Devon Hamilton is a Posse program Alumni of UW Madison, and currently works for Community Services Unlimited (CSU), a community based organization in his hometown of South Central Los Angeles. Before his recent departure from Madison, he served as the Associate Policy Director for Michael Fields Agricultural Institute (MFAI) and served on the board of the Mellowhood Foundation, REAP Food Group, and the Organizational Council for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. He is a practiced educator, organizer, and cook around food and racial justice issues and advocate for sustainable agriculture practices.

George Reistad comes from a sustainable agriculture and local food systems background, formerly advocating for and advancing state and national policies related to agricultural conservation, local food market development, and creating programming on civic engagement around food systems for Wisconsin middle and high-schoolers. In his role at the City of Madison, George focuses on creating and continuing programs and advancing policies that increase food access for residents of the City, with particular focus being paid to initiatives that create healthy affordable food access and build more robust community food systems.

Corinda Rainey-Moore currently serves as the Community Outreach and Engagement Manager for Kids Forward (formerly known as Wisconsin Council on Children and Family).   In this role she has oversight over the organization’s outreach strategies to all of the issues areas including healthcare, racial equity, juvenile justice, immigration and education.  Her passion is advocacy, networking and bridging relationships.

Matt Dannenberg is the Census Director at Wisconsin Voices. Matt grew up a proud Watertown Gosling. He earned his degree in Political Science and Environmental Studies from UW-Madison where he was a Badger cheerleader. Since then, he has taken his enthusiasm to community organizing around climate change and democracy. He is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and in 2012 started WI Native Vote, a program to increase civic engagement in WI’s first nations. He feels passionate about making sure everyone is counted in the 2020 census and that every voice matters in our democracy.

T.R. Williams was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from Vassar College located in “upstate” New York. After working in New York City’s educational non- profit arena, T.R. returned home to Wisconsin to attend law school. Williams began her legal career practicing family law, she later joined the criminal defense practice then went on to combine these experiences by serving as a Spanish bilingual family law and criminal defense attorney focusing on domestic violence for the non-profit law firm Centro Legal. Prompted by her role as a board member for the Wisconsin Women’s Network and graduate of the Policy Institute T.R. shifted her professional focus to policy advocacy and health care. T.R. currently serves as the Advocacy and Government Relations Specialist for the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association (WPHCA). Williams considers advocacy an art form that allows one to bridge the gap between current reality and aspired reality.

Anjali Misra is a Chicago-based nonprofit professional, freelance writer and  community theater director. She attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison where she earned a BA in English Literature, a minor in Gender & Women’s Studies and a Master of Arts in Gender & Women’s Studies. Over the last 10 years, Anjali has had the immense privilege to support the work of organizations and groups like Free Spirit Media, GSAFE, YWCA, MEChA and South Asian Sisters Madison – focusing on inter-ethnic solidarity, interracial coalition building, and gender justice.

Natalia Hildner draws from her indigenous Andean roots and years of travel to India as a dancer, activist and teacher to now focus on fighting rape culture through education and prevention of sexual violence in her Latinx community. Renowned in her field as a dance performing artist who utilizes her craft as a means of raising consciousness on social justice issues, she continues to find new ways of dismantling white supremacy, patriarchy, and toxic social norms.

Nadya Mariam is a non binary, queer person of color, born and raised in Mexico City, who has made Madison their residence for the past seven years. Not only an artist, bike enthusiast and activist, they have been a radio host for Wort’s En Nuestro Patio since 2014 and have used this platform to bring the voices of the Latinx community, from the local and  to the international throughout Latin América, opening social justice conversations about our interests, our problems and our solutions.

Harry Hawkins is the Executive Vice President of Nehemiah Community Development Corporation. He brings with him over ten years of management experience in the business world, with a specialization on implementation in the workplace. Mr. Hawkins offers consulting services and training for businesses seeking to improve equity and inclusion for their workforce and programming.  

Rev. Dr. Alexander Gee, Jr. is the lead pastor of Fountain of Life Covenant Church, a multiracial, multigenerational and multi-class congregation in Madison, WI. In 1992 he also pioneered The Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development, a non-profit organization that enhances the quality of life for his entire city by inspiring, developing and mobilizing emerging African American leaders to become key partners in revitalizing and transforming their city. His commitment is to work to reveal grace and hope in every sector of the city of Madison, including the business community, The University of Wisconsin, City Hall and the State Capitol. Gee has worked to empower countless fatherless children, ex-offenders, drug addicts, teen parents and racially divided communities. He is passionate about promoting hope, transformation and justice for disenfranchised African American people everywhere.

Ali Khan is an undergraduate, double-majoring at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Political Science and Communication Arts. Raised my whole life in rural Wisconsin as a brown, bearded, Muslim child of immigrants in a post-9/11 America–now Trump’s America–has made a large impact on my identity. While constantly surrounded by a conservative white majority, I learned through interaction and connection that with storytelling others cannot only be tolerant of diversity, but appreciative of it. This cultivated my passion to use visual media as a tool for storytelling to spread awareness and engage people with issues that may seem unrelated to them. In my free time, I enjoy producing short films and music videos, writing poetry and screenplays, and designing diaspora-themed clothing.

