jason Purnell joined the James S. McDonnell Foundation as president in 2023 after leading the community health improvement strategy at BJC HealthCare. He created health equity programs with colleagues and partners and introduced an anchor institution agenda focused on investments in high-poverty communities of color. This work built on his scholarship at Washington University’s Brown School, where in 2014, he and his collaborators released the seminal “For the Sake of All” report on African American health in St. Louis, inspiring policy changes and programmatic innovations. Dr. Purnell’s BA is from Harvard, and his PhD is from Ohio State University.

Jeremy Al-Haj is the founder and Executive Director of the Missouri Workers Center. He was a founder and principal organizer of Stand Up KC, the Kansas City arm of the Fight for $15 movement. Over eight years of organizing, Stand Up KC developed some of the strongest fast food leaders in the country, built out a broad base, and won a statewide minimum wage increase. At SEIU Local 1, he led contract campaigns in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, spearheaded a campaign to win sectoral bargaining for fast food workers in Chicago, and oversaw external organizing across Missouri.

Jessica joined the CPC Center after nearly 2 decades of experience in political communications, organizing, and progressive policy. Most recently, she served as Interim Policy and Legislative Director for People’s Action Institute, a grassroots network active in 30 states that fights for racial, economic, and gender justice on issues including healthcare, housing justice, the climate crisis, fighting toxic contamination, mass liberation, and consumer protection. She has a Masters in Political Communication from American University and a Bachelor's in public policy and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Joe T. (he/ him, they/ them) is a minister, scholar, writer and cultural organizer whose work is at the intersections of art, culture, spirituality and collective liberation. He received his B.S. in Communications from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and completed his M.Div. with a concentration in Social Ethics from Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York. His work has been supported by fellowships from National Art Strategies Creative Communities Fellowship, and the Intercultural Leadership Institute. His goal with his work is to help others live, dream, achieve, and inspire. Joe is a sought-after facilitator, cultural strategist, and writer.

Joy-Ann Reid is a political analyst and host of “The ReidOut” on MSNBC. She is the author of four books: #1 New York Times bestseller Medgar and Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America; (opens new window), Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons and the Racial Divide; (opens new window), We Are the Change We Seek: The Speeches of Barack Obama; (opens new window), which she co-edited with Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, and The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story; (opens new window), which spent four weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list. Reid also co-hosts a podcast: Reid This-Reid That with veteran TV journalist Jacque Reid. She has worked in local and national TV news, as a talk radio producer and co-host, and as a press secretary during two presidential campaigns, including for Barack Obama's campaign in Florida in 2008. Her columns have appeared in multiple outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Miami Herald, New York Magazine, and The Daily Beast.

Reid graduated from Harvard University in 1991 and was a 2003 Knight Center for Advanced Journalism fellow. She has received media awards from The Newswoman’s Club of New York for the Front Page Award for Lifetime Achievement; (opens new window), Women’s Media Center, the National Action Network and the National Association of Black Journalists, and her work has been nominated for an Emmy Award, a GLAAD Media Award, and two NAACP Image Awards.

Dianis has served as a lawyer, professor and civil rights advocate in the movement for racial justice. Hailed as a voting rights expert and pioneer in the movement to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, Dianis leads Advancement Project National Office’s work in combating structural racism in education, voting, policing, criminal justice and immigration. Dianis was raised in Hollis, Queens by two Harlem natives – one, an educator and community activist; the other a veteran of the nation’s segregated Army. It was this upbringing that sparked Dianis’ passion for civil rights. Her protest of racism as a student at the University of Pennsylvania and survival of job discrimination prompted Dianis to pursue a career in movement lawyering. She later graduated from Columbia University School of Law, received a Skadden Fellowship and went on to become the Managing Attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund. Dianis helped start Advancement Project’s Voter Protection program during the election debacle in Florida in 2000, representing the NAACP. In the ensuing two decades, the organization partnered with grassroots and national organizations to thwart voter suppression efforts like strict voter ID requirements, cuts to early voting, the closure of polling locations and felony disenfranchisement. Advancement Project National Office is proud to be a founding member of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, recently credited with the historic passage of Amendment 4 to the Florida’s state constitution. The measure automatically restores the voting rights of those with prior felony convictions. Judith Browne Dianis was awarded the Prime Movers Fellowship for trailblazing social movement leaders and was named one of the “Thirty Women to Watch” by Essence magazine. She serves on the Board of Directors for Friends of the Earth.

Julia Caplan, MPH, MPP, is the Executive Director of State of Equity, which builds the capacity of government leaders, changes government practices, and creates structures within government to support the ongoing centering of community priorities. Julia brings 30 years of social justice leadership and 13 years supporting state government organizations to advance racial and health equity as a founding staff member and chair of the California Health in All Policies Task Force and co-founder of the Capitol Collaborative on Race and Equity. Julia holds masters’ degrees in public policy and public health from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kana Hammon is a narrative strategist and award-winning researcher with 10 years of experience launching programs, organizations, mobile apps and digital campaigns that have reached millions of people. In addition to Asian American Futures, Kana has worked on the May 19th Project, the Butterfly Lab for Immigrant Narrative Strategy at Race Forward and Emerging Radiance. Kana holds a BA in ethnic studies and an MBA, both from Stanford University. Outside of work, Kana enjoys cooking, surfing and hiking near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Kathryn is a Black, queer, gender nonconforming, radical, abolitionist. Before becoming the Director of Programs and Initiatives at Women Donors Network, Kathryn was a Senior Program Officer at the Libra Foundation, where they co-directed the national Criminal Justice and Social Policy grantmaking portfolio. Prior to Libra, Kathryn spent nearly eight years as a Senior Advisor at Tides Advocacy, providing financial, programmatic, and legal support to a mix of institutional funder, individual donor, and organizational clients.

