I Am A Human
Rights Defender.

Abusana makes Maine a better place with every passing season. Co-founder and Program Director of, In Her Presence, a non-profit focused on empowering immigrant women, she has dedicated her time to strengthening Maine's immigrant families. Born in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Abusana immigrated to the U.S. in 1996 and later arrived in Portland, Maine in 2009.

Her remarkable ability to empower immigrant women and students by providing them with the tools necessary for success transforms families from the inside out. By bridging cultural gaps where they were missing, Abusana has created scaffolding for immigrant families to thrive during a transition that puts a strain on every facet of family life and threatens their ability to survive.

Aishah is a childhood sexual violence survivor and award-winning documentary filmmaker and author who has dedicated the past 30 years of her career to lifting the veil on the systems that perpetuate gender-based violence, particularly in African American communities in the United States. 

She has utilized both her lived experiences and the stories of others to catalyze conversations about how race, gender, and culture intersect to silence victims and perpetuate gender-based violence in societal institutions. In her 2006 film, NO! The Rape Documentary, and more recently in her anthology, love WITH accountability: digging up the roots of child sexual abuse, Aishah amplifies the voices of Black women, including survivors and advocates, as they discuss the particular barriers faced by those from marginalized communities in speaking out and seeking justice following victimization.

Amy is a Suzuki violin teacher, a peer counseling leader and teacher dedicated to her own personal healing as well as making healing and human liberation as accessible as possible for people around her. She is a community organizer, climate activist, and a passionate advocate of fostering and developing deep connections wherever and whenever possible to help people remember their unique selves, humanity and preciousness.

Amy volunteers with The Poor People's Campaign, whose goal is to end the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, war and militarism, ecological devastation, and the false narrative of religious nationalism. She is also an actor in and president of the Board of True Story Theater, a playback theater company committed to developing compassion and empathy in community through the sharing of stories.

Amy has been part of Sustaining All Life/United to End Racism's delegation at New York City Climate Week leading workshops in the tools of deep listening to be able to move past the divisions that make building our social justice movements so challenging. 

Andy DeMeo is the creator of Granite Goodness, a media brand sharing optimistic stories of progress, problem-solving, and innovation across New England.

A lifelong Granite Stater, Andy’s work has attracted regional recognition including Stay Work Play New Hampshire’s Young Person of the Year Award (2025), UNH’s Alumni Sustainability Award (2025), Catapult Seacoast’s 10 to Watch Award (2025), and the Union Leader’s 40 Under 40 Award (2026). He also co-hosted TEDx Portsmouth 2025—the largest TEDx event in New England—and has emceed events at Gillette Stadium.

When he’s not interviewing optimistic New Englanders, Andy can be found tackling homesteading projects with his twelve chickens, two dogs, and one wife on their farm in New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington Valley.

Arabella (DSW, MSW, LCSW) is an Assistant Clinical Professor and the Trauma Informed Certificate Coordinator at the University of New England School of Social Work. She has been a champion of diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racist education work for years, and some of her most recent efforts have been with the National Association of Social Work (NASW).

Here, along with her team, Arabella has been authoring position and policy statements about the value of DEI work.

For the NASW, Arabella has helped to create tools and resources to ensure that DEI and anti-racist work can be used as a foundation for meaningful action. This can be a challenge, but Arabella and her team seek to recognize the ways that social work can reach its full potential for helping those who are the most vulnerable, while striving to overcome systemic challenges and historic pitfalls of inequity.

As a second-generation Mexican American, Bruce is the Executive Director of Maine Boys to Men, and was the former Co-Executive Director of Maine Inside Out. Bruce's lived experience as a previously incarcerated individual provides him with the insight critical to building connection and promoting healing for the people and communities he interacts with.

Prior to joining MIO, Bruce worked in the fields of substance abuse disorder and recovery, mentoring and coaching multicultural youth and community building. Most recently, Bruce worked for Community Concepts as a workforce development counselor in downtown Lewiston, ME. 

Bruce also serves on the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous and Maine Tribal Populations. In this role, Bruce is able to work with Maine's government to address disparate treatment of marginalized ethnic groups and actualize racial justice.

Camille is a deeply committed advocate for children’s rights. She studied psychology, worked as a research assistant on several political psychology projects, and is now starting a Master’s in Human Rights and Politics at the London School of Economics, where she seeks to bridge social science research and public policymaking in the field of child welfare.

As a survivor of childhood abuse, she is committed to raising awareness of how often children’s voices are dismissed and how few safe opportunities they are given to speak out, despite their profound vulnerability to abuse and systemic violence.

She believes that effectively addressing violence against children requires an interdisciplinary approach that brings together psychology, politics, and international law. By combining trauma-informed perspectives with structural and inclusive policymaking, she hopes to contribute to more effective systems of prevention, protection, and justice.

More broadly, Camille is interested in applying psychological insights to diplomacy and public policymaking to help ensure that human rights are not treated merely as political instruments, but as meaningful safeguards for human dignity and fundamental rights.

A founding board member of Women’s March Florida in 2016, Carrie’s activism led to her commitment to movement and people-powered systems and policy change. In 2023, she found her way to the Community Justice Project (CJP), a movement lawyering shop that supports grassroots organizing for racial justice and human rights across the state of Florida.

At CJP, Carrie helped build a county-funded Eviction Diversion Program in partnership with Miami Workers Center and Legal Services of Greater Miami (LSGMI) to prevent the displacement of our neighbors through education of the eviction process and representation in court.

Carrie is committed to LGBTQ youth and the protection of trans kids and currently serves as the V.P. of Legislation and Policy on Florida's Kaleidoscope PTA.

Outside of lawyering, Carrie is a professional portrait and resistance photographer, as well as a proud mama of a 10th grader and college sophomore and two loving lab shepherds.

Christina is a mujer, migrante and the seed of strong, resilient, survivor women. She is committed to building up the collective power of Afro and Indigenous Latinx peoples.

She is interested in digging into what it means to truly believe, embody and practice horizontal leadership, to see nuestra gente in their full humanity, dignity, and brilliance - especially when it doesn't fit white supremacy's molds. She brings the struggles, wisdom and lessons learned from farmworker communities she's organized with into her work, as well as the too often invisibilized indigenous mujeres, and her family's immigrant story, fire, hope and love.

Daniel is an attorney licensed in New York and New Jersey and the founder of Veridian Legal P.C. He has over fifteen years of experience litigating complex civil matters, with a practice now dedicated to representing survivors of sexual assaults, technology-facilitated abuse, and nonconsensual intimate-image cases.