Sara Alvarado is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker and co-conspirator in Madison WI who believes that the way to tackle difficult topics in both life and business is to show up real, raw, bold, vulnerable and always ready for fun. Through her speaking and trainings, Sara creates awareness and inspires change by challenging people to think differently and feel deeply. Sara skillfully pushes people out of their comfort zone with her straight talk and loving ways. Sara and her husband, Carlos, lead a thriving bilingual/bicultural family and a successful real estate business, the Alvarado Real Estate Group. Sara is the creator of the Conversation Challenge: helping parents talk about race with their teenagers and is also the co-founder of Step Up: Equity Matters in the Workplace.

Dr. Mel Freitag is the Diversity Officer in the School of Nursing at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Freitag serves underrepresented populations through mentorship, recruitment, programs, and professional development. Freitag strives to transform the curriculum through her work with health equity and social justice. Her scholarship explores how students’ voices shape what it means to be a welcoming, supportive, and safe/brave school for all. Mel enjoys teaching, writing, running, riding her bike, hanging out with her 4.5 year old daughter Bennett, playing with her two geriatric cats and dog (Bailey, Dante, and Fred respectively) and surfing the net while she’s procrastinating.  

Stephanie Campbell is a podcast/audiobook-obsessed, food-loving, half-Filipino 4th year school psychology doctoral student at UW–Madison. She was born and cultivated in rural Arkansas, and attended the University of Arkansas for undergrad. Her current research interests center around the impacts of body image and weight bias on the mental health of children and adolescents—particularly in relation to the implications of culture, family, SES, and societal expectations. She cares deeply about these intersectional topics from a social justice perspective. She plays trombone in Madison’s activist, community-based, music-making collective—Forward! Marching Band.

Alexandra Barber is a Chicago native in her second year of graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, pursuing a doctorate in school psychology. She examined the effects of racial microaggressions on measures of emotional well-being while at Amherst College for her Bachelors, and hopes to continue studying issues specific to the experiences of minoritized youth in schools. She loves all things outdoors, cooking with fresh produce from the farmer’s market, and watching romantic-comedies.

Melina Knabe grew up in Berlin, Germany, as a German-American. Currently, she is a third year PhD student in Educational Psychology. Having lived between two languages and cultures, her research interests now lie in supporting language learning in mono- and multilinguals. She is also very interested in comparative education and improving the affordability and quality of early childhood education in the United States. Outside of lab, you can catch her on a run to Picnic Point, in conversation with a friend over coffee, or ice skating. Long-term, she hopes to serve students from all backgrounds through teaching, mentorship, and scholarship at the university level.

William Parke-Sutherland is the health policy engagement coordinator for Kids Forward. William facilitates the WI Health Matters coalition and leads in Medicaid expansion, ACA defense, and Medicaid’s diagnostic and treatment benefit for kids (known as HealthCheck in WI). He serves on the board of Health Watch Wisconsin, Access workgroup for the Office of Children’s Mental Health, and WI American Academy of Pediatrics Public Policy Council.

Erica Nelson is the Director of the Race to Equity Project, an initiative to dramatically reduce racial disparities in Dane County, Wisconsin (Madison) and throughout the rest of the state. The multi-year project, which was launched in 2012, has resulted in a vast increase in public awareness of the community’s deep racial inequalities, generated scores of public and private policy and practice initiatives to advance inclusion and equity, and fostered the development a widely embraced comprehensive community plan to level the playing field and improve outcomes for the region’s families and children of color. Before taking up this work, Erica practiced public interest law for three years in New York City, representing low-income families involved in the child welfare system in Manhattan Family Court. Her legal work followed a six year career as a dancer/choreographer with New York-based contemporary ballet companies. Erica received her BA Degree in history from the University of Wisconsin in 1994 and her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers Law School in 2004. She as well as the Race to Equity Team are the recipients of numerous honors and awards, including recently: Urban League of Greater Madison’s Whitney Young Award in 2014; the Rainbow Project’s Extra Mile Award in 2014; her selection as a “Woman to Watch in 2015” by BRAVA Magazine; the 2015 “M Awards for Social Innovation” to Race to Equity; and the Liesl Blockstein 2016 Community Leadership Award presented by Community Shares of Central Wisconsin. Erica is a frequent presenter and speaker on race, social justice and family policy issues.

Dr. Roxie Hentz is the Founding Executive Director of CEOs of Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to guide youth in unlocking their entrepreneurial gifts and use them to make the world a better place. Extending her commitment to social entrepreneurship education, she is the author of It’s My Business: Inspiring Students’ Ideas for a Better Community, a resource book packed with fun lessons and engaging activities designed for educators to guide their students in creating their own classroom business for social good.