With a background in law, including roles at firms in San Diego and San Francisco, as well as experience as a Criminal Justice Fellow at the Dr. Beatriz María Solís Policy Institute, Kathryn has contributed significantly to criminal justice reform efforts. They hold a Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law, along with degrees in Sociology and Human Development, and a Minor in Communication from the University of California, Davis.

Kathryn shares their life with their partner Shayna (they/she) and their two children: Zuri (she/they) and Asani (they/them).

Kayla Reed (she/her) is a Black, queer feminist organizer and strategist from St. Louis, Missouri. Kayla is the co-founder and Executive Director of Action St. Louis, a grassroots racial justice organization founded after the 2014 Ferguson Uprising that works to build Black political power. In her role, she has led campaigns that have resulted in the election of progressive Black candidates throughout the St. Louis region and led issue-based campaigns around housing, voting rights and the criminal legal system. Kayla is also a lead strategist in the Movement for Black Lives, where she co-founded the Electoral Justice Project (EJP), a national campaign of the Movement for Black Lives, that seeks to challenge electoral injustice, expand and mobilize the Black electorate and strengthen the capacity of Black-led organizations building power across the U.S.

Kellee Coleman has over 18 years of equity and social justice community organizing experience integrating media, and popular education as strategies for social change. She co-founded Vibrant Woman/Mama Sana prenatal clinic that provides holistic and culturally specific prenatal care, birth companions, midwifery services, prenatal fitness and nutrition services to lower income Black and Latina folks in the Austin area.

She has consulted with numerous organizations on equity and reproductive issues including the U.S. Midwifery Education, Regulation, & Association, MANA, A National Latina Organization, The University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs, and the Austin Women’s Community Center.

Kesi is Co-Executive Director at Partners for Dignity & Rights. He was previously the Co-Director of the Youth Power Project at Make the Road New York, where he advanced campaigns for educational justice, immigration justice, and community safety. Before that, Kesi coordinated the Urban Youth Collaborative, the largest youth-led educational justice coalition in New York City, and worked at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. Before joining the movements for educational justice, he held positions at the Right to Vote Campaign, and worked with formerly incarcerated individuals and public housing residents in New York City.

Kimberly Burrowes is a training and technical assistance senior manager in the Research to Action Lab at the Urban Institute. Burrowes’s research has focused on advancing racial equity in parks and public spaces, practices and policies for affordable housing solutions, and participatory engagement. Burrowes thinks about how to provide an equity framing to local policy solutions for the built environment, using placemaking and community engagement tools. Within her technical assistance role, Burrowes works with local government agencies and nonprofits to build their capacity to tackle policy challenges. She has advised local agencies on the equity impacts of placemaking, community-based nonprofits focused on housing stability and equity, county-level criminal justice system agencies, and most recently, resident engagement approaches for municipalities exploring financial empowerment plans.

Before joining Urban, Burrowes worked with the urban development and disaster risk management unit at the World Bank, focusing on projects in the Caribbean and East Asia. Before that, she worked on affordable housing policy at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership in Boston and the Island Housing Trust on Martha’s Vineyard. Burrowes has a BA in geography and international development and an MA in community development and urban planning from Clark University.

La Keisha Leek is currently the Grants Management Associate and Co-chair of the Just Imperative Committee at the MacArthur Foundation. Prior to working in philanthropy, she held a variety of arts administration, project management, and community engagement roles at Project&, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, Theaster Gates Studio, amongst others. La Keisha has a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Columbia College Chicago. She is on the Associate Board of arts education organization Urban Gateways.

Lauren Maria Padilla-Valverde is the proud daughter of indigenous Guatemalan immigrants and community organizers in their homeland. She is Managing Director of the Department of Racial Equity, Culture & Practice for The California Endowment (TCE), a private statewide health foundation. Lauren oversees the foundation's effort to transform and become an embodied, anti-racist health foundation. Before this appointment, Lauren was Senior Program Manager overseeing the foundation's grantmaking strategy to invest in those most impacted by systemic oppression to build power in the Salinas Valley, California. Prior to TCE, Lauren was the director of the Joint Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies and Master of Public Health at Touro University and practiced family medicine and homeless health for 20 years.

Lawrence Kyere was born in Akim Oda, Ghana in 1995. He received his BFA in Fashion Design and Textile Education from the University of Education Winneba, Ghana in 2021. He moves to the United States of America in August 2023, where he is currently in his first-year pursuing Master of Fine Art in Textiles at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Artist Statement
In aligning my artistic practice with activism, I seek to dismantle uncomfortable structures, challenge stereotypes, and promote unity and empowerment. My work is a call to action, inviting individuals to engage with pressing social issues and join the collective effort towards positive change. Through the intricate and vibrant medium of textile collage, I aim to weave together the narratives, traditions, and cultural heritage of Africa.

By capturing the essence of historical moments, figures, and events through various artistic mediums, I aim to honor the legacy of our ancestors and illuminate the often-overlooked aspects of our collective heritage. My artistic practice is rooted in a deep appreciation for the oral tradition and the power of storytelling in African culture. I am dedicated to using art as a tool for social change and activism, emphasizing the transformative potential of creative expression in addressing pressing societal issues.