Daniel regularly represents survivors in state and federal courts, pursues accountability against platforms and perpetrators, and works to advance legal protections for victims of online harassment and digital exploitation.

As a graduate from the University of Southern Maine in 2010, with a Bachelor's Degree In Political Science, and GCTS in 2019 with a Master of Divinity, Dustin had been engaged in ministry work as a Pastor. Despite experiencing many levels and aspects of racism, in school, church, and other surroundings, the death of George Floyd at the hands of police sparked Dustin's decision to step away from ministry and pursue advocacy for BIPOC communities. His passion is towards ending systemic racism and in being a change agent for the lives of black and brown men and women in the communities of Maine and New England. This led him to connect with Mindbridge, where he became an Implicit Bias Educator.

While Dustin has moved on from his work with Mindbridge, he has continued his work in many different areas of his own community. Anyone who has met Dustin knows that this is typical of him: he’s always moving, dreaming, thinking, planning, and creating!

Emma was the 2022 Mindbridge Media Intern. While with Mindbridge, she worked to share our concepts in ways that encouraged learning and a connection with our community. Connection is key, and Emma has a passion and talent for it:

Emma also works within her local community in her time away from Mindbridge, and is focused on challenges faced by New England’s workforce:

“We are trying to figure out how to support the community around us. How do we outreach to them? How can we support them in other ways? …Now we're trying to figure out how we can carry that on in changing times: really supporting the local community as living in a tourism-based economy. How to find that balance…And I think for myself, personally, it's also taking time to maybe learn about where I'm from. ”

Emma is an director at Preble Street of Florence House Women's Shelter.

Emma was also a 2022-2023 Shaw Innovation Fellow at the University of Southern Maine, researching barriers to emergency contraception on college campuses in Maine and finding ways to decrease/remove these barriers across the state. 

Not only does Emma have an impressive resume in this field, they are a passionate, astounding advocate for justice. Emma is the definition of a Human Rights Defender and their dedication to this work reminds any of those working alongside them why it’s so important.

Fowsia is the Executive Director of Maine Community Integration and a Community Health Outreach Worker at Healthy Androscoggin. In addition to her work with MCl, she is a member of the Pine Tree Youth Organization board, president of the Neighborhood Housing League, board member of the 21st Century after school program in Lewiston High School Program. Fowsia immigrated from Ethiopia to the United States in 1993 at the age of 12.

Inspired by her early life experiences, she has spent years acting as a community leader and her work has often centered around connecting new Mainers to their neighbors and to desperately needed resources. Currently, this includes her Strong Girls program which helps new and established Maine girls alike to build skills that range from cooking and sewing to careers in technology and science.

Gia Drew (she/her) has been the Executive Director at EqualityMaine since 2012, whose mission is to protect and advance full equality for LGBTQ+ Mainers by creating an inclusive and intersectional movement through political action, community building, education, and collaboration. Gia also currently serves as board chair of the Equality Federation and as a trustee for the Maine Health Access Foundation. 

Gia is a recognized community activist and political leader here in Maine as well as a powerful voice for trans rights across the country. Gia previously served on the Maine advisory board for the US Commission on Civil Rights, board president for Maine Transgender Network, and was a high school teacher and coach for 20 years. During her time in education, Gia transitioned on the job, becoming the first out transgender public school teacher in Maine and one of the first trans high school athletic coaches in the country. Born in Boston, Gia has called Maine home for 25 years.

Dr. Havi Tran is an industrial-organizational psychology researcher dedicated to studying issues related to culture, mental health and well-being, and intentional inclusivity.

Her journey as an advocate has spanned over a decade and has involved establishing award-winning community-based workshops, researching and presenting at national conferences, and individual counseling. 

Overall, Havi's work seeks to understand the ways in which culture influences people and their worldviews. With this human-centered approach, she hopes we can advance our knowledge of how the current systems and structures unjustly affect people and continue our work in dismantling them.

In her work as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Educator, Dr. Steele has over 20 years of experience exploring issues of race, ethnicity, and culture. As the owner of Kalamazoo Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy (PLLC), Dr. Steele foci include culturally competent clinical practice, cognitive-behavioral therapy, as well as Black liberation and wellness.

She also contributes to the growing body of knowledge in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as an Author and Speaker. Her recent book Racism and African American Mental Health is now available. 

To learn more about Dr. Steele’s work, visit www.janeesteele.com

Janiece is an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, educator, and the CEO and Lead Consultant of The Answer Group Consulting—a strategy and culture firm that helps purpose-driven people and organizations move from idea to execution.

With a deep commitment to human-centered leadership, Janiece partners with nonprofits such as AIRIE, SPHINX LEAD, and Art Prevails Project to design equity-rooted programming, build sustainable infrastructure, and amplify impact in communities historically excluded from traditional systems of power.

She also serves as Board Chair for New Canon Chamber Collective and Board Secretary for Blacks in I/O Psychology—roles that reflect her commitment to cultivating spaces where Black excellence, creativity, and scholarship are seen, valued, and sustained.

Born and raised in South Florida, Janiece is a builder, a mirror, and a believer—someone who shows up in every room with a heart to serve, a mind to strategize, and a calling to help others remember who they are.

Joanne has dedicated a lifetime in service to human rights. With over 30 years of experience, she’s been a formidable champion of the people, defending women against domestic violence, protecting reproductive freedoms, and securing our right toward choice.

Joanne currently serves on the Board of Director of Planned Parenthood/Maine Action Fund and the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, where she continues to spend her time protecting the rights of Mainers.

Joanne describes her professional life as a community-based advocate and political lobbyist as one that has been bridged by leaps of faith. She has trailblazed a path for people in Maine to live and feel free. Joanne plans to help future generations of Mainers live within the sweet spot between ‘doing good’ and ‘doing well’. 

As Equality Florida’s Senior Political Director, Joe leads the policy and political programs for the country’s largest state-based LGBTQ rights organization.

A student of the movement for LGBTQ rights, Joe began his career in progressive politics as an activist at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. Since then he has led ballot measure campaigns to preserve LGBTQ protections, won local policy campaigns protecting millions of Floridians from discrimination, and held senior roles in the fight to win marriage equality in FL.

In 2012, Joe was elected to the Florida House of Representatives becoming the first LGBTQ state lawmaker in Florida to take the oath of office. As a state representative, Joe served as the lead sponsor of the “Competitive Workforce Act”, legislation that would finally ban discrimination against LGBTQ Floridians.

Following his tenure in the Florida House, Saunders joined the staff of the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization.