Manuel Cerda is recent UW-Madison graduate, currently dedicating his time to the non-profit world and serving his community. He loves cooking, video games, and listening to his partner baby talk to her plants. 

Helyn Luisi-Mills is the bilingual housing specialist at The Road Home. She supports families with children in housing search and stabilization, getting settled into their new homes, and navigating housing resources that are not available in English. Helyn has a Master’s of Science in human ecology; program evaluation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Throughout her career, she has helped families connect to community resources in the midst of difficult situations. She enjoys the networks and partnerships that come from working with hundreds of volunteers, a variety of staff and other community partners. She loves being part of closing gaps in health and economic disparities.

Julio Garcia works for the Tenant Resource Center as a Bilingual Housing Counselor. He provides information regarding tenant/landlord law in Wisconsin and how to assert once rights in tenancies. He is usually present at the courthouse during eviction hearing to help tenants and landlords navigate the process. He recently took over the role of Director of Education at the Latino Academy of Workforce Development to promote an increase in living wages and living conditions through education.

Dr. Algernon Felice Sr. is the Director of Cultural Bridges Treatment & Consulting LLC based in Madison Wisconsin. Dr. Felice, the Developer of Constructive Locale Regenerative Therapy (CLRT), an intersectional culturally-centered treatment model for children and families, is also a writer and storyteller. In addition to providing services to his clients, Dr. Felice offers supervisory support to other therapists. He currently holds positions as Adjunct Professor at Edgewood College in the Department of Psychology, Expert Witness to the Dane County courts, and Psychological Consultant to the Community Restorative Courts (CRC) – as well as other culturally-based entities within the Madison Community. 

Over the last 16 years Climbing PoeTree has harnessed creativity as the antidote to destruction through their award-winning spoken word, hip hop infused world music,  multimedia theater, and popular education models. Co-creators Alixa Garcia and Naima Penniman have independently organized more than 30 national and international tours, taking their work from South Africa to Cuba, the UK to Mexico, and throughout the U.S. including 11,000 miles toured on a bus converted to run on recycled vegetable oil.

Climbing PoeTree has stirred crowds at diverse venues from the United Nations to the world- renown TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, Harvard University to festivals where they have performed on the main stage, including Lightning In a Bottle, Many Rivers to Cross, and Symbiosis, among others. 

They have been featured alongside powerhouses such as Alicia Keys, Alice Walker, Janelle Monáe, Erykah Badu, Maxwell, Cornel West, Madonna, and Angela Davis, who writes:

“Each time I have the pleasure of attending a performance by Climbing PoeTree, I feel enriched, renewed, and inspired. Alixa and Naima insist that poetry can change the world—and it is true that the urgency, power and beauty of their words impel us to keep striving for the radical futures toward which they gesture.”

Annahid Dashtgard (M.Ed.) is author, change-maker and co-founder of Anima Leadership, a highly respected international consulting company specializing in issues of diversity and inclusion. Previously she was a leader in the anti-corporate globalization movement, responsible for several national political campaigns and frequently referred to as one of the top activists to watch in the 1990s. She is the host of the podcast series Breaking the Ocean: Soundwaves of Belonging and the director of two award-winning documentaries, Buy-Bye World: The Battle of Seattle and Bread. Her writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and Briarpatch magazine. Dashtgard lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.

Audience: Open to All

Brandi Grayson is an entrepreneur, change maker,  advocate, program manager and organizer. She has been on the front lines of racial and social justice for many years. Today, she’s the CEO of Grayson Consulting, LLC specializing in Program Management and Strategic Development. She’s also the Executive Director of Urban Triage, whose mission is to foster Black families self sufficiency, community leadership, advocacy and family success through parent engagement and cultural heritage. Brandi also runs a community lead and funded Eviction Prevention Fund for Black families. She’s an amazing orator on issues of racism and our personal roles in eradicating oppressive systems and thought.

Jael Currie is a Madison born and raised social worker currently practicing as the Housing Director at YWCA Madison. Jael considers herself a servant leader who is passionate about promoting positive outcomes for families, especially through the method of community partnership. Along with her job duties she is active in several committees, community groups, and task forces addressing issues of race relations, access and equity in education, homeless services, and creating equitable and inclusive organizations in the Greater Madison area.

With a calm, level-headed approach, keen listening, insightful questioning, and a passion for individual and organizational belonging and thriving, Deborah Biddle influences individuals and teams to successfully rethink and redo the ways they engage with people and make decisions.

Deborah runs the diversity and inclusion consulting, coaching, and training firm, The People Company LLC. She works with organizations who want to leverage the power of change to heighten development and performance for their people. Deborah designs and delivers thought-provoking and challenging experiences that help people THINK better, DO better and BE better at what matters most.