Lee D. Evans is a policy coordinator in the Research to Action Lab at the Urban Institute, where he provides administrative and technical assistance for several cross-sector projects. Before joining Urban, Lee worked as an analyst for Mindset Global, an education start-up, and interned at the Children’s Defense Fund in the child poverty department. He is passionate about equipping legislators with the tools they need to implement robust and effective programs, particularly programs that lift people out of poverty and ensure children are able to live happy, healthy, and safe lives. Lee attended Duke University and holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy with a certificate in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Lindsey Wilson is the Director the City of Dallas’ Office of Equity and Inclusion, she leads the citywide efforts across city departments and provides oversight of the Racial Equity Plan. Aiming to advance the goal of embedding Dallas’ core value of Equity in all that the city does from budgeting, policies, community engagement and overall service delivery to help shape a city government. She holds over 14 years of experience in local government, and an extensive background in postsecondary education where she supported the University of Washington’s commitment to equity, and inclusion. Dr. Wilson’s motto is equity is everyone’s work.

Lisa Ann Kim is a program coordinator for the City of San Diego's Department of Race and Equity. She recently moved to San Diego from Baltimore where she developed a culturally responsive social studies curriculum with the school district.

Lisa Ann creates content and facilitates training based on advancing racial equity and inclusion within the City. She partners with different departments as they design and implement tactical equity plans, identifying disparities and helping address them. She’s humbled and grateful at the opportunity to support the City’s efforts to ensure all neighborhoods have what they need to flourish as their authentic selves.

As Vice President of Thought Leadership at Echoing Green, Liza Mueller supports Echoing Green’s mission to advance global equity and sustainability by increasing its impact potential and influencing the fields of social innovation and philanthropy to move significant resources and shift power to proximate leaders and their communities.

Lucy oversees advocacy & organizing for ONE Central Providence. Lucy is passionate about place-based work that is grounded in equity, compassion, and community. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in Religious Studies, Lucy moved to Washington, D.C., as an Avodah service corps member and worked directly with women experiencing homelessness. They moved back to Providence to manage two local campaigns of progressive candidates running for seats in the General Assembly.

Makeeba Browne is the Chief of Equity, Justice and Culture at ClimateWorks Foundation. She brings over 16 years of experience working with foundations, academic institutions and nonprofits to transform ideas into effective strategies and policies that address pressing social issues. Makeeba applies her leadership and operational acumen to engage stakeholders and support programs firmly rooted in equity and justice, through the design of initiatives across many topics, including youth leadership development, equitable climate solutions, accessing arts in youth detention centers, and equitable evaluations for environmental philanthropies in the U.S. and abroad.

Manal Al-Ansi, MAT, Esq., currently serves as the Chief of Staff at Saint Louis Public Schools where she leverages her expertise in organizational and leadership development to drive systemic improvements and advocate for Educational Equity. Manal has demonstrated a profound impact on organizational and educational systems. As the Director of Racial Equity Advancement at Seattle Public Schools, her strategic vision facilitated the establishment of the district’s first Black Studies courses, community-led summer learning course, and Department of Liberatory Education. At the Seattle Department of Transportation, she pioneered a department-wide Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), significantly enhancing transparency and accountability.

Margaret (“Maggie”) Daun is the General Counsel for Civic Media, Inc., as well as host of her live daily talk radio show, The Maggie Daun Show. Before joining Civic, Maggie was the Corporation Counsel for Milwaukee County. Before Milwaukee County, Maggie ran a nearly $1bn award-winning retirement plan and worked as an attorney for the City of Milwaukee, as well as two global law firms, White & Case LLP and Winston & Strawn LLP. She clerked for Judge Michael Kanne of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Maggie also holds a masters degree in applied economics.

Maria Bautista is the Lead Trainer at the NYU Metro Center, and a partner in HEAL Together. She leads the Education Warriors leadership development program, and coaches and mentors organizers across the country. Previously, Maria was the Campaign Director at the Alliance for Quality Education, where she led campaigns that shifted and challenged power dynamics in NY State to win $4 billion in funding for students. Maria has been organizing for over 15 years, always working from a lens of racial justice and building community towards collective goals. Maria loves beaches, travel and reggaeton. She lives for education for liberation.

Markisha serves as the Grant Specialist for the City of Boulder Human Services Investments team, where she ensures that funding for health equity, human services, substance abuse prevention and human/civil rights programs are provided in an efficient and equitable manner. Markisha's background in public health, grassroots and government work; and her commitment and passion for equity and inclusion make her a valued leader in the city. Markisha is a mother of two girls and is also an active leader in many school and community spaces where she advocates for fairness and equity.

Matthew Armstead (they/them) is a cultural organizer blending artistic expression with movements for collective liberation. As Partnerships & Practice Manager at We Make the Future, they support partners to align then implement research-backed, race-forward narratives like the Race Class Narrative. Matthew's facilitation style engages participants as active co-creators, weaving community organizing, popular education, and physical theater techniques where people embody their visions for the future. Matthew has organized campaigns spanning environmental, racial, LGBTQ, and gender justice issues.

Megan Black Johnson is a Midwest-based trainer, facilitator, and organizer committed to race equity, inclusive democracy, and the common good. Since 2010 Megan has worked with organizations like Interfaith Youth Core, Faith in Action, and currently Western States Center to navigate the spaces and tensions created by divisions in race, religion, and politics, with a particular focus on antisemitism, anti-Black racism, and Christian hegemony. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Divinity Degree from Vanderbilt University. Megan, her husband Keith, and infant daughter Winnie live in Kansas City, MO.

Dr. Mandefro is a physician and the Founder of Truth Aid Impact, blending art and science to tell stories that address barriers to wellbeing. An Emmy-nominated producer and writer, her work spans film, TV, and documentaries featured on platforms like Netflix and PBS. Recognized as one of Variety’s most impactful women in global entertainment, Mehret uses “audiovisual medicine” to shift cultural narratives. She holds degrees from Harvard, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Temple University, and has served as a White House Fellow and Chair of the Realness Institute.

