Cliff is Co-founder and Executive Director of Black Voters Matter Fund (and 501c3 BVM Capacity Building Institute) which builds community and organizational capacity related to Black voting power. BVMF was one of several organizations which mobilized Black voters to defeat Roy Moore in Alabama’s 2017 U.S. Senate race. He is also principal consultant at Strategic Cliff Notes. Cliff has contributed articles/op eds to The Washington Post, The NY Times, The Guardian and other publications. He hosts a weekly radio show in Atlanta, has served as an instructor of African-American Studies.

Teumbay Barnes brings 15+ years of experience in community organizing, policy, leadership development, journalism, and higher education to her role, Barnes has spent her career working to change the narrative and create safe and sacred spaces for those experiencing any form of injustice. As firmly entrenched in her hometown of Prattville, AL, where she still resides, as she is in the wider region, Barnes dedicates considerable time to helping others. Barnes holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Alabama State University and a Master’s in PostSecondary Education from Troy University, in addition to being a 2010 graduate of the PLAN (Progressive Advocacy Leadership Network) National Women’s Law Center. Barnes was also a 2011 (inaugural year) Fellow of the Greensboro Justice Fund at the Highlander Center, a graduate of the Leading by Example Leadership Program, and 2017 Emergent Leader of the Year and most recently an Inaugural Alabama Black Women’s Collaborative Fellowship recipient.

Ricky Bratz is a plant nerd, queer dog mom and survivor of Sicilian/SWANA/Eastern European roots. Her time as a member of Greensboro-based radical marching band Cakalak Thunder (2003-2008), serving as a board member of Fund for Democratic Communities (2007-2009) and as an intern with Student Action with Farmworkers (2006) are part of her formative politicization. She has initiated and/or been involved in projects such as: healing justice, community gardening/farming, food justice, labor organizing, homelessness, community centers, collective living, racial equity, consensus decision-making, and queer liberation.

Denzel Caldwell is a community organizer, economist, and popular educator that was born, raised and currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to his upbringing in a servant-leader household, his work as an organizer and study of economics began when he read the unpublished words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the King Archives at the Atlanta University Center. He graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse College with his Bachelor of Arts in Economics. In 2019, he earned his Master of Arts in Economics at the University of Oklahoma.

He currently serves as the Electoral Justice Researcher and Educator at the Highlander Research and Education Center. His work has not only included developing curricula and facilitating workshops grounding hundreds of participants in Solidarity Economy, but also creating and leading popular education workshops grounded in communities governing themselves within and beyond electoral cycles. He is an organizational representative on the Planning Committee of Democracy Beyond Coalition and the Governance Council of Southern Movement Assembly. Beyond work, Denzel is a co-founder and organizer of the Black Nashville Assembly.

Yawntreshia Coleman is a social entrepreneur, climate justice & clean energy organizer, and education advocate based in Birmingham, AL. Graduating from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a minor in Human Services Counseling, Coleman worked as a staff accountant, public policy coordinator, and resource development manager before focusing on a career in social entrepreneurship.
Coleman is the Disaster Recovery Organizer with Hometown Action/Hometown Organizing Project.

She serves as the Managing Director of Coleman and Company, a limited liability company, supporting businesses primarily in the not-for-profit, health & wellness, food & beverage, and healthcare industries. Discovering a natural knack for business, Coleman has started a few ventures under the LLC’s umbrella. She opened a plant shop in the Woodlawn Community in May 2023. In 2017, she started a black-owned business directory and reinvented the idea of business growth hubs in the Greater Birmingham area. Known as ‘The Fancy Picnic Lady’, she launched the pop-up picnic and scavenger hunt food tour business, Magic City Food Tours & Luxury Picnics in 2021. Coleman is a Certified Master Gardener currently raising capital to start a vertical farming company. Lastly, she is working on a business networking & resource development app, Lunch Meeting, and an education venture, R.I.B.S. x Camp Trep with the goal of expanding each venture into different cities and states.

The married mother of three is also a Board Trustee of the Birmingham Public Library, Board Treasurer of McCoy Adult Day Care Center and He Is Me Institute, and serves on the Birmingham Community Engagement Board for Rise Against Hunger. Additionally, Coleman prioritizes healing & self care in order to expertly balance family, business, and board service.