Dr. Bianca Baldridge earned her PhD from Columbia University’s Teachers College. Her scholarship examines the political and social context of community-based educational spaces and afterschool education. Her work examines the confluence of race, class, and gender, and its impact on community-based-educational-spaces engaging Black youth in marginalized communities. Further, her scholarship explores the organizational and pedagogical practices employed by youth workers/community-based educators and their connection to school spaces amidst neoliberal education restructuring. As an ethnographer, she closely examines the experiences of youth and educators within community-based educational spaces. Her experiences within community-based youth programs continues to inform her research in profound ways.

Nathan Beck is the Madison Out-of-School Time Coordinator for the City of Madison and the Madison Metropolitan School District. He has been in the Out of School Time field for over a decade where he has directed and scaled nationally recognized programs, published about the field, and has led the OST intermediary for Madison, WI.

Harry Hawkins is the Executive Vice President of Nehemiah Community Development Corporation. He brings with him over ten years of management experience in the business world, with a specialization on implementation in the workplace. Mr. Hawkins offers consulting services and training for businesses seeking to improve equity and inclusion for their workforce and programming.  

Rev. Dr. Alexander Gee, Jr. is the lead pastor of Fountain of Life Covenant Church, a multiracial, multigenerational and multi-class congregation in Madison, WI. In 1992 he also pioneered The Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development, a non-profit organization that enhances the quality of life for his entire city by inspiring, developing and mobilizing emerging African American leaders to become key partners in revitalizing and transforming their city. His commitment is to work to reveal grace and hope in every sector of the city of Madison, including the business community, The University of Wisconsin, City Hall and the State Capitol. Gee has worked to empower countless fatherless children, ex-offenders, drug addicts, teen parents and racially divided communities. He is passionate about promoting hope, transformation and justice for disenfranchised African American people everywhere.

Antonio Hoye has been working with kids for the past two decades. Since 2010 he has served families and youth in the Middleton-Cross Plains School district both as a Student & Family Engagement Specialist and as a coach. He facilitates Middleton’s racial justice programming for students (Student Equity Institute) annually and passionately disrupts the norm every day. His vision is to not only create just and equitable environments for our students to learn and thrive, but spaces and places to uplift and empower a sense of belonging in every child he encounters. Through reflection, insight, and most recently contemplative practices, he brings wisdom and pain from working in our education system to our attention and hearts– the place from which all the work begins and lives. 

Betsy Delzer has been an educator in Middleton-Cross Plains School District since 2001. She first knew she would work for the hearts of kids when she herself was one and couldn’t bear to leave anyone sitting alone at the lunch table. In her fifteen years in the classroom, a passion for the hearts and minds of teachers and leadership blossomed. She has taught yoga to educators since 2012 and brings mindful practices to schools around the country. Bets has stepped out of the classroom and continues her work in MCPASD as the Coordinator of Mindful Education, a position on the Leadership Team to offer staff and leaders support in the area of emotional intelligence training, resilience, self-care, and mindful practices for personal and classroom application. The heart of education begins in the heart of the educator and to that end, her pursuit of creating just and loving spaces to learn is boundless.

David O’Connor is originally from and is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. In January 2012, he became the American Indian Studies Consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). He is the Grant Director for the Network for Native American Student Achievement (NNASA) and the Culturally Responsive Early Childhood Tribal Project with the Disproportionality Technical Assistance Network “The Network”. In David’s role at DPI, he supports school districts’ efforts to provide instruction on the history, culture and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin’s American Indian nations and tribal communities and the education of Native American students.

Erica Nelson is the Director of the Race to Equity Project, an initiative to dramatically reduce racial disparities in Dane County, Wisconsin (Madison) and throughout the rest of the state. The multi-year project, which was launched in 2012, has resulted in a vast increase in public awareness of the community’s deep racial inequalities, generated scores of public and private policy and practice initiatives to advance inclusion and equity, and fostered the development a widely embraced comprehensive community plan to level the playing field and improve outcomes for the region’s families and children of color. Before taking up this work, Erica practiced public interest law for three years in New York City, representing low-income families involved in the child welfare system in Manhattan Family Court. Her legal work followed a six year career as a dancer/choreographer with New York-based contemporary ballet companies. Erica received her BA Degree in history from the University of Wisconsin in 1994 and her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers Law School in 2004. She as well as the Race to Equity Team are the recipients of numerous honors and awards, including recently: Urban League of Greater Madison’s Whitney Young Award in 2014; the Rainbow Project’s Extra Mile Award in 2014; her selection as a “Woman to Watch in 2015” by BRAVA Magazine; the 2015 “M Awards for Social Innovation” to Race to Equity; and the Liesl Blockstein 2016 Community Leadership Award presented by Community Shares of Central Wisconsin. Erica is a frequent presenter and speaker on race, social justice and family policy issues.