Michael Bell is President, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of InPartnership Consulting. He designs state-of-the-art training, leadership development programs, and organizational change initiatives for foundations and progressive non-profits. He is an international consultant and executive coach with special expertise in organizational assessment, teambuilding, and mentoring programs. He is an expert in helping organizations understand their cultures and their need for transformational learning.

A graduate of Cornell University, Michael serves as a senior faculty member for the Rockwood Leadership Institute. This group has convened to teach leaders of progressive non-profits how to powerfully align and inspire themselves and others toward common goals and high-quality results. He also serves as an advisor and design team member to Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity. This trans-national program is designed to promote racial equity by building an enduring transnational network of leaders across issues, approaches, and geographies to challenge anti-black racism and build institutions, policies, and narratives for a more equitable future.

Michael leads on the design and facilitation of the Building Power Fellowships in California and Ohio, in partnership with Helen Kim and Jose Acevedo of Rockwood Leadership Program. These fellowships catalyze a dramatic shift in leaders’ abilities to build power grounded in racial justice with a vision, narrative, and set of plans to engage community members in impacting the health, racial, and economic equity of their regions in a powerful, positive way.

Michael designs and facilitates The President’s Forum on Racial Equity in Philanthropy for Keecha Harris and Associates. Michael leads the Racial Equity Innovation Lab for foundations with comprehensive DEI/Racial Equity programs underway. The Innovation Lab allows each foundation to find support, expertise, and insights for addressing challenges and learning best practices for building impactful initiatives. He is a student/practitioner of Forward Stance, a series of physical practices based on the belief that our capacity for movement building rests not only on political alignment, strategy, or collaboration, but also a capacity to collectively embody a resilient stance and move as one. Forward Stance is a mind-body approach that gets us out of our heads and into our bodies, tying together physical movements with political movements.

Michael is certified to lead the Interpersonal Leadership Styles Assessment and the Intercultural Development Inventory®, both tools aimed at understanding and effectively working across difference.

As an artist, designer, and facilitator, Michael Pagano sees community development and cultural production as essential transformative tools for reimagining and remaking our communities and our world. Playing the role of Narrative + Communications Partner with Invest STL, Michael enjoys crafting and shaping storytelling by working closely with team members, partners, and residents to listen for, weave together, and raise up our voices and celebrate our collective work. Before joining Invest STL, Michael played a pivotal role in leading the Nine PBS program Nine Lab. His work has taken place in non-profit, arts, education, wellness, and community engagement spaces.

Michelle conducts data analysis and research as part of the National and Bay Area Equity Atlas teams. A strong believer in the democratization of data to compel civic action, Michelle works with community partners to co-create data tools and analyses that further the case for equitable growth and center lived experiences of residents. Before joining PolicyLink, Michelle saw the power of accessible data in driving policymaking and community development first-hand at PolicyMap, and as an AmeriCorps VISTA member at CamConnect. She holds a master's in public health from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Miko Lee is an activist, storyteller and educator. At Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality (AACRE), she coordinates a network of progressive, grassroots AAPI organizations engaged in deep social justice collaborations on issues ranging from racism and immigrant rights to prison reform, religious discrimination and LGBTQ+ equality. She also produces APEX Express on KPFA radio, spotlighting AAPI activists and artists. In her career as an actor, director, writer, filmmaker and arts educator, Miko has led multiple nonprofit organizations and served on California arts equity committees as well as the National Advisory Committee of Teaching Artists Guild. www.mikolee.me

At IISC, Miriam is Director of Practice and works on strategy, staff development, assessment, and client work focused on racial equity change efforts and health equity. Miriam has devoted much of her professional life to working to ensure that communities are healthy – with resources, a sense of connectedness, and engaged residents driving community development. Prior to IISC, Miriam was an independent consultant helping foundations and non‐profits work towards their visions by addressing challenges with passion, excellence, and stakeholder inclusion. Earlier in her career, Miriam loved mentoring, learning, and building organizational capacity while executive director of The City School.

Mohanad is the facilitator of two equity coalitions convened as part of planning efforts for transportation infrastructure in two of the most diverse and fastest growing corridors of the Portland Metropolitan Area. His role involves centering the needs and uplifting the voices of the most impacted communities particularly Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Immigrants, and Refugees. Before moving to the U.S. in 2021, Mohanad gained extensive knowledge and experience in community development through his work with non-profit organizations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia since 2008. He also worked as a project coordinator, event organizer, and part-time lecturer.

Nationally acclaimed strategist and organizer, Murad Awawdeh has been leading the charge for immigrants across New York & the nation. Murad, the son of Palestinian immigrants, has dedicated over two decades of his life fighting for low-income communities of color. As the President and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), he leads the nation’s oldest and largest immigrant rights organization.

Through his work, he has successfully expanded rights and protections for New Yorkers and delivered over $10 billion in community reinvestment. Murad has been tapped by Governor Hochul to support post-COVID Recovery efforts to pave a new way forward for our city and state. Over the past two years, he has worked to welcome tens of thousands of recent arrivals, advocate for their needs, and strengthen the ecosystem of community organizations serving immigrant communities. Murad has successfully led electoral, legislative, and policy campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels and mobilized hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers at demonstrations against anti-immigrant policies.

As the President and CEO of NYIC Action, the NYIC’s sister 501(c)4 political advocacy and action organization, he has successfully run grassroots electoral campaigns to elect progressive candidates. Murad has been featured in the New York Times, Vice, Washington Post, and various other outlets. He serves as a member of the Justice 2020 Committee, as a board member of the National Immigration Law Center, Race Forward, Advocacy Institute, National Partnership for New Americans, Fair Immigration Reform Movement, ImmigrantArc, and as Commissioner of the New York City Civic Engagement Commission.