Corey (he/they) creates conditions for amplifying social impact as a culture shift strategist and content producer. His focus on adult learning in the workplace extends across the nonprofit, private, and public sectors. As founder and creative director of Maven Leadership Collective, Corey mobilizes an ecosystem of support for queer and trans people of color and allies who are building more just communities. He serves on the board of Pioneer Winter Collective and is a panel member for Florida Foster Care Review. Corey obtained his bachelor’s in public relations from the University of Maryland at College Park and master’s in nonprofit management from The George Washington University.

Sendolo Diaminah is the Co-Director of the Carolina Federation, where s/he works building governing power for working people and communities of color in North Carolina. S/he is a strategist with over 15 years of experience in community and electoral organizing, as well as experience winning and holding elected office. Before founding the Federation, Sendolo worked as training director at Black Organizing for Leadership & Dignity (BOLD), where s/he developed somatically-based leadership curriculum for organizers and executive directors.

Stephanie brings close to three decades of organizing experience and leadership in Southern movement and global justice work. From 2008-2022, Stephanie served as the Co-Director at Project South and recently has repositioned to a Senior Strategist in the Movement Organizing work of the organization. She works on regional organizing projects including the Southern Movement Assembly, a grassroots governance strategy that has initiated shared campaigns, rapid response to crises, and mutual aid organizing work across the region over the last ten years. She sits on the steering committee of the Southern Power Fund and is a board member of Taproot Earth.  Stephanie is a published writer, co-created the Organizers’ History site related to the 1999 actions to shut down the World Trade Organization, and edited Project South’s People’s Movement Assembly Organizing Handbook.

A Miami native, Valencia is the Founder/Co-Director of the Smile Trust Inc., Co-Founder of The Black Collective and National Organizing lead of the RBG New Deal at M4BL She is a part of the Steering Committee for Greater Miami, 100 Resilient Cities and has spoken around the country about her work around Climate Gentrification. After experiencing the tragedy of losing her goddaughter Jada Page to gun violence, Valencia worked through her grief and pulled her community together to fight against the status quo, receiving the Soros Justice Fellowship, Valencia created a Rapid Response Toolkit “LIFT” to help decrease Police and inter-community violence in Miami. Valencia works alongside over 80 Formerly incarcerated Black Women (Dignity Florida) to change legislation to assist with de-carcerating women in the State of Florida.

Moné Holder is the Senior Director of Advocacy & Programs at Florida Rising. Moné has led the organization in the fight for voting rights on the local, state, and national levels and develops strategies to build Black political power in the state. Moné has over a decade of policy experience stemming from her work in the Florida House of Representatives Democratic office, and as a Florida House and Senate staffer.

Danyelle Holmes is a national social justice organizer with Repairers of the Breach and the Poor People’s Campaign. She is a director of the Mississippi Prison Reform Coalition and serves on the steering committee of the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition. A native of Greenwood, MS, Danyelle is a graduate of Greenwood High School and attended Tougaloo College. Danyelle’s work as a revolutionary is deeply rooted in her convictions. She works across diverse political lines to fight for the poor and people of low wealth in the United States. Danyelle feels very deeply that God has called and ordained her to be a voice to uplift those disproportionately impacted by society’s systemic ills. Danyelle has been on the front lines of many political battles in the state of Mississippi, including leading the water distribution team to ensure that Jackson residents have access to clean drinking water, fights to stop the takeover of Jackson’s water and sewer infrastructure, to fully fund public education, and to remove the Confederate state flag. Danyelle is dedicated to prison reform, living wages, immigration and labor rights, and so much more. Her vision is that Mississippi will, one day soon, rise and move forward together collectively.

Veronica R. Johnson is an adjunct professor at Alabama A&M University. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Veronica R. Johnson serves as the Deputy Director of the Alabama Justice Initiative. Educated in Birmingham City Schools, Veronica holds Bachelor’s of Art in Political Science from Alabama A&M University, a Master’s in Criminal Justice from the University of Alabama and a Juris Doctorate from the Birmingham School of Law. Veronica has over 15 years of experience in the area of juvenile justice. She is a social justice activist, Emerge Alabama alum, and a former candidate for the Alabama House of Representatives. Additionally, Veronica is the founder of Cupcakes and Convos (a mentoring program for at-risk teen girls), a member of the Advisory Board for MAD? Make A Difference, and a frequent motivational speaker. During her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her children, watching her son play soccer and her daughter prepare for ballet. Veronica and her children, Austin and Autumn, live in Northern Jefferson County and are members of Light House Church Ministry.