Sharlen Moore has committed her life to building and sustaining grassroots leadership for change. She has a passion for community justice, which led to her co-founding Urban Underground in 2000, a nationally recognized grassroots youth development organization whose members have been at the forefront of youth-led social change in Milwaukee and the region. She is also the founding member of Youth Justice Milwaukee which is a broad-based youth decarceration campaign advocating for the creation of community-based, family-centered, restorative programs as an alternative to locking up youth in Wisconsin prisons. Sharlen’s efforts have touched the lives of countless youth and have inspired a new generation of young leaders that will carry forth the struggle for justice and equality. Sharlen currently serves as Director of Youth Justice Milwaukee, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

From México to Madison and from Madison to Milwaukee, Alondra Quechol-Ramirez is a DACAmented student currently at the UW-Milwaukee. Ms. Quechol has been living in the United States since the age of three. She is the oldest out of four in her family. After three years of passion and ambition, Ms. Quechol worked as a co-founder and co-facilitator of [Re]Genaerción at Centro Hispano of Dane County while also being a full-time student at Madison College. Simultaneously, during her spare time she served as a member with UW-Dreamers, the president of Orgullo Latino Student Club at Madison College, finishing off by serving as an intern at United Way of Dane County. Recently, she was awarded the Youth Visionary Leadership Award from the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice and the YWCA Women of Distinction Leadership Award. Ms. Quechol has played a vital role in organizing with the youth and is still standing strong and now more than ever as an advocate as she marches down the streets as an activist with youth and families of Dane County.

Margarita Garcia Rojas is a senior Latin American, Caribbean, & U.S. Latinx Studies, Spanish, and History student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She was born in Mexico, migrated at the age of three with her family, and has lived in Milwaukee ever since. Drawing from her own experience, her current research project, “So American it Hurts: Stories of the 1.5 Generation,” focuses on the experience of growing up undocumented or in a mixed status family. As a Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Scholar, her research focus is on the experiences of Central American refugees in the 1980s at the Port Isabel Detention Center. Ms. Garcia Rojas aspires to pursue a doctorate in Latin American History in addition to working directly with immigrant communities.

Baron and Beverly Walker–a married couple–are subjects in the Milwaukee 53206 documentary. Baron and Beverly grew up as neighbors and best friends in Milwaukee’s north side, zip code 53206, the most incarcerated zip code in the world. They are parents and grandparents. Both are Certified YES!4Schools Teachers who believe in a holistic model for health and fitness which includes exercise, nutrition, and stress management. They are working to raise awareness on prison injustice, mass incarceration, solitary confinement, compassionate release, and highlighting the immediate need to release WI Old Law Inmates who qualify for a Parole Grant. Their work emphasizes self-care to avoid burn out.

Ambrose Wilson-Brown received his BS in Sports Management and History from Valparaiso University in 2005. He won the Pioneer Football League Championship in 2003. He immediately received his credentials and began coaching youth football. He continued coaching high school football as he received his personal trainer certification. Ambrose continued working with youth as a strength and conditioning coach as the owner of MISPIBO Fitness. Ambrose employed, trained, and managed a staff of personal trainers. In 2013, he added social service work to his experience as the Assistant Director of Youth Programs at Journey House. Encouraging and coaching youth has always been some Ambrose did, and now he’s focusing on public health and self-care for non-profit professionals. He has been with YES! since 2013, starting as a volunteer, working part-time and eventually full-time as a teacher, and now as the Director of YES! for Schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Bill Herman received his BFA and teaching credentials from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1975. In 1982 he received his MFA from the same institution. Bill initiated and conducted IAHVs first Youth Leadership Training Program (YLTP) in North America in 2001. He organized and teaches human values, breathing, mindfulness and meditation in USA, Canada. Mexico, Belize, Haiti, India and Pakistan. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005 Bill organized and delivered trauma relief programs for the people of New Orleans. In 2008 he began inspiring and training teachers to build the Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES!) into the curriculum’s of schools in North America. Since then he has trained teachers to spread YES! for Schools to many countries around the world including Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Equador, Australia, South Africa, Canada and England as well as the United States. In 2018 in the USA YES! for Schools had reached over 100,000 students in over 188 schools. In the State of Mexico in Mexico and the State of Bahia, in Brazil, state governments have partnered with IAHV to build YES! into the curriculum of all of their schools  and law enforcement, affecting teachers and students alike. He lives in Chicago and Lake Tahoe, CA with his wife and daughter.

Shuzi Meng is currently a second-year doctoral student in school psychology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. She gained her master’s degree in developmental psychology from Columbia University in 2016. Before joining UW, Shuzi worked in schools that treated children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Her current research and career interests are identifying evidenced-based treatments for girls with ASD diagnoses, increasing accessibility of treatments for minoritized groups within the Autism community, and combating stigma against ASD in China. Shuzi is also a first generation immigrant, a feminist and an amateur painter. 

Soobin Im is a third-year graduate student studying School Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology at the UW-Madison. Her current research interests include understanding multiple layers of contextual issues in supporting social-emotional development of students from immigrant families and advocating for the students and their families who may face added stressors as a minoritized group.