Niketa Brar is a policy strategist and civic systems organizer working to grow community power in policymaking. Niketa organized Chicago’s first public Racial Equity Impact Assessment, which set national precedent for stopping a school closure on the grounds of racial discrimination, designed the Vote Equity Project, an award-winning citywide voter guide built by thousands of residents, and co-created the People's Budget Chicago, a popular education model and community budgeting process. Niketa's approach comes from her experience working in communities harmed by top-down and ineffective public policy, as well as advising government leaders in school districts, city government, and state agencies.

Nish Newton is a Black, queer, trans survivor of sexual & domestic violence among a myriad of other identities & lived experiences. They use multi-disciplinary & un-disciplinary approaches to mobilizing social change, and their distinct approaches have led them to facilitate social justice spaces alongside Sonya Renee Taylor, adrienne maree brown, Dr. Angela Davis, and other beacons of liberation. Right now, Nish's soulwork is assisting Black trans youth through transitions to gender-affirmation. When they aren't organizing in their community, Nish spends time outdoors with their beloved wife, writing poetry, or finding innovative ways to be a menace to colonial oppression.

Olivia Soledad is a policy program associate in the Office of Race and Equity Research at the Urban Institute, where she manages a portfolio of projects focused on supporting local government officials, practitioners, and community-based organizations to advance equity-focused policy initiatives and strategies. Before joining Urban, Soledad worked at the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, where she coordinated the institute's day-to-day operations and executed programming and events to bring together leading US and Mexican public servants and policymakers, business leaders, and scholars. Before joining the Wilson Center, Soledad completed field work in Mexico, where she studied migration patterns from Central America.

Petra Alsoofy is the Senior Outreach and Partnerships Manager at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU). ISPU, a nonprofit applied research organization, provides objective research and education about American Muslims to support well-informed dialogue and decision-making. Petra’s work at ISPU includes strengthening valued partnerships and creating new ones, ensuring ISPU’s research reaches the public and critical stakeholders such as policymakers, community and interfaith leaders, media professionals, and educators. She has developed and conducted various trainings and programs, including briefings on Capitol Hill, researchers’ convenings, major conference and media appearances, and subject area expert meetings on American Muslim communities.

My artwork originates from everything that is within me. With different social topics, emotions, memories, and the people that surround me, I translate all of that into all of the different mediums that I use. Not only does this show a life filled with joy, sadness, anger, etc., but how I view the world surrounding me.

Rachel Weidinger, MFA is an artist, organizer, and researcher; currently Program Director - Network at Narrative Initiative. Raised in central Ohio in a blue-collar family, Rachel started working early. Before age 25 they worked in fast food, restaurants, landscaping, telemarketing, and grocery stores. Rachel organized with Lesbian Avengers and won anonymous HIV testing in her rural college campus, and protested on live national TV to stop the escalation of the war in Iraq. Rachel has since held a wide range of professional roles in strategy, communications, capacity building, research, and organizational development.

Rahmah A. Abdulaleem is the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of Soulful Muslims, a non-profit organization thinking globally and acting locally to address challenges facing African-American Muslim communities. Its programs fund healthy family initiatives, seek to enhance community capacity building and foster leadership development for women and children. Ms. Abdulaleem advocates for civil rights, religious freedom, empowerment and justice around the world. Ms. Abdulaleem is passionate about empowering the next generations through leadership development and mentoring so that they may become the leading agents of change within their communities.

Ram is the Senior Campaigns Coordinator for ICWI, and an organizer and researcher working on countering the transnational far-right. Ram has organized in student spaces, where they co-founded a nationwide network of progressive South Asian students in the US, as well as in India, where they traveled across the country to build and coordinate a pro-democracy network among a wide array of social movements.

Raquel Mariscal is a Senior Strategist with the W. Haywood Burns Institute. Raquel brings over 25 years of local and national work with issues of social justice, youth justice systems reform, and racial and ethnic equity. Her journey includes policy change agent for poor and people of color and families impacted by the adult and youth justice systems; and, working to ensure that Latinx and Native American youth, families, and communities are included in justice transformation. Born and raised in California’s Central Valley, her personal and family’s farmworker legacy has shaped her values and principles.

Renard Monczunski has been an organizer with the Detroit People's Platform since 2014, starting as a volunteer canvasser for the Community Benefits Agreement Campaign, which sought equity and benefits for communities experiencing the threat of displacement due to publicly funded development. His work in transit justice organizing began in late 2014 bus riders were experience long wait times, lack of reliable bus service, and experienced being stranded several times. His mentor, Linda Campbell and other organizers in Detroit inspired him to organize for transit justice and has made relationships through his “on-the-ground” outreach and connection with bus riders experiencing inadequate and unreliable public transportation access. Renard has been a bus rider for over 15 years and has lived in Detroit since 1994, where he continues to organize or racial justice, equity, and transit justice. Renard is a first-generation college graduate and proud alumnus of the University of Michigan, class of 2011, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology.