Chi-Ante Singletary is a proud scholar of color and queer black feminist. She attended Spelman College for her undergraduate degree, where her love and respect for black women blossomed into a career focused on creating and supporting black liberation spaces globally. Chi-Ante has worked as a southern organizer and donor strategist for many organizations including Solidaire Network, Youth Engagement Fund, Girls Inc., and Neighborhood Funders Group. Through her work, Chi-Ante has supported communities of color across the South to have access to resources and develop strategies focused on building political power, making long-term systems change, and building transformative relationships between donors and grassroots organizers. Chi-Ante is the Chief Reparations Officer for Cypress Fund and the Grove by Cypress Action Fund.

Michael brings a background in policy reform and advocacy. Michael started his non-profit career with the Direct Action and Research Training (DART) network as a graduate of their organizers’ institute, where he gained tools to create systemic change through community organizing. Following a stint in base building and training community leaders in Southeast Florida, Michael moved to the Tampa Bay to work with Faith and Action for Strength Together (FAST) to organize faith communities around issues impacting low-income and marginalized populations in Pinellas County. Prior to joining NEO, Michael worked on building coalitions and as a campaign consultant with several non-profits in the Pacific Northwest in order to pass legislation and budgets. Over the years Michael has worked on various issue campaigns such as increasing access to healthcare, affordable housing, public transportation, and improving public education. Michael holds a BA in comparative religious studies from San Jose State University and an MPA with a specialization in international policy and management from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service.

Dom Kelly is the Founder, President & CEO of New Disabled South. Until November 2022, he served as both the Georgia Fundraising Director and the Senior Advisor for Disability for Stacey Abrams’ campaign for governor of Georgia. Previously, he was Senior Fundraising Manager and a Strategic Advisor for Disability at Fair Fight Action, the voting rights organization founded by Stacey Abrams, where he also created and led the organization’s Disability Council composed of prominent disability advocates and policy experts from across the country.

Chevalier Lovett proudly serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Florida Rising. Born and raised on the historic West Side of Winter Park, FL – Chevalier has spent more than 10+ years in executive leadership positions within the nonprofit sector which includes positions with the YMCA, City Year and AmeriCorps in local and national roles. A first generation college graduate, he has done primary studies at the University of Hartford and Rollins College among other notable institutions and programs. Chevalier is very active in the community and serves on several notable local, state and national boards & committees. In recognition of his service to the community, he was named 2020’s Most Influential by Winter Park Magazine. He believes his existence is to be a voice and to fight alongside & with marginalized communities. Particularly those that come from low-income BIPOC communities, the LGBTQ+ space, youth & education, young leaders and for those that are committed to the Peace Movement.

Rukia currently co-chairs the People’s Assembly process in Jackson, Mississippi which works to (1) increase community access to city government and (2) to institutionalize People’s Assemblies as community governing models that enable a deep democratic participation of people in their own governance. She was selected as one of the brightest and most promising women of color by New York University Wagner School of Public Service and she is a 2011 Youth for Justice Leadership Fellow for the National Juvenile Justice Network.

Aisha Yaqoob Mahmood is the Executive Director of the Asian American Advocacy Fund. Aisha is native to the South and has worked in the progressive community in Georgia for the last seven years. She graduated with a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Georgia with a focus on local government and public policy. Aisha developed a strong passion for immigrant rights and civic engagement as she founded the Georgia Muslim Voter Project and worked as the Policy Director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta. These experiences have strengthened her desire to fight for justice for all marginalized people, including Muslims, immigrants, and refugees.

As a native of Florence, Mississippi, her values are deeply rooted in family and community. Rachel has been instrumental in bringing community leaders together to address issues involving: land zoning, civic engagement, human services, organizational development and school bond issues.

As the leader of Southern Echo, Inc. a community-based grassroots nonprofit organization, Rachel is responsible for recruiting, working with and training cadres of new leaders across the State of Mississippi in effective community organizing work. The strategic goal is empower and enable local communities to take ownership in building the necessary infrastructure to develop potential leaders who can hold the political, economic, educational and environmental establishment accountable to the needs of those who are disfranchised within the State of Mississippi.

Rachel has more than 25 years of public, private and government experience in management, financial services and organizational development. She has an undergraduate in Finance and an MBA.