Stephanie Campbell is a podcast/audiobook-obsessed, food-loving, half-Filipino 4th year school psychology doctoral student at UW–Madison. She was born and cultivated in rural Arkansas, and attended the University of Arkansas for undergrad. Her current research interests center around the impacts of body image and weight bias on the mental health of children and adolescents—particularly in relation to the implications of culture, family, SES, and societal expectations. She cares deeply about these intersectional topics from a social justice perspective. She plays trombone in Madison’s activist, community-based, music-making collective—Forward! Marching Band.

Annette Miller has lived in Madison since 1989. She spent 11 years in state government. Another 2 years as Mayoral Aide for the city of Madison focused on expediting and advancing community and economic development issues and projects on behalf of the Mayor. Following this, Ms. Miller went to MGE where she spearheaded projects and partnerships that developed MGE’s brand in diverse communities and neighborhoods. After 12 years, Annette stepped away in May 2017 from her role as private sector executive with MGE to pursue her own business venture, EQT by Design, LLC. Her business focuses on building sustainable, diverse and inclusive design strategies for organizations and for public engagement and equitable development projects that centers decisionmaking around the perspectives and needs of the present and growing diverse customers and community.

Matthew Gillhouse is a parent of a bi-cultural family and a bilingual Immigration attorney who graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2007.  He is best known in the Latino community as “Mateo.”  Matthew previously worked as a judicial law clerk for Judge Barbara B. Crabb in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. Since 2011, however, he has been dedicated to representing immigrant families in immigration law cases.  He runs his law office, MMG Law LLC. He has extensive experience working with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and hosts multiple free clinics in multiple counties.   Thanks to his community work and dedication, Atty. Matthew was recognized as one of the 2018 Leaders in the Law by the Wisconsin Law Journal.

Kevin Gordon owns Camp Kupugani Multicultural Summer Camp—the only black-owned private residential camp in the U.S. Proud papa of a seventh-grade son, Kevin is a published author, former attorney, former semi-professional tennis player and backpacker, having traveled to 50+ countries on five continents. A Harvard University graduate in psychology and Canadian-born son of Jamaican immigrants, Kevin has worked with children for 35+ years and is a former vice-president of the Board of Directors of the American Camp Association Illinois Section. Besides spending time with his wife Natasha and adventurous son Mico, Kevin enjoys playing goalie on his men’s ice hockey team.

Chloe Besser grew up going to and is now a staff member at Camp Kupugani. Over her years as staff, Chloe has become an expert at having difficult conversations of many kinds with children. Recently, she wrote a Social Justice curriculum to add to Kupugani’s multicultural programming geared towards helping young people understand complex racial and social justice issues in engaging ways.

Karen Reece is a founding member and President of Urban Community Arts Network. Karen develops programming, writes grants and curriculum, and facilitates community organizing in the Hip-Hop community. Karen served as chair of the City of Madison’s Task Force on Equity in Music and Entertainment.

ShaH Evans, aka Mr Get Your Buzz Up, is an artist manager and social media influencer who manages I-20 and DJ Pain 1. He has worked with Wiz Khalifa, Waka Flocka, Curren$y, and many more. ShaH is the co-founder and Vice President of Urban Community Arts Network, a non-profit that uses Hip-Hop to educate in schools. ShaH also speaks about positive life choices with youth and young adults in Madison and surrounding areas.

Corey “Dash DUB” Whitmore comes to us from Harrisburg, PA by way of Milwaukee. Corey has extensive experience doing teen programming and coaching basketball as part of the Boys and Girls of Greater Milwaukee and in Madison with Urban Community Arts Network. Corey is a rapper, producer, studio engineer, and owner of record label and management company, Media 22.

Angela Lang was born and raised in the heart of Milwaukee. She has an extensive background in community organizing. In the past, Angela served as both an organizer and State Council Director for the Service Employees International Union, working on such campaigns as the Fight for 15. Before joining BLOC’s team as Executive Director, Angela was the Political Director with For Our Future Wisconsin. She is a graduate of Emerge Wisconsin and has had the pleasure of being the featured trainer for Emerge’s Diversity Weekend since 2015. Angela is motivated by making substantial and transformative change in her community while developing young, local leaders of color. Her journey in organizing hasn’t always been easy, but through it all she has remained a fierce advocate for securing more seats at the table for those who represent the New American Majority.

Mouna Algahaithi is a Yemeni-American, Muslim woman dedicated to educational accessibility and equity as well as Muslim women empowerment through activism. A recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin- Madison, Mouna obtained her B.S. in Education Policy with a Certificate in Criminal Justice. Mouna currently works at a Madison-based non-profit as an Education Engagement Specialist.

Sedgwick Smith Jr. is the Dane Country Program Director for the Zeidler Center for Public Discussion, facilitating access to dialogue and solutions between polarized communities. Sed is also a Lead Elementary Summer & After-School Teacher with the Lussier Community Education Center, as well as a Development Officer for the grassroots coalition, Young, Gifted and Black. Additionally he attends UW- Milwaukee, acquiring his B.A. in Urban Planning. 