Rinku Sen is a writer and social justice strategist leading the Narrative Initiative since 2020, where she develops programs to promote equity and justice in multiracial democracy. Formerly the Executive Director of Race Forward, she oversaw impactful campaigns like Drop the I-Word, which influenced major media outlets to change their terminology regarding immigrants. Sen authored the Shattered Families report and books like Stir it Up and The Accidental American, exploring community organizing through various social lenses. She has consulted for organizations including the ACLU and serves on multiple boards, including Hedgebrook and the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Ron Stodghill is a prize-winning journalist and author whose career includes roles as a staff writer for the New York Times, Midwest bureau chief for Time, Washington correspondent for Business Week, and editor-in-chief of Savoy magazine. He is also the founder and publisher of the travel site DETOUR, a partnership between McClatchy media and the Missouri School of Journalism. At Mizzou, Ron currently serves as a Professor and Meredith Endowed Chair. He is recipient of numerous prestigious writing awards and fellowships, including a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University (2001), and a Peter Taylor Fellowship at the Kenyon Review (2016).

In 2020, I took a risk at quitting my job as a Police Officer and pursued my career as a full time Artist. My physical and mental health were being impacted by the job. Prior to resigning, I would paint as a side job, but long work hours made it very difficult to complete any artwork. I expressed my desire to pursue my artwork fulltime to my wife and she encouraged me to resign, but I was afraid. My wife was also pregnant at the time, but I decided to take a risk on myself, so that I could provide a better life for my family. Since then, I've built my brand, RottenCorr Art, in which I specialize in paint on canvas. I also create digital art, murals, etc. My art is bold, bright, and whimsical. I also have a YouTube channel where I document each creative process. I try to inspire and encourage my followers to pursue their dreams. It may seem scary to take risks, but when passion meets purpose and hard work, success will follow. I enjoy being a creative and inspiring people every day with my talents.

Salima serves as Founder & CEO of the award-winning Evolve Solutions, a government affairs and community engagement consulting firm founded in 2010 to address the racial and socio-economic disparities within urban communities. In 2017, Salima made history as the first Muslim woman appointed to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission on Women by Governor Wolf and reappointed in 2023 by Governor Shapiro. In 2023, Salima Suswell founded the Black Muslim Leadership Council. BMLC is a national nonprofit organization, with a 501(c)(4) arm, dedicated to policy advocacy for urban communities, nonpartisan voter registration and voter turnout, civic education, and leadership development.

Sandra Tamari is a Palestinian organizer and the Executive Director of Adalah Justice Project, a Palestinian advocacy organization. She is a co-founder of the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and was co-chair of the Steering Committee for the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights from 2015-2018. Based in St. Louis, the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson in August 2014 greatly impacted Sandra’s work, and since then she has focused on building joint liberation efforts between Palestinians and Black communities. She was a lead organizer of the Palestinian contingent to Ferguson October in 2014.

Sarita Covington is a multi-disciplinary artist, racial justice organizer, and social entrepreneur from Harlem. She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. She co-founded ACRE (Artists Co-Creating Real Equity), an organizing body of artists and cultural workers that works closely with the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond to undo racism in our field and is currently an Affiliate Trainer of Race Forwards public and private Racial Equity Trainings. Her work has received support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Open Meadows Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, SPARC (Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide), and BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange).

Sheena was sentenced to LWOP at age 17, before a U.S. Supreme Court ruling deemed it cruel and unusual punishment to sentence juveniles to such, leading to Sheena gaining her freedom in 2017 after spending 25 years in prison. She is the founder of two community organizations; Show-me Justice For All - which advocates for criminal legislative reforms - and P.R.E.P for Release, which helps prepare people to reenter society upon release from prison. Sheena works as a certified Paralegal. She also works for Human Rights Watch on a National Leadership Council to End Life Without Parole.

Shenekia Weeks brings over 25 years of diverse experience in public health, education, mental health, substance abuse, law enforcement, higher education, and non-profits. Her career is dedicated to addressing social determinants of health and eliminating race- and class-based disparities.

Currently, she serves as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer and the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer for the Town of Chapel Hill. In this role, she is committed to integrating equity into the town's operations by building relationships, enhancing staff capacity to recognize bias, and mitigating inequitable practices.

Previously, she was Director of Diversity, Equity, and Trauma for EducationPlus in St. Louis, MO. She collaborated with leaders to identify and address organizational inequalities through professional development programs there. She also served as the District Administrator of the Guardian ad Litem Program, overseeing advocates and attorneys in family court with a focus on the needs of children.

Shenekia's background includes experience as a Corporal in the Harnett County Sheriff's Office, where she worked as a Crime Prevention Officer and School Resource Officer. As the Director of the Gang Prevention Partnership in Wake County, she integrated prevention, intervention, suppression, and re-entry services, aiming to change the narrative around gang involvement and improve community ecosystems.

Earlier in her career, she supported children and families affected by substance abuse and individuals with developmental disabilities. Shenekia holds Community Health Research, Building Resilience, Circle Keeping, Family Center Practice, and DEI Facilitation certifications. She is also a skilled communications advisor, adept at aligning mission, vision, and values with business imperatives to foster a positive culture.

Shenekia earned a BA in Psychology from NC A&T University and an MPA from North Carolina Central University. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

In her personal life, Shenekia is affectionately known as Auntie or TiTi, a mom to a 16-year-old furbaby and fiancée to Daaron Parrish.

Based in St. Louis, MO

Simiya is a Black + Indigenous (Choctaw + Chickasaw) mother, multidisciplinary artist and art educator. They maintain a fluid creative practice that primarily manifests in the realm of public art, and social practice. Their work explores the intersections of healing, ecology, social justice, and spirituality. Simiya’s expansive creative practice ranges from digital illustration, designing and painting murals to experimental sound healing performances.