Desmond Meade is a formerly homeless returning citizen who overcame many obstacles to eventually become the President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, a graduate of Florida International University College of Law, a Ford Global Fellow, and a McArthur Foundation “Genius” Fellow. Recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2019, Desmond presently leads efforts to empower and civically re-engage local communities across the state, and to reshape local, state, and national criminal justice policies. His work has resulted in being named Floridian and Central Floridian of the Year 2019. As President and Executive Director of FRRC, which is recognized for its work on voting and criminal justice reform issues, Desmond led the FRRC to a historic victory in 2018 with the successful passage of Amendment 4, a grassroots citizen’s initiative which restored voting rights to over 1.4 million Floridians with past felony convictions. Amendment 4 represented the single largest expansion of voting rights in the United States in half a century and brought an end to 150 years of a Jim Crow-era law in Florida.

Evan Milligan is a Montgomery native who spent years advocating for racial equity and economic justice as a community organizer and Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) justice fellow before attending New York University School of Law. After law school, he returned to EJI and worked for several years as a law fellow and program manager, focusing primarily on re-entry services and efforts to memorialize Black victims of racial violence. He then spent a year in Houston, Texas, serving as a policy advisor for Commissioner Rodney Ellis of the Harris County Commission, where he led a research and advocacy initiative focusing on community-based violence interruption. Now serving as executive director of Alabama Forward, Milligan hopes to solidify this civic engagement table as a source of technical support, funding, and coordination for progressive advocates working throughout the state of Alabama. Evan and his wife Jennifer have two children, Ruby (3 years) and Elijah (4 months).

Marq Mitchell, Founder of Chainless Chainless, is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is a returning citizen, abolitionist, visionary and community leader.

In addition to his work with Chainless Change, Marq also serves on a variety of local, statewide and
national advocacy-based initiatives related to ending mass incarceration and other injustices. He is a Voqal Fellow, recipient of the 2021 Roddenberry Fellowship, Radical Partners Neighborhood Hero, The Sentencing Project’s Race and Justice Award recipient, Broward Young Democrats 2020 “Trailblazer of the Year” and a member of New Leaders Council (Broward). In fall of 2022, Marq received the prestigious Echoing Green Fellowship and New Profit: Unlocked Futures awards. He served on the Florida Behavioral Health Block Grant Planning Council and Miami-Dade Driver’s License Suspension Taskforce. He is also a
member of the Fines and Fees Justice Center Advisory Board and Emergent Fund’s Nomination Network. Prior to founding Chainless Change, he spent years volunteering for local organizations, working to reduce recidivism by providing advocacy and support for at-risk youth and other underserved populations

Marq studied Business Administration, but believes his most valuable lessons came from his personal experiences with being a black man in America and overcoming the barriers.

Maurice Mitchell is a nationally-recognized social movement strategist and organizer for racial, social, and economic justice. Born and raised in New York to Caribbean working-class parents, Maurice began organizing as a teenager. He served as a student leader for the Long Island Student Coalition for Peace and Justice and at Howard University, after a classmate was killed by police officers, Maurice led organizing efforts against police brutality and for divestment from private prisons. Maurice went on to work as an organizer for the Long Island Progressive Coalition, downstate organizing director for Citizen Action of NY, and Director of the NY State Civic Engagement Table. After Mike Brown was killed by police in Missouri, Maurice relocated to Ferguson to support work on the ground. Seeing the need for an anchor organization to provide strategic support and guidance to Movement for Black Lives activists, Maurice co-founded and managed Blackbird. In 2015, he was a key organizer of the Movement for Black Lives convention in Cleveland. In 2018, Maurice took the helm of Working Families Party as National Director where he is applying his passion and experience to grow WFP into an authentic multi-racial populist party.

Thena is a racial justice lawyer with over a decade of experience advancing community-led efforts for education and youth justice. Previously, she served as Program Officer at Communities for Just Schools Fund, a national donor collaborative, where she managed a grants portfolio of grassroots community organizations leading local and national efforts for education justice and an end to the criminalization of Black and Brown youth in schools and communities. Prior to her work with Communities for Just Schools Fund, Thena served as Director of the Advancement Project’s Opportunity to Learn Program, supporting local and state-based organizing campaigns to end the school-to- prison pipeline. Thena also served as Executive Director of Rethink, a New Orleans-based youth organizing and leadership organization.

Adelina Nicholls is a sociologist and one of the co-founders of the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR). She advocates and protests for the protection and extension of rights for immigrants in America, with particular focus on those from Latin American countries.