A nationally recognized progressive leader and strategist, in 2016 Joe was honored by Out Magazine as part of the “Out 100” list of national LGBTQ leaders and is a regular commentator in national and state press outlets

Meet Johanna, a dedicated 4th-grade educator who centers social-emotional learning, justice, and inclusion in and outside of the classroom.

In the classroom, Johanna builds a foundation of respect amongst her students. She prioritizes building strong character with empathetic understanding within her diverse classroom. Throughout her lessons, she infuses social justice and inclusion, inviting kiddos to ask hard questions about the world around them through age-appropriate activities.

Outside of the classroom, Johanna is the co-director of Camp Echo Bridge, a summer day camp that brings together kids of all abilities for adventure and fun. Here, she creates a unique space where neurodivergent and neurotypical kids learn, play, and work together in a setting where everyone belongs.

Year-round, Johanna works with Newton Athletes Unlimited, a recreation program for kids and adults with special needs, empowering people of all ages through movement, connection, and joy.

José Garth (he/they) is a dedicated advocate for equity, justice, and community healing. As the founder and lead consultant of YOUniversal Education Services, José leads initiatives that center the health, empowerment, and development of historically marginalized communities, particularly Black youth and families in the Greater Pittsburgh Area.

With over two decades of experience spanning childcare, comprehensive sex education, violence prevention, and workforce development, José’s approach is deeply rooted in healing-centered and relationship-based practices. Their work consistently prioritizes the well-being and liberation of Black communities, guiding both youth and adult facilitators through transformative programs that create lasting impact.

Passionate about building safer, more just communities, José continues to champion youth development, racial equity, and systems change through every project they touch. Outside of their professional life, they find joy in nature, theatre, tabletop games, family time, and their lovable golden retriever, Gus. They remain committed to dreaming and creating spaces of refuge and healing for all marginalized people.

Krysten is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Education within the University of New England’s College of Arts & Sciences (CAS).

A former elementary educator, she teaches multiple undergraduate courses to aspiring Maine K-12 educators, including Trauma Responsive Education. Krysten strongly believes in the importance of focusing on the socioemotional needs of schoolchildren to create safe and inclusive learning environments. At the forefront of this work is how to educate the whole child, and recognize signs of trauma. 

“I feel like I am on a mission to share the message that we all have an innate need to belong.  As the adults in the room, it is our responsibility to create an environment where every child is supported, valued, and celebrated for who they are. This is what I try to model for my students and the message I instill in them;  they are enough just as they are” 

Meet Lawrence, a dedicated advocate for access, inclusion, and belonging in schools, corporations, and non-profits. His impactful work in Maine’s public schools served as a potent inspiration for Mindbridge's Program Manager, instilling confidence and rekindling a fierce commitment to Human Rights work.

Lawrence is often quoted saying, "You free people when you improve inequitable systems. Win people, not arguments." He believes that we are all part of the solution, and through this, he encourages collaboration and shared responsibility by placing people at the forefront. 

His journey includes a decade as a Director of College Counseling in public and independent schools before transitioning into Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work, both within schools and as a consultant. In the last three years, he has set the gold standard in retained search and DEIB consulting for associations, boards, school leaders, and college admissions teams. His work has now extended to the corporate sector as well as efforts with the NFL and FanDuel.

Maulian comes from this easternmost reach of North America – Wabanaki or “Dawnland,” Indian Island to be specific. Somewhere around 500 generations of her Wabanaki relatives preceded her and traversed this landscape along these waterways, a lineage many of us can hardly imagine. From her earliest memories of strong grandmothers to her own force-of-nature father, former Penobscot Chief Barry Dana, Ambassador Bryant cut her teeth on the defense of human rights.

Sparked into activism as a teenager by racist team slogans and mascots, Maulian saw how Native American costumes, makeup imitating war paint, and stereotypical war cries reflected a deeper, more systemic problem. In her first year as ambassador, Maulian led Maine’s eventual ban on the use of Native American mascots in public schools and legislation that replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day.

When she became the first appointed Penobscot Nation Tribal Ambassador, Maulian folded activism into her work writing policy and shifting the tide of state-tribal relations. Now, while raising two teen girls and a toddler, she works broadly toward land rights, water rights, missing and murdered indigenous women, and tribal sovereignty.

Mindy Spitzer has been an activist in the women's and lesbian movements since the age of 17 - she is now 71. She first started working on a peer-staffed lesbian switchboard in the Greenwich Village section of New York City by her 18th birthday. She also volunteered at The NY Women's Center and was a member of The Gay Activist Alliance, and Lesbian Feminist Liberation. 

In 1975, after graduating radiologic technology training, she moved to Miami and jumped right into the lesbian and feminist communities. She joined The National Organization for Women (NOW), traveling all over the state educating women on lesbian issues within the feminist community. 

She has continued her work throughout the years and expanded to other causes of equal importance. She has worked with Black Lives Matter, various political campaigns, conducted workshops, and attended the 2017 Women's March on Washington. While a Women's Studies major at FIU, she participated in many of the campus clubs and events related to activism.

In today's political climate, she continues her work on equality for all. She believes now more than ever that there is so much work still to be done and plans on always being part of the change.

Nick is the Founder and Executive Director of Jacaranda Health, and has had a long career in the non-profit world and is no stranger to international causes. Jacaranda Health has reached over 1 million pregnant women & mothers in Kenya. In addition to this, they’ve engaged “thousands of frontline nurses across 1,000+ of the country’s busiest public hospitals.” Their solutions are designed to be “customizable and replicable, allowing us to scale to a critical mass of public hospitals and sustainably improve the quality of maternal and newborn care.” 

The son of diplomats, Nick traveled the world from a young age and was exposed to many diverse experiences and peoples, giving him a unique perspective on the impact of NGOs in local communities. In 2010 he founded Jacaranda Health and began working to create not only a flourishing clinic to serve reproductive health, but technology and tools to help both patients and healthcare providers. 

Nina is a PhD student in applied social and cultural psychology at Florida International University, where she works in the Power, Women, and Relationships (PWR) lab with Dr. Asia Eaton. Her research broadly examines the ways in which social narratives about gender shape everyday experiences from intimate relationships to mainstream media.

Grounded in feminist and social justice frameworks, this research critically assesses gender and sexual orientation as systems of power while centering queer women. Nina is committed to a public psychologist model prioritizing the creation and distribution of knowledge beyond academia. Through public writing, media engagement, and partnerships with community organizations, she seeks to translate research into accessible insights and meaningful applications. 

Hi everyone! I am Ranuka Rai, all the way from Pakistan, where I grew up witnessing systems of oppression ingrained and normalized to silence and control women, minorities, and anyone who simply thinks differently. It made me stubborn and resilient because I could never accept injustice as the practical, unchangeable way of life.