Artist/Practice Statement — I am a mother, artist, and educator. My multidisciplinary creative practice manifests in the forms of large-scale public murals, illustrations, paintings, experimental sound healing performances, and other forms of public art and social practice work. My practice serves as a provocation for both personal and collective healing. I believe that art serves as a unique form of translation for the human experience. I view the very act of creation as sacred within itself. I view my role as an artist as a sacred storyteller, translator, messenger, and creator of cultureWithin my practice, I explore the concepts of healing, spirituality, justice, the landscape and joy. The cards + illustrations featured in the 2024 Facing Race Conference are part of my ongoing tarot card-based illustration series: The Confluence Tarot. Within The Confluence Tarot, I explore the histories, cultures, systems, institutions, landscapes, and diverse living beings of the Mississippi River watershed: past, present, and future. This work is heavily inspired by the iconic/classic Rider-Waite-Smith tarot card deck. This work, alongside the rest of my creative practice, serves as an offering to the Land, Ancestors, and Beings within the spaces of the great Mississippi River.

A former educator turned data analyst, Stewart is dedicated to empowering communities through their own data and data decolonization. As a public servant, his focus is on highlighting systemic barriers and dismantling them by supporting city policy with thoughtful analysis and development of equity-focused performance metrics. Despite residing in a landlocked state, he remains enthusiastic about scuba diving—an ironic testament to his tenacity in overcoming barriers.

Sunni is a community organizer with deep experience in helping translate between technical experts and community residents with a focus on elevating community views and voices. She became involved in tenant organizing in 2018 when a bed bug outbreak occurred in her building. She organized with her neighbors to have a mass meeting and they decided that no one will have to go through this again so they adopted the Homes For All model, and started Homes For All St. Louis, a coalition dedicated to catalyzing tenant associations across the metropolitan area and improving housing quality. Her projects over the past few years range from organizing renters and institutional stakeholders in the St. Louis region into a coalition that builds tenants associations, leveraging an EPA Environmental Justice grant to build community and government capacity through a collaborative problem-solving model addressing environmental injustices. In recent years, Sunni has brought in over $1,000,000 in funding to Black-led community-based organizations in the St. Louis region. Sunni holds a Bachelor's of Science degree from Vanderbilt University in Policy and Human & Organizational Development, and a Masters of Education from University of Missouri Saint Louis. She is a former classroom teacher. When she is not working, her focus is family since she is the fifth of six kids born and raised in St. Louis. As a native, Sunni knows that the people are what make St. Louis a great place to live and it is the people who have the power to change St. Louis for the better.

Tanasia Newman is the Senior Communications Manager at Essie Justice Group, the nation’s leading advocacy organization of women with incarcerated loved ones. At Essie Justice Group, Tanasia develops and drives communications strategies that center the leadership and power potential of the 1 in 4 women with incarcerated loved ones, rooted in Essie’s Black feminist, abolitionist politic. Tanasia serves as an Advisory Council member of the National Bail Out Collective, and is a Black Organizers for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD) graduate.

Tasia is the Senior Director of Training Strategies at Race Forward. Prior to joining Race Forward, she provided independent consulting services, helping organizations stabilize operations and collaborate with less stress and more joy. Projects included organizational development work at the National Immigration Law Center; acting as a technical project manager for Race Forward; and stewarding logistics for the Immigrant Movement Visioning Process. Tasia previously worked at The Management Center, where she helped grow their training program from serving 3,000 people per year to serving over 13,000. She also co-founded the organization’s flagship People of Color & Indigenous managers training program.

Taylor Mason (they/them) is a capacity building specialist and healing arts practitioner from California and rooted in Chicago. A graduate of UCLA and Columbia College Chicago, Taylor has worked in programming, development, and communications for organizations centering gender justice, ending the sexual abuse to prison pipeline among girls and women of color, and decarceration for twelve years. A certified yoga teacher, restorative justice facilitator, and reiki practitioner, Taylor works to merge political advocacy and healing justice in all that they do.

Theo Pride is a community organizer with Detroit People’s Platform, a social justice organization committed to building power for majority Black Detroit. His work focuses on equitable development and strategies to build and implement inclusive, collectively owned, solidarity economies communities of color. He leads the Detroit Budget Justice Coalition which seeks to win annually a municipal budget that invests in low income, Black neighborhoods and one designed through participatory decision-making by residents. Theo brings his unique experience as a teacher/researcher of black liberation movements and its impact on revolutionary politics and social change to inform his organizing work.  

I'm Tiffany Onyejiaka. I write about topics across many spectrums. I particularly like to examine how healthcare impacts the most disempowered populations. I do also write about the environment, social justice, food and beverage, politics, pop culture, and beauty.
I have B.A. in Public Health, Africana Studies and Natural Sciences from Johns Hopkins University. I have an M.H.S. in Environmental Health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. I am also a medical student.

Tony Arias Sorto immigrated from Honduras to Boston, Massachusetts, where he taught in public schools before moving to North Carolina. He continued working in education with a passion for fostering teaching practices that center the whole child. His commitment to creating systems where all students can thrive, led him to work at Education Justice Alliance, where he is a Statewide Organizer working to dismantle the school to prison and school to deportation pipeline through community organizing.

Tshaka Barrows is a member of the Executive Leadership Team with the Haywood Burns Institute. His work involves strategic planning, organizational development, financial oversite, project development and managing relationships with community leaders and system decision makers, funders and partners across the nation. Tshaka has participated in several national initiatives including; the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, the Mac Arthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge, the Positive Youth Justice Initiative of the Sierra Health Foundation, as well as the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Initiative to address Racial and Ethnic Disparities.