Jasmine Zapata, MD, MPH is an award winning author, speaker, health empowerment champion, and physician known both locally and internationally. She is a board certified practicing pediatrician as well as board certified preventive medicine/public health physician. Her focus is on ways to get outside the clinic walls to impact health outcomes for children and families on a community based level. Her research and community work focuses on racial inequities in infant mortality, upstream/social determinants of health, youth resilience, and innovative methods of community engagement and health promotion. She received her BS in Biomedical Sciences from Marquette University and her doctorate in Medicine from the University of WI School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH). She also completed her Pediatrics Residency, Preventive Medicine/Public Health Residency, and Master’s in Public Health at UWSMPH where she currently works as an assistant professor, UW Health pediatrician practicing at Meriter Hospital, researcher, and Centennial Scholar. Outside of the hospital, she is the founder of the Beyond Beautiful International Girls Empowerment Movement and the “Madam Dreamers” national online pre-med mentorship academy. She is also co-founder of the Madison Inspirational Youth Choir among numerous other community roles focused on positive youth development. She is a 4-time author and her advocacy and community work has been featured on live national TV outlets, such as the Today Show. Her books have been translated into both Swahili and Korean and have traveled across the globe. Overall, Dr. Zapata is extremely passionate about mentorship, diversity in medicine, and community capacity building. Her ultimate mission is to use her infectious energy, gifts, and passions to “heal, uplift and inspire”. 

Dr. Zapata is also a wife and mother of 3 beautiful children. Her favorite things to do are eat crab legs, spend time with friends/family, sing, play volleyball, and play monopoly! 

Harry Hawkins is the Executive Vice President of Nehemiah Community Development Corporation. He brings with him over ten years of management experience in the business world, with a specialization on implementation in the workplace. Mr. Hawkins offers consulting services and training for businesses seeking to improve equity and inclusion for their workforce and programming.  

Rev. Dr. Alexander Gee, Jr. is the lead pastor of Fountain of Life Covenant Church, a multiracial, multigenerational and multi-class congregation in Madison, WI. In 1992 he also pioneered The Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development, a non-profit organization that enhances the quality of life for his entire city by inspiring, developing and mobilizing emerging African American leaders to become key partners in revitalizing and transforming their city. His commitment is to work to reveal grace and hope in every sector of the city of Madison, including the business community, The University of Wisconsin, City Hall and the State Capitol. Gee has worked to empower countless fatherless children, ex-offenders, drug addicts, teen parents and racially divided communities. He is passionate about promoting hope, transformation and justice for disenfranchised African American people everywhere.

Annette Miller has lived in Madison since 1989. She spent 11 years in state government. Another 2 years as Mayoral Aide for the city of Madison focused on expediting and advancing community and economic development issues and projects on behalf of the Mayor. Following this, Ms. Miller went to MGE where she spearheaded projects and partnerships that developed MGE’s brand in diverse communities and neighborhoods. After 12 years, Annette stepped away in May 2017 from her role as private sector executive with MGE to pursue her own business venture, EQT by Design, LLC. Her business focuses on building sustainable, diverse and inclusive design strategies for organizations and for public engagement and equitable development projects that centers decisionmaking around the perspectives and needs of the present and growing diverse customers and community.

Dr. Armando Hernandez is a Licensed Psychologist who has over 15 years of experience in the areas of mental health, education, and healthcare. As a trainer, supervisor, consultant, and administrator, he specializes in the areas of behavioral health consultation, multicultural practice, and equity. He is a national consultant in the area of integrated healthcare and has provided numerous workshops and academic courses in the areas of equity, behavioral health, and collaboration. Throughout his career he has worked in various community-based settings, assisting professionals and organizations in their organizational development and implementation of evidence-based practices. Dr. Hernandez is known as a dynamic and engaging speaker and trainer. He completed his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from University of Wisconsin-Madison. He currently works as the Assistant Director of Integrated Health Psychologist for the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, Wisconsin. 

Nestic Morris is the Outreach Coordinator at the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Since taking on this position, she has worked to bring the voices of communities of color to the anti-sexual assault field. She offers statewide trainings on intersections of oppression in Black women’s lives and is Co-Chair of WCASA’s reconstructed group, the Wisconsin Women of Color Consortium.

Jessi Corcoran, MPH is the Resource and Narrative Development Coordinator at the UW Population Health Institute. She has a BA in English and Gender Studies from Indiana University and a Master of Public Health from Boston University. Her studies and work have focused primarily on sexual violence prevention, health equity, and racial justice. Jessi’s professional ambition is to integrate social justice practices throughout public health work.

 Kimberly Cho is a pirate looking for treasure, doing her best to become a more ‘human’ human being.