I pursued education that created visible change, from wanting to attend a meditation school, to studying pre-engineering and psychology. Today, I aim to work at the intersection of advocacy, mental health (especially trauma), and human services.

Sandy Skelaney is a nationally recognized public sector innovator, distinguished educator, and TEDx speaker with over two decades of experience leading cutting-edge initiatives at the intersection of technology, public policy, and victim advocacy.

A trailblazer in the anti-human trafficking movement, Sandy built and scaled Florida’s first mental health and multidisciplinary response to child sex trafficking that has informed national best practices and legislation. Her early recognition of technology’s dual role—as both a tool of exploitation and a vehicle for empowerment—sparked her transition into the emerging tech policy and innovation landscape.

She brings deep expertise in trauma-informed systems to advance Parasol’s work, building ethical, scalable technologies that are safe by design and promote human agency and dignity. Sandy is also an Adjunct Professor and Doctoral Candidate in Public Affairs at at FIU researching tech policy and public sector applications.

Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Shana Wilson is the oldest of many siblings—an experience that naturally shaped her heart for helping others, building empathy, and forming strong, healthy connections. From a young age, she felt drawn to working with youth, but rather than heading straight into education, Shana pursued the legal field, earning dual bachelor's degrees in Criminal Justice and Legal Studies from Florida Gulf Coast University. 

Through internships with family, juvenile, and criminal court systems, she gained invaluable insight into the lives of young people navigating incredibly complex and unique circumstances. Eventually, her path led to social work, where Shana deepened her commitment to youth advocacy and leadership. 

A Chicago native born on the crossroads of working-class, Black and female, Shay's career since 1997 has focused on weaving these intersections into her daily life and professional work.

Since the mid-1990s, Shay has worked in the non-profit sector, during the earlier years working primarily with marginalized groups and in the later years focusing on non-profit administration working both as an Executive Director at a small faith-based non-profit in Southern Maine and since 2014, as the Executive Director of Community Change Inc, a Boston based anti-racism organization that since 1968 has promoted racial justice and equity by challenging systemic racism and acting as a catalyst for anti-racist learning and action.

Shay is also a  prolific blogger at her award-winning blog Black Girl in Maine, where race is a major theme but also daily life as a Black, middle-aged woman in a world where these traits frequently are not valued. Shay is a graduate of both DePaul University and Antioch University New England.

Soledad Piñero Misa is a social entrepreneur with deep experience in inclusive facilitation and social impact. She is the founder of Part of More – a collective of values-driven facilitators offering Intentional Leadership Labs, cross-sectoral collaborations and human rights initiatives like Not Controversial, reaching over 90 million views on Instagram.

Her work spans from founding the award-winning social enterprise Retoy, engaging half a million children in rights-based play activities, to being the president of the Red Cross Refugee Center and pioneering impactful social justice initiatives as Social Mission Manager at Ben & Jerry's Nordics. Through her work, she participates in co-creating a more playful and child-friendlier world.

Since 2021, Tam has served as the Executive Director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center. She is the first BIPOC leader of the organization, former participant in the Diversity of Leadership Institute, and the youngest board member in the organization's history.

Tam grew up in Winthrop, a small community in central Maine, where her family of Polish and Vietnamese descent had deep roots in the community. When her parents enrolled her in a school in South China, Maine, a teacher recognized Tam’s curiosity and intellect, introduced her to new approaches to learning, and nurtured her confidence and growth.

Tam was a first-gen college student, earning a B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Maine and an M.S. in Management and Organizational Development from the SIT Institute, a school she chose deliberately instead of a more conventional business school.

From there Tam launched her career, focusing on bringing people together, including work as a consultant, creator of humanitarian programs, group mediator, and college administrator working with international and students of color and later in advancement at Colby College.

Innovative and passionate about helping others position themselves for greatness, ​Tameshia Sexton (aka Mesh Monroe) is a dynamic leader and community advocate dedicated to empowering children, families and communities. With a strong background in mentorship, coaching, and professional development, she has made a profound impact in her community by fostering holistic growth and personal development. ​​ 

​Tameshia is a domestic violence advocate, supporting survivors and providing tools for rebuilding their lives  in addition to her mentorship work with school age students teaching valuable life skills and building self-confidence. As a certified life coach, she mentors and coaches individuals on accountability, goal setting, and personal development 

With multiple awards and recognition for her impact as a mentor, trainer, and community advocate - Mesh Monroe’s long-term vision is to leave a lasting legacy that enhances the well being of children, families and communities through life coaching, peer support, and targeted case management.

Toshi works to engage participants through her Parable Path framework, a structure for community organizing based on Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower. Presented by Portland's Indigo Arts Alliance and Portland Ovations, Toshi and co-creator Bernice Johnson Reagon are brought their operatic adaptation of the novel to Portland in April 2023.

She uses her lyrics and artistry to bring people together, pointing to the widespread social issues that have created our current climate and racial justice crises and giving people the framework to imagine solutions. As the 2022-2023 Joseph McKeen Visiting Fellow at Bowdoin College, her focus had been around community-based action and student engagement.

DR. ALAN MECA is an Associate Professor and the Assistant Chair for Faculty Affairs in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Meca’s work examines the psychological processes that shape how individuals navigate cultural contexts and life transitions, with a particular emphasis on promoting well-being among diverse populations. This work has led to substantive research on identity development, acculturation, and cultural stress, particularly among immigrant and minoritized populations.

Dr. Meca has published over 120 peer-reviewed articles and has secured more than $3.7 million in external grant funding to support his work. In addition to his scholarship, he is actively engaged in mentoring graduate and undergraduate students and contributes to professional service within the field of psychology.

SUI CHUNG is Executive Director of Americans for Immigrant Justice, Florida's largest nonprofit immigrant defense law firm.  She is an award-winning leader of the immigration bar.  In 2023, the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild honored Sui with the Lisa Brodyaga Award for her contributions to advancing the rights of immigrants.  The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has awarded her three times with national awards.  During multiple terms, AILA National appointed her to chair its national ICE and EOIR liaison committees, where she represented the interests of over 16,000 immigration attorneys nationwide.  

Additional highlights of her career have included co-representing the lead Florida Supreme Court case addressing immigrants’ right to effective representation in criminal proceedings; representing arguably the most famous unaccompanied minor from the award-winning nonfiction novel, Enrique’s Journey; leading groundbreaking court-appointed representation of mentally incompetent immigrants; and representing AI Justice and other organizations as amicus curiae counsel in briefing before the United States Supreme Court.  