Miss Sharon Njie is the Communication and Strategic Partners Director at the Louisiana Organization for Refugee and Immigrants (LORI), Refugee Congress Delegate for Louisiana. She is also a Doctoral Candidate in Public Policy and Urban Affairs with an International Development concentration at the Nelson Mandela College of Government and Social Sciences program at Southern University at A & M College, as well as an Instructor at the School of Business at Southern University and A&M College Baton Rouge Louisiana. Her Interest is in Artificial Intelligence, Social Science, Immigration, and Policy related Issues.

Ola Osifo Osaze (any pronoun) is a formerly undocumented trans masculine queer of Edo and Yoruba descent who was born in Nigeria and is now based in NYC. A co-founder and former director of the Black LGBTQ+ Migrant Project, Ola now serves as the Advisor for the Black Migrant Power Fund and is the Cultivation Strategist at the Trans Justice Funding Project. Ola has amassed decades of organizing, movement building, organizational development, and resource mobilization experience within, and on behalf of, LGBTQ+ BIPOC and migrant communities. As a resource organizer, Ola is most invested in co-creating and sustaining movement-led funding initiatives which utilize a Black liberatory lens. Among other things, Ola is also a writer, perpetual traveler, foodie, afrobeat enthusiast and dog parent.

Gigi Pedraza is the founder and Executive Director of the Latino Community Fund in Georgia (LCFgeorgia.org ), a grant-making public charity dedicated advance knowledge, increase civic engagement, catalyze investment and promote collaborative work in the Latinx/Hispanic community. Through her work, LCF Georgia is one of the leading voices for Latinos and immigrants in the region and has been recognized with 2 Emmys for their work in public information and human interest campaigns in addition to receiving many awards for their leadership and collaboration role. LCF Georgia has invested over 3.5 million dollars in civic participation, capacity build- ing and COVID-19 relief since 2018 through programatic grants and direct community assistance and is the only organization focused on building capacity and infrastructure in the Latinx community in Georgia. Mrs. Pedraza has an active role in the community having co-led various statewide committees and efforts like the Georgia Latino Complete Count Committee. She is part of the Steering Committee at Grantmakers for Southern Progress, an advisory board member of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) and Caminar Latino, is the past chair of the board of the Feminist Women’s Health Center and is also the recipient of numerous awards, including a Woman of Inspiration by the Atlanta Dream, the 2018 NFL His- panic Leadership Award, is a consistent presence in the Atlanta 500 Most Powerful Leaders and was selected to the Hall of Fame for the Latino community’s most influential leaders in the state. Pedraza has earned an Executive Certificate in Non-Profit Leadership from the Fuqua College of Business at Duke University, a Masters in International Tourism Planning from the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain, Executive Business Certificates from the Peruvian University of Sciences in Corporate Training and Strategic Marketing and has a BA from the Hotel Management School – College of Tourism in Lima, Peru. She lives right outside City of Atlanta with her family.

Erica Perry is an organizer and movement lawyer from Nashville, Tennessee, committed to fighting for power with Black people and working-class communities in the US South. Erica has worked with organizers and advocates throughout Tennessee and nationwide to create alternatives to police and jails, fight for local budgets that invest in the community, and organize to build power. Erica moved back home in 2019 and founded the Black Nashville Assembly and Southern Movement, Committed with other Nashvillians committed to participatory democracy, abolition of the prison industrial complex, and economic democracy. After graduating from East Literature Magnet High School, Erica attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she studied political science and public administration and worked in community centers. She graduated from the University of Memphis School of Law in 2016 and is licensed to practice law in Tennessee.

Born and raised in Haiti, Tessa has always had a passion for helping others. She moved to the United States in 2001 and worked in social services with the Haitian community and with families experiencing homelessness. While overseeing various shelters, Tessa observed that direct services address symptoms of inequality and that equity and justice will only be realized through structural transformation. She brought her passion for social justice to FLIC in 2016, where she helped to expand direct services in conjunction with issue-advocacy, capacity building and consciousness raising. Tessa has a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Leadership from Barry University, and served our coalition as Director of Finance and Operations prior to becoming FLIC’s co-Executive Director in 2021. As she co-leads FLIC, Tessa aspires to foster collaboration among Black Immigrants, and to further expand FLIC’s civic engagement in a continuum.

Nailah is a Co-Executive Director for the Dream Defenders. She attended the University of Florida, where she majored in African American Studies with a minor in Philosophy. She lives in her native Miami with her pit bull and two cats.

Sarai Portillo is the Organizing Director for Florida Rising. Sarai is an experienced Executive Director with a demonstrated history of working in the civic & social justice organization non-profit industry.