Lynneta Latham joined UW Health in July 2019. As a Behavioral Therapist. She brings diversity, compassion, experience, and dedication, to bridge the gap between clients and the community so they are able to sustain an independent high quality of life. Lynneta earned her Masters in Social Work Mental Health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019. Her passion is to promote mental health inclusiveness in spaces of color. She works with individuals using an eclectic approach tailored to the unique needs of each client. 

Brittany Neal is a graduate from the University of Madison Part-time Social Work program with her Master’s in social work with a focus in Mental Health. She is currently working as a therapist at Anesis Therapy; where she provides psychotherapy to individuals and families in the community. In May, she graduated from Justified Anger Leadership Institute where she launched her self-care group for women which focuses on empowerment, self-awareness, and self-care resiliency.

Karma Tsedon strives to promote mental health awareness for people of color to end stigma and barriers. She has earned her Masters degree in Mental Health Social Work from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Her passion is to assist clients enhance their quality of life through interconnections of healthy mind and body.

Belinda Richardson received her master’s degree in rehabilitation psychology in 2012 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and obtained her LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) certification in 2016. Belinda has had an interest in psychology since childhood. Her grandmother was a strong local activist in her community when Belinda was young. She took Belinda to her first protest and told her, as a person of color, she had to work together with others to break down walls. Belinda loves helping families become stable and being apart of reducing racial disparities.

Gersely Rios is a 14 year old student from James M. Memorial High School in the Madison Metropolitan School District. She was born and raised until the age of 13 in Venezuela. She is part of the Design Team of Milestone Democratic School is am part of the Latinx community. She understands the racial issues that the school system of this country is passing through as any other immigrant does. She decided to join the school designing project because is one of the ways she can raise my voice and speak her truth and the truths of others that can’t do it. 

Jurie Mayo is 19 years old, and I has been a community organizer with Freedom Inc for four years. She joined the Governance Board of Milestone Democratic School because she feels like having a queer, black, and gender nonbinary voice would be able to help shape the school.

Marisol Gonzalez is a Mexican writer, Spanish teacher, and owner of Aprende LLC. She is a 2017 graduate of the UW Odyssey Project and also works as an assistant teacher in Odyssey Junior. She writes bilingual books for children to foster culture, and she also loves to write poems and political critiques.

Bio for Char Braxton: As I write, I explore. The execution of powerful words – roast and roar!

Takeyla Benton is a mother, writer, poet and activist who aims to inspire and uplift the community via storytelling of all kinds. By day she’s a Branch Manager at Summit Credit Union. She’s fueled by bringing financial literacy and education to underserved families of Dane County and helping them leave a financial legacy for their loved ones. She’s presented financial literacy workshops for organizations like Black Women’s Wellness Day, Black Women’s Leadership Conference, The Deltas, YWCA, Operation Fresh Start and many others. Her personal life and mission is fueled by writing and story telling. She has studied her craft of story telling and evoking emotion in writing for over 20 years. She’s the founder of We Write Too, a writing coaching and support program for women writers as well as We Read Too, a book club dedicated to inspiring love of reading. Her book club was highlighted in Brava’s April 2018 issue. Takeyla has facilitated numerous writing workshops around Madison for organizations like Odyssey and UW Madison, Sustain Dane, American Family Dream Bank and others.  She was co producer for Madison’s Listen to Your Mother. Takeyla is currently working on three books with dozens of others waiting in the wing to come to life. She is also working on a podcast and rediscovered a love of theatre. Get more info about Takeyla at wewritetoo.com

Bio for James Horton Coming Soon.

Jenny Pressman will also be providing support for this session. She is a passionate fundraiser, philanthropist, and racial and social justice activist, helping support some of Madison’s most innovative organizations and community projects. She has worked with a number of nonprofits to help them achieve financial sustainability as a consultant, board member, volunteer, Development Director of the Goodman Community Center, and now as Assistant Director of Development and Community Partnerships with the UW Odyssey Project. The Odyssey Project takes a whole family approach to breaking the cycle of generational poverty through access to education, giving adult and youth learners a voice, and increasing confidence through reading, writing, and speaking. Odyssey addresses Madison’s economic and racial opportunity gaps through classes for life-long learners, academic enrichment programs for children ages 2-18, and holistic, wraparound services to empower families to transform their lives.

Michael Waupoose is a member of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and belongs to the Turtle Clan. He is a son, a brother, an uncle, a husband and an 8 year veteran of the United States Air Force. He is also a Licensed Clinical Social worker and Certified Substance Abuse Counselor with over 30 years of experience treating substance use and mental health disorders and supervising programs in a wide range of settings.  He has been teaching meditation with the UW Health Mindfulness program since 2012. He has developed and teaches a MBSR Teacher Practicum for those interested in learning to teach Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. Most recently he offered a MBSR class for People of Color. He has completed intensive teacher training with the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. Michael’s interests include the role mindfulness plays in quality of life issues, its integration in the treatment of substance-use disorders and most recently in the benefits that mindfulness might have for People of Color as they live with and confront racism, oppression and white supremacy.