DUSTIN WARD is a graduate from the University of Southern Maine in 2010, with a Bachelor's Degree In Political Science. He also earned a Master of Divinity in 2019, and had been engaged in ministry work as a Pastor.

His passion is towards ending systemic racism and in being a change agent for the lives of black and brown men and women in the communities of Maine and New England. This led him to connect with Mindbridge, where he became an Implicit Bias Educator.

While Dustin has moved on from his work with Mindbridge, he has continued his work in many different areas of his own community. His focus is two-fold, as an Equity and Reconciliation Advocate, being the President and Founder of It Is Time …, LLC, and a Golf Entrepreneur starting Tee Time LLC in October of 2024. Both businesses look to uplift equity and inclusion in various ways throughout communities in Maine and New England.

DR. KEON WEST is a Professor of Social Psychology with a doctorate from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He is an expert on identity, prejudice, DEI, representation, and body image and currently works as the Head of Research at the Runnymede Trust.

His research, teaching, media engagement, and social activism have earned him numerous international awards. He has presented programmes for BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and Channel 4 TV as well as appearing as a contributor for newspapers, on radio and on television (including BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service, Channel 4, and the Discovery Channel) discussing his research and area of expertise. 

A truly international academic, he was born in Trinidad, grew up in Jamaica, and studied in the USA and France before finally studying at Oxford and settling in the UK.

Keon is the author of the internationally highly acclaimed book The Science of Racism: Everything you Need to Know But Probably Don’t Know – Yet (2025).

YANA BUHRER TAVANIER is a human rights activist, social innovator, and the co-founder and Executive Director of Fine Acts– a global creative studio for social change.

Her work explores how art and creativity can accelerate impact in activism and human rights, bridging the worlds of artists, technologists, and civil society.

She has a BA in communications and MA in political science from Sofia University, along with Еxecutive Еducation at Harvard University, Yale University, Oxford University, and NTU-Singapore. She is a TED Senior Fellow, a Fulbright Scholar, a WEF Young Global Leader, an Allianz Foundation Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

DR. ESTER SHAPIRO ROK was born in Havana Cuba to Eastern European Jewish immigrants, fortunate to begin her education in revolutionary times before immigrating to racially segregated Miami. 

Trained first as an immigrant and then as a Clinical Psychologist, she recently retired from the Psychology faculty at University of Massachusetts Boston and continues to work with the Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Public Policy and other activist educational programs.

Her work explores the transformational power of education and creative arts in promoting personal wellness and bridging cultural differences while supporting collaborative actions to achieve community-centered social justice. 

LAURA HERNANDEZ is the Senior Associate for SiX’s Reproductive Rights team, where she supports state legislators across all 50 states to advance reproductive rights policies and defend reproductive freedoms.

Before joining SiX, she served as the Director of Policy for Planned Parenthood in Florida, leading legislative priorities, defeating over five anti-abortion bills, and co-leading Florida’s Reproductive Freedom coalition. Her passion for reproductive rights and justice is rooted in her background as a community organizer during the 2016 elections and various local campaigns, as well as her lived experiences as a Latina, immigrant, and first-generation college graduate.

Laura holds bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Women and Gender Studies, with certificates in Public Policy and Latin American and Caribbean Studies from Florida International University.

PATRICK R. GRZANKA is a University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Psychology at the University of Michigan.

His research, teaching, and activism focus on intersectionality, or the interlocking nature of social inequalities, including racism, sexism, and heterosexism.

He has been involved in the reproductive justice movement for over a decade and has served on the boards of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, as well as Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood. His research on sexual and reproductive health has explored contraception access, promotion, and coercion, as well as abortion attitudes, particularly in the wake of Dobbs.

AUDREY ARADANAS is a passionate advocate for youth and families experiencing housing insecurity. She serves as the Deputy Director at Miami Homes For All, a nonprofit organization systems change related to affordable housing and homelessness. With a background in policy advocacy, coalition building, fundraising, and community engagement, Aradanas brings nearly a decade of experience in community development. A Filipina American born in California and spent her early childhood in the Caribbean, her diverse upbringing has shaped her commitment to building thriving and safe communities.

She serves on the boards of Florida Supportive Housing Coalition and the Florida Health Justice Project. In 2020, she was a member of Miami’s Next Leaders, and in 2019, she was a Community Scholar in Affordable Housing. She is a proud triple Florida International University graduate, earning her dual Bachelor’s degrees in 2016 and her Master’s in Business Administration in 2022.

DR. DARRIN HODGETTS is Professor of Societal Psychology at Massey University and coordinator of the EPIC (Enhancing Participation and Inclusive Change) collective.

Prior to his present appointment Darrin held positions in Community Medicine at Memorial University in Canada, Societal Psychology at the London School of Economic, and Community Psychology at the University of Waikato. Darrin’s research examines the intersections of societal systems, urban precarity, human insecurities, and inequities in health.

Darrin’s book length titles include Tackling precarious work: Toward sustainable livelihoods, Social Psychology and Everyday Life (2nd ed.), Asia-Pacific Perspectives on Intercultural Psychology, SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Psychology, Urban Poverty & Health Inequalities: A Relational Approach. Darrin has been involved in the development of various services to meet the needs of people who happen to be homeless.

JACLYN “JACKIE” CORIN is a co-founder and the current Executive Director of March For Our Lives, one of the most prominent youth-led movement organizations in the United States.

A survivor of the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, she helped transform national outrage into a generational movement, mobilizing one of the largest youth protests in American history and driving gun violence to the forefront of the national agenda. Jackie holds degrees from Harvard University and the University of Oxford, and in 2025 returned to lead March For Our Lives as it reclaims its voice as a national force and equips a new generation to fight for a safer, more just future free of gun violence.

DR. JANET S. HYDE is Professor Emerit of Psychology and Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. After decades of research on the psychology of gender, she chose as her retirement project ending gun violence in America.

Her book, The Psychology of Gun Violence: How Smart Choices Can Save Lives, was just published. She is the winner of numerous awards for her research, including the James McKeen Cattell Award, from the Association for Psychological Science, for lifetime achievements in research addressing a critical problem in society.

DR. ROBERTO L. ABREU, PhD, he/him; they/elle, is an associate professor at the University of Florida’s Psychology Department, as well as Affiliate Faculty in the Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies. Dr. Abreu is the director of the Collective Healing and Empowering VoicEs through Research and Engagement (¡Chévere!) Lab.