Marco is the Founder and Executive Director for the Contigo Fund, which launched in response to the horrific massacre that occurred on Latin Night at Pulse nightclub in Orlando targeting LGBTQ+ people of color. Contigo is the first and only LGBTQ+ Latinx fund in the United States and largest grantmaking organization in the US South explicitly supporting LGBTQ+ communities of color. Its efforts focuses on medium- to long-term solutions, seeks to strengthen and network existing agencies and to identify and support grassroots efforts that focus on healing, educating, and empowering Pulse-affected and historically marginalized communities, particularly LGBTQ+ Black and Latinx individuals, immigrants, and people of color, ultimately advancing the intersection of LGBTQ+ equity and racial justice causes in Orlando and across Central Florida.

Monica, a proud native of Monroeville, AL, is a community and electoral organizer that believes in the power of advocacy work. She first discovered her voice and passion as a freshman on the campus of Troy University, where she served in leadership roles in several campus organizations. Teaching people how to advocate for themselves and for their communities has always and continues to be one of her top priorities. Monica was the statewide Grassroots Manager for the American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network. ACS CAN is the nation’s leading cancer advocacy organization. In this role she planned and executed ACS CAN advocacy campaigns and recruited, trained, and developed volunteers for the State of Alabama. Monica also serves as the State Democratic Executive Committee Representative for House District 89. The SDEC is the governing body of the Alabama Democratic Party. In the SDEC she sits on the Executive Board and is a member of the minority caucus and the youth caucus. She is the Chair of PikeDems and the Board Secretary for Hiztorical Visions Productions.

Daniela Rodriguez is an undocumented activist and community organizer born and raised in Chiapas, Mexico. Currently, she serves as the Executive Director of Migrant Equity Southeast, a Latina and immigrant-led 501(c)(3) organization based in South Georgia. MESE advocates for immigrant rights and works directly with the migrant and refugee communities of South Georgia to bring them equitable access to resources available to citizens: health resources, educational resources, political resources as well as financial aid, and food assistance.

Sheena Rolle is a child of God and a child of the movement.

As the daughter of a pastor and a union president, her faith has always merged with the idea of a just world. She is a co-founder of Organize Florida and serves as the Senior Director of Strategy at Florida Rising. She has been connecting with people on a state, local, national and international level for nearly 20 years as a community organizer, speaker, strategist, and minister.
As a local and global leader and learner, she has studied and traveled throughout Europe, Africa, South America, The Caribbean and North America. Dedicated to more deeply studying God’s word and its connection to today’s world, Minister Rolle is creating new and exciting ways to serve at the intersection of Faith, Healing and Justice. She is a licensed minister with The American Baptist Church. Sheena holds bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and English from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University and an MDiv. from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Domenico Ruggerio is the Executive Director of We Are Family, a South Carolina nonprofit serving with and for LGBTQ+ youth. Raised in the Philippines and on Long Island, Domenico Ruggerio is a transformative leader and social justice educator. Prior to joining We Are Family, they served as the director of education, advocacy, and systems transformation at Teach For America South Carolina. Previously, they held administrative positions in higher education that supported and empowered students of color and LGBTQ+ students and communities. Domenico also directed the ALANA (African American/Black, Latinx, Asian/Asian American and Native American) Cultural Center and LGBTQ Center at Vassar College, was an academic advisor at Bard College, and was the assistant director of the Multicultural Resource Center at Oberlin College in Ohio. Domenico is one of the co-founders and facilitators of the Transformative Teaching Collective, a predominantly female, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC-owned cooperative that provides social justice education and consultation to non-profit organizations, university faculty and student groups, government organizations, k-12 teachers, volunteer groups, and faith-based organizations. They are also formally certified in social justice mediation from the Social Justice Mediation Institute, UMass Amherst, and has skills in multipartial mediation, facilitation, and conflict resolution.

Joe Tolbert Jr. is a minister, cultural organizer, and the Executive Director of The Waymakers Collective, a community-controlled arts and culture fund that seeks to advance an Appalachian Futurism that is rooted in equitable justice, creative cooperation, and sustainable stewardship. As an intern at the Highlander Research and Education Center, he learned the power of using art and culture as tools for organizing, and he believes that arts and culture are vital tools for building equitable futures. He agrees with Robin D.G. Kelley when he said, “Without new visions we don’t know what to build, only what to knock down,” and it is the artists and cultural workers that can point us to the creative solutions to our most pressing issues.

Britney Whaley is the senior political strategist at the Working Families Party’s (WPF) Georgia chapter.