Ubax Gardheere is the Director of Investment and Fund Development, blending extensive expertise in community development and equitable practices. As the Director of Fund Development for the Cultural Space Agency and Managing Director for Savannah Community Consultants, she previously spearheaded the Equitable Development Initiative at the City of Seattle, directing a $100 million fund to combat displacement. Notably, she facilitated the transfer of city property to Black-led organizations during 2020's racial reckoning. With a solid educational background, including a Master's in Public Administration from Seattle University, Ubax is dedicated to fostering equity, community engagement, and transformative practices. Beyond her professional endeavors, Ubax is a proud single parent, driven by her commitment to social justice and community upliftment.

Vanessa Priya Daniel is the author of Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning (Random House, March, 2025), which cracks open a long overdue conversation about the obstacles women of color leaders face when leading social justice organizations, how they navigate them, and how others can show up. Vanessa has worked in social justice movements for 25 years as a labor and community organizer and funder. She founded and served for 17 years as executive director of Groundswell Fund, a leading funder of women of color-led grassroots and electoral organizing. She is a recipient of the Smith College Medal, was featured by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as one of fifteen “Influencers” who are changing the non-profit world, and by Inside Philanthropy as one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Players in Philanthropy.” She has written for The New York Times and other publications.

Vivette Jeffries-Logan (she/her) is a citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation. She served her People as an elected member of the Tribal Council and as Founding Director of the OBSN Tribal Health Circle. Vivette was a trainer with Dismantling Racism Works (dRworks), served as the Director of Training and Technical Assistance at a state domestic violence coalition, and served on the Advisory Board for the American Indian Center at a local university. She also served as Curriculum Designer and Instructor for the Working Effectively with Tribal Government course for the Centers for Disease Control and as Core Faculty with the William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations. She was recognized as an Honoree at the Women’s Honor Ceremony during the American Indian Women of Proud Nations Conference. United Tribes of North Carolina also honored her with the Distinguished Service to Indian People Award. Vivette earned a B.A. in Psychology and Community Studies from Guilford College and an Associate Degree (A.A.S) in Hospitality Management from Alamance Community College. She is a graduate of the North Carolina Native Leadership Institute of the American Indian Center at the University of North Carolina. She is also a Certified Executive Chef with 17 years’ experience in Hospitality Leadership and Management. When not at work you can find Vivette laughing with relations, talking story in beloved community, baking legendary pound cakes and other southern delicacies, and attending powwows and gatherings across the state.

Xavier Lofton currently serves Equitable Cities as Health Equity and Outreach Manager. His projects include managing technical assistance for communities in the USDOT Thriving Communities Program, planning and facilitating capacity building workshops in US DOE's Clean Cities Initiative, and developing new stewardship models for a Maryland-based environmental nonprofit. Previously, Xavier led racial justice initiatives during two years at Prevention Institute, after a decade in various roles within Philadelphia's public health and parks departments, respectively. Xavier was a 2018 Health Equity Awakened fellow with Human Impact Partners, further grounding his systems-based approach to address community inequities through a racial justice lens.

Yanique is the author of White Women Cry and Call Me Angry: A Black Woman’s Memoir on Racism in Philanthropy (2023), a deeply vulnerable exploration of racism, trauma, and the power of pleasure to fuel personal and institutional transformation. She is an expert on racial equity and racial justice and has spent her career writing and speaking on these topics for nonprofit and philanthropic audiences to inform their strategies, grantmaking, and praxis. She released her second book with her partner Ronnie Galvin in 2024. The title is We Quit America: Our Exit from a Country Designed to Kill Black People.

Yavilah McCoy, is the CEO of the consulting group DIMENSIONS Inc. Through Dimensions, Yavilah services an international portfolio of clients in the areas of Education, Philanthropy, and Social Justice. As an anti-racism educator and activist with an international platform, Yavilah provides training and consulting to numerous projects that span multiple identities and communities. Yavilah brings a uniquely intersectional perspective to the ongoing work of racial justice and collective liberation. She is a pioneer of the Jewish diversity and equity movement and an advocate and mentor for the empowerment of a transglobal community of Jewish Leaders of Color. Yavilah is a trustee of the Irving Harris Foundation and has served on the steering committees of the Women’s March and many other large-scale national movement efforts.

Yavilah was an inaugural recipient of the Spielberg Foundation’s Joshua Venture Fellowship and directed the launch of the “Ruderman Synagogue Inclusion Project” for Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the Ruderman Family Foundation in Boston. Yavilah also directed the Bronfman Philanthropy’s Curriculum Initiative, where she provided educational consultancy to 600 prep schools across the nation. Yavilah is a renowned national speaker, educator, and spiritual practitioner. She is a certified coach for the Auburn Theological Seminary’s Pastoral Coach Training Program and an inaugural fellow of their Sojourner Truth Leadership Circle.

Yavilah was voted one of “16 Faith Leaders to Watch” by the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC and is a recipient of the Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Risk Taker Award. In 2019 Yavilah was inducted into the “Brooklyn Jewish Hall of Fame.” In celebration of the musical traditions passed down to her from three generations of her African-American Jewish family, Yavilah is also the writer, producer and performer of the Jewish Gospel theatrical production “The Colors of Water.”

Yey Morales (they/them), is a Queer Non-Binary Latinx person originally from La Puente, California. They received a Master’s degree in Higher Education and Organizational Change from UCLA and a double Bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies and Urban Studies & Planning from UCSD. Yey Morales is currently a Program Coordinator with the City of San Diego’s Department of Race and Equity. They previously worked in higher education and served as Assistant Dean of Students at Claremont Graduate University and also led the Youth Services Team at the San Diego LGBT Community Center before transitioning into local government.

Zakyree Wallace works with social movement builders and mission-oriented organizations to build people power by leveraging the power of storytelling, narrative research, and activism. Zakyree earned her Master’s in Mass Communication with a specialization in public interest communications, and her Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.