His research utilizes critical intersectionality frameworks to focus on how BIPOC and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people and their families and communities are impacted by systemic oppression, as well as ways in which these communities engage in resilience and resistance. Dr. Abreu’s research has been recognized by multiple American Psychological Association (APA) research awards.

JOSEPH ZOLOBCZUK is the Executive Director of YES Institute. He supports and guides an amazing team who leads continuing education courses for mental health therapists and medical professionals across South Florida – and national communities via Zoom – working to reduce health disparities of youth and families impacted by gender stereotypes and anti-gay social stigmas.

Joseph also works with parents and families in suicide prevention and postvention with community-based supports and evidence-based practices. Joseph has co-authored several public health studies, the first anti-gay and gender-related school bullying study in Florida and a study comparing workplace harassment and inclusion training levels among helping professionals. Joseph has served at YES Institute for nearly 30 years.

CHARISSA S. L. CHEAH, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and Asian Studies Faculty Affiliate at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. As a cultural developmental scientist, Dr. Cheah utilizes mixed-method approaches to explore how individual characteristics, relationships, socialization agents, and contexts interact to influence social-emotional, mental, and physical health.

She is particularly interested in understanding these processes among families of Asian heritage and Muslim religious backgrounds, considering their ethnic-racial/religious minoritized, immigrant, and marginalized intersecting statuses across different countries. 

Dr. Cheah is the President of the Society for Research on Adolescence.  She is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development.

Dr. Cheah regularly serves as a child development, parenting, and diversity, equity, and inclusivity and consultant for children’s media and lends her expertise as a commentator and advisory board member for public media, foundations, and private corporations. 

MARPHEEN CHANN is an award-winning author, writer, thinker, advocate, and speaker on intersectionality, inclusion, and belonging. As a gay, first-generation Asian American born in California to a Cambodian refugee family and later adopted by an evangelical, white working-class family in Maine, Marpheen uses a mix of humor and storytelling to help people view topics such as racism, xenophobia, and homophobia through an intersectional lens.

His memoir, Moon in Full, won the bronze IPPY Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction and was a finalist for the Maine Literary Awards and The Eric Hoffer Book Award. He became the first Cambodian American-elected official in Maine in 2021 when he was elected as an At-Large Charter Commissioner for the City of Portland, Maine.

Marpheen Chann lives in Portland, Maine. He works in the nonprofit and advocacy sector as Executive Director and Founder of Khmer Maine and a consultant. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Southern Maine, a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law, and a certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School.

DR. KATE RICHMOND, PhD., is Professor of Psychology at Muhlenberg College. She is widely published in the areas of multicultural psychology, gender ideology, masculinity, and trauma. Her co-author undergraduate textbook, entitled Psychology of Women & Gender was awarded the 2020 Distinguished Publication Award by the Association of Women in Psychology. Dr. Richmond has been nationally recognized on several occasions for excellence in teaching, facilitation, and mentorship, including being the recipient of the Florence Denmark Distinguished Mentoring Award and the Paul C. Empie Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching.

She is passionate about community-based organizing and most recently, has worked within the Lehigh County Corrections facility and is a former member of the SCI-Graterford Prison Think Tank. Dr. Richmond works alongside individuals who are currently or formerly incarcerated, to increase access to higher education, reduce mass incarceration, and build healthy communities. Dr. Richmond is also a licensed psychologist and maintains a private practice in Philadelphia, PA. She is also a consultant for Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, a firm that specializes in organizational cultural change.

ABDI “LALEE” AWAD (MS) is an advocate with many hats; he has consulted on and facilitated culturally responsive restorative practices, co-authoring and consulting on restorative justice-based policies. His previous work includes being a Senior Justice Scholar with Opportunity Scholars as advocate for access to higher education and employment of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, a 2023 UCLA Dream Fellow, and an Alliance for Higher Education 2024-2025 fellow. His current work includes serving as Mindbridge’s Healing Racial Trauma Community Circle Facilitator and consultant, program development guide, Restorative Practices/Justice co-facilitator, and mentor for the dee Clarke Justice Fellowship program (dCJF) with the place matters team under the University of Southern Maine’s Catherine Cutler Institute. He approaches his work through the lenses of intersectionality and systems thinking.

Lalee holds a Master’s degree in Adult and Higher Education from the University of Southern Maine, where he is currently a PhD student in their Leadership program. He is someone who is directly impacted by the legal system (presently incarcerated) and refuses to let his circumstances define him. He is a Certified Hospice and Palliative Care Volunteer and has completed 500-hours of yoga teacher training. As an advocate, Lalee draws on his experiences as an immigrant (from Somalia) and someone impacted by the justice system to drive change.

DR. PETER HEGARTY is a Professor of Psychology at the Open University UK. He has researched everyday sense-making and understanding of variations in sex characteristics among families with lived experience, their health care providers, members of the general public and in psychology textbooks. He works with the UK charity Interconnected UK, and the American Psychological Association Task Force on Differences of Sex Development and directs the steering group of the Psychosocial Studies of Intersex International network.

KIMBERLY ZIESELMAN, JD (she/her), is Senior Advisor for Global Intersex Rights at Outright International, focused on global movement building and advancing the human rights of intersex people through awareness-raising, law, and policy initiatives. Kimberly previously served as Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons at the U.S. State Department, as well as Executive Director of interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth, the premier U.S. intersex organization, and served on the board of the InterConnect support group.

Kimberly has published XOXY, an award-winning memoir about her personal and professional intersex journey, and executive-produced the award-winning short intersex film, Common As Red Hair. She lives with her husband and daughters in Vermont, United States.

CAITLIN WILLIAMS is a young adult who has Down Syndrome. She has a large family, including a twin brother, two sisters, another brother and four dogs. She loves having a big family and always has something to do! She loves swimming, she’s part of an adaptive cheering squad and also loves going to the gym with friends. She loves loud music, movies, bowling and the arcade. She is part of best buddies in Maine and loves connecting with other people who have IDD.

She lives in her own apartment and hopes to someday work at an animal rescue.

KATE LONG is a Ph.D. candidate in developmental science at Florida International University where her work has focused on centering the voices of people with intellectual disabilities and their families. She has been a licensed occupational therapist for nearly 10 years, and has clinical experience serving people with disabilities in schools, hospitals, and mental health service centers. Before becoming an occupational therapist, she was a Direct Support Professional supporting adults with intellectual disabilities, a role which has profoundly shaped her orientation towards disability justice.   

SIOBHÁN BOGLE is a dedicated special education teacher, connection seeker, and inclusion advocate who believes deeply in the power of relationships to transform learning. With a masters degree in Special education and concentration on Inclusion education, she has a passion for neurodiversity-affirming practice, she works to create classrooms where every student is seen, valued, and supported as their full self. Siobhán is committed to building inclusive school communities, strengthening collaboration among educators and families, and elevating the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities. Her work centers compassion, dignity, and authentic connection both inside the classroom and in the broader world.  

EMMA HOLTEN (b. 1991) is a feminist activist and gender policy consultant. Since 2018, she has worked with feminist economics. In 2024 she published her first book “DEFICIT - On the value of care” in Danish. It is available in English, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Dutch, Finnish and Italian - and forthcoming in several other languages. It has won the Politiken Literature Prize, The Library Reader’s Prize, The Sara Danius Prize, The Sprout Prize and was shortlisted for the Montana Literature Award. 

DR. AFRODITI PINA (b. 1980) is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Forensic Psychology at the University of Kent. She is a researcher and academic with expertise in forensic and social psychology, focusing on sexual violence, gender equality, victimisation and perpetration.

Her work includes research on Image-Based Abuse, sexual harassment, stalking and domestic abuse and scale development for the measurement of their perpetration. She has published extensively on the aforementioned topics and her research has informed policy and practice in the UK and beyond.

TIFFANY ROGERS is the Fair Labor Association’s Vice President, Research and Development. From an early age, she’s been a lover of fashion, designing wedding and figure skating dresses, before working as an assistant designer for Tracy Reese. However, she soon found that supporting the workers that are making our clothes was her true passion to drive change in the fashion industry.

Over the last decade, Rogers’ career at FLA includes over two dozen accreditation evaluations of FLA companies in the fashion and manufacturing industries, and the execution of standards that pushed responsible purchasing practices to the forefront of human rights due diligence. Rogers champions FLA’s award-winning Fair Compensation Program which requires FLA companies to measure progress towards living wages. Her expertise incorporates labor rights, living wage, and responsible purchasing and production practices to innovate standards and tools that improve corporate practices, factory conditions, and worker well-being.

Rogers is a dynamic public speaker, known for her candor and transparency. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Delaware, studying under Dr. Marsha Dickson, co-founder of the Better Buying Institute. She resides outside of Chicago, Illinois; and in her free time, enjoys spending time with her dog, dancing, and creating art.

DR. TAEWON KIM is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Florida. She obtained her PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Houston and completed her predoctoral clinical internship at the Colorado State University Health Network.

Her research focus is economic marginalization. Specifically, she investigates how structural forces distribute capital and other resources to access work opportunities, leading to ‘bad jobs,’ social class experiences, and mental/physical outcomes.

GABBI KEARNS is a proud Midwesterner who lives in New York City. She joined Braver Angels in 2022 as a field reporter before coming on as the Director of Social Media, and now, the Director of Communications & Marketing. She also volunteered for Braver Angels as the former Blue Co-Chair of the NYC Alliance. 

Prior to Braver Angels, Gabbi worked for NBC News as an assistant producer, where she led the digital strategy for the education division, wrote and produced live broadcasts, reported on trends in education, and managed social media. During the 2020 election, she worked as a political organizer and deep canvasser in her home state of Michigan. Gabbi graduated from Michigan State University and has a master’s from Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she focused on the convergence of adult learning, political polarization, and media.

DR. PASHA DASHTGARD  is the Director of Interventions for the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL). He has a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the Department of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine, and was formerly a postdoctoral Fellow at Loyola Marymount University’s Psychology Applied Research Center (PARC). 

He attended Columbia University, Teacher’s College for his MA in Mental Health Counseling and an Ed.M in Education. Formerly PERIL’s Director of Research, Dr. Dashtgard now leads PERIL’s Interventions team, overseeing the implementation and scaling of PERIL’s in-person prevention-based resources, toolkits, workshops, and trainings, as well as PERIL’s online interventions aimed at bolstering psychological resilience to propaganda.

Pasha’s research interests include masculinities, online radicalization, applied interventions, PTSD, and large-scale mental health policy/service delivery. Projects include analysis using his Male Supremacy Scale (Dashtgard, 2022) and its intersections with online behavior, and various projects intervening with populations beset by misinformation, conspiratorial thinking, and political polarization.

ANDREA POWELL is a human rights advocate, social entrepreneur, and the author with over twenty years of experience blending direct-service and advocacy alongside survivors of human trafficking, image-based sexual abuse, and sexual assault.

As the co-founder of organizations including FAIR Girls, Karana Rising, and the June Coalition, she builds “survivor-led” systems that integrate trauma-informed care with federal legislative and global policy. Her award-winning memoir, Believe Me, offers a visceral look at the systemic failures of the justice system and serves as a foundational text for her work in creating more healing and justice for survivors.

You can learn more at @ankachristine and @thejunecoalition.

DR. KALYANI GOPAL is the current President of the Psychology Coalition at the United Nations (PCUN), Dr. Kalyani Gopal is a distinguished clinical psychologist with over three decades of experience in addressing complex issues such as child sexual abuse, human trafficking, and labor trafficking.

She is the founder of SAFE Coalition for Human Rights (SAFECHR), an initiative dedicated to supporting trauma patients and victims globally. Dr. Gopal has trained a diverse range of professionals, including foster parents, law enforcement agencies, and government representatives from various countries. Dr. Gopal is the first woman of color and Asian American to serve as President of the Illinois Psychological Association and Division 12 of the American Psychological Association.

With a commitment to empowering victims, Dr. Gopal is currently working on establishing SAFE Trauma Center in India, as well as upscaling her safe house shelter to a 40 bed unique residential restorative model for victims of human trafficking and sexual assault.

KALLIOPI MINGEIROU is currently the Chief of the Ending Violence against Women Section at UN Women in New York. She has been leading global initiatives, including diverse interagency initiatives, on prevention of and responses to violence against women and girls in public and private spaces. She is a lawyer by training and holds an LL.M. on public international law. 

Prior to joining UN-Women, Ms. Mingeirou worked as a lawyer in Greece, and at international level, she worked for UN agencies, as well as INGOs, in the areas of human rights, women’s human rights and refugee protection in several countries both in development and humanitarian settings.

DR. MICHELLE KRIEGER (she/her) is an applied researcher with Behavioral Insights Team (BIT), a social purpose and innovation-focused consultancy. At BIT, she works across topic areas with a particular focus on wellbeing, gender, and the labour market.

She has a PhD in Applied Social Psychology from the University of Windsor and an MA in Forensic Psychology from the Chicago School. Her academic work focuses on the use of technology in gender-based violence. 

STEPHEN DAVID is All Voting Local's Ohio State Director. He is also a licensed social worker and lifelong Ohioan whose career has focused on democratic engagement and anti-violence organizing. Most recently, Steve served as the Ohio Lead for the Bridging Divides Initiative, an applied research lab at Princeton University working to track and mitigate political violence. Here he provided partners with regular updates on political violence trends and data, monitored actors of concern, and helped found the Ohio Early Warning Table to coordinate rapid response to threats across the state.

As the first Advocacy Director at the Ohio State University College of Social Work, Steve designed nonpartisan voter engagement programming for students and human service agencies, including the CSW Democracy Fellowship and hosted the Democracy Promise Unconference. 

While at Ohio State Steve was also a member of the steering committee of the Columbus CARE Coalition at Columbus Public Health, a cross-sector coalition that works to address trauma and community violence by building neighborhood resilience. During this time he also cofounded the Columbus Safety Collective, an advocacy coalition that launched a ballot campaign to create a non-police emergency response system for the city of Columbus.

DR. JON KROSNICK is the winner of numerous lifetime career achievement awards and is a Professor of Communication, Political Science, Sustainability, and Psychology at Stanford University. He is also Director of Stanford’s Political Psychology Research Group and a Research Psychologist at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Dr. Krosnick is also a world-recognized expert on the psychology of attitudes, especially in the area of politics.  He is co-principal investigator of the American National Election Study (ANES), the nation's preeminent academic research project exploring voter decision-making and political campaign effects. 

For 40 years, Dr. Krosnick has studied how the American public's political attitudes are formed, change, and shape thinking and action.  His publications explore the causes of people's decisions about whether to vote, for whom to vote, whether to approve of the President’s performance, whether to take action to influence government policy making on a specific issue, and much more.

In his spare time, Dr. Krosnick plays drums with the contemporary jazz group, Charged Particles, and the Latin jazz group The Lunar Octet – performing 200 times a year around the U.S. and abroad.

DR. TAJ MAHON-HAFT is the Director and Cofounder and Director of the Humanization Project. Taj is above all a drop-everything father, son, partner, eldest brother, and friend, as well as an avid hiker.

Applying his sociology doctorate (Wash. St. U.) and personal understanding, he is devoted to elevating justice impacted voices to guide systemic change at the intersection of evidence-based policy and tangible lived experience. He has brought humanizing perspectives about justice across Virginia and beyond in legislative, research, educational, and organizing capacities, always centering the lived experience of the countless wonderful people whose lives have been shaped by the weight of doing time.

Beyond THP, he currently serves on the Virginia Coalition Against Solitary, Expungement Council, New River Valley Reentry Council, Fines & Fees Advisory Board, and Restorative Justice Legislative Coalition. He has also published about practices of leaders behind bars, parents behind bars, drug policy, inequalities in the criminal legal system, drug courts, and survey methodology.

Before pursuing advocacy full-time, he was an award-winning educator, a mindset that continues to shape his work. He has also served time, lived experience that drives and shapes his work always, for his loved ones so impacted by his carceral journey and everyone still inside or suffering that trauma.

LASANA T. HARRIS, Ph.D. is appointed in the Department of Experimental Psychology at University College London (UCL), where he is the Vice Dean for Global Engagement in the Faculty of Brain Sciences (FBS).

Prof. Harris is a social neuroscientist who takes an interdisciplinary approach to understand human behaviour. His research explores the brain and physiological correlates of person perception, social learning, emotions, social inferences, stereotyping, dehumanization, anthropomorphism, punishment, and decision-making.

The work in his Boundaries of Social Cognition lab covers a wide range of disciplines beyond social neuroscience, including social, cognitive, developmental, comparative and legal psychology, philosophy of mind, behavioural economics and policy.

He has also served on Council at the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and consulted with various organizations in the US and UK. He has also consulted with the Nuremberg Academy, The US Institute for Peace, and the Berghof Foundation on Hate Speech and Peacemaking. 

He has thus far written one textbook, Invisible Mind: Flexible Social Cognition and Dehumanization, published by MIT Press.

HEIDI SPROULL LMSW, CST is a psychotherapist, self-defense instructor, and sexual health educator with more than 30 years of experience. Her book INFORMED ADOLESCENCE: Middle School Curriculum with Lessons on Teen Resilience, Sexual Health, and Boundary Setting, was released in 2025. 

Heidi is an AASECT-certified (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists) sex therapist. Her psychotherapeutic work uses a fully intersectional lens for sexual health, chronic pain, and recovery from sexual trauma and other trauma, to support her clients' mental, physical, and emotional wellness throughout the life span. Heidi earned a black belt in jujutsu in 2005 and has taught practical self-defense workshops for over 30 years. Additionally, Heidi teaches internationally with workshops on, Self-Defense and Boundaries, Somatic and Sexual Sovereignty, Consent Certainty, Embodied Consent, Healthy Sexuality, and Parenting Through Puberty.

Heidi has a B.S. in Speech from Northwestern University and a A.M. in Social Work from the University of Chicago. She also has a Certificate in Sexual Health from the University of Michigan. She resides in Ann Arbor Michigan.

JACLYN SIEGEL, PhD, is a social psychologist and Clinical Research Specialist in the Department of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is also a Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University, as well as an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology at San Diego State University. 

Dr. Siegel has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications examining body image, eating disorders, gender, and social activism. Her work broadly explores two central questions: How do sociocultural stressors shape the ways women and other marginalized communities relate to their bodies, and how can supportive relationships buffer these stressors to promote positive embodiment?

ANOUSHKA RAI is a student at Independence High School and External Affairs Board Director for Girls in STEM, where she works on media outreach, collaborations and partnerships, and amplifying student voices through community impact events such as the annual summer expo.

She is actively involved in speech and debate, with a focus on argumentation and public speaking. Academically, Anoushka is interested in the ethical and political dimensions of science and hopes to study political science or philosophy. She hopes to make STEM spaces more inclusive and accessible for women in the future!

DR. EVAVA PIETRI is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Ohio State University. After receiving her Ph.D., Dr. Pietri completed a postdoctoral position at Yale University, during which she worked in the Psychology department and the Center for Scientific Teaching. Broadly, her research explores techniques to address harmful biases and promote inclusive, welcoming environments, particularly in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Much of her lab’s current work explores ways to foster feelings of belonging and identity-safety.

Relatedly, in newer work, she and her colleagues have been examining how individuals can act as, trying to understand when and why specific ally messages may backfire and appear untrustworthy. She has also tested the use of video interventions to reduce biases and promote inclusive behaviors in STEM. Her work has been funded by the Spencer Foundation and the National Science Foundation.