People
Staff
Patrick Reinsborough
Patrick
Reinsborough has been involved in campaigns for peace, the environment,
and social justice for over twenty years. He co-founded the smartMeme
strategy & training project in 2002 and with his colleague has trained over 3,000 organizers and partnered with over 100 high impact organizations to frame issues, strengthen alliances and win critical campaigns.
Patrick was previously the Organizing Director of the Rainforest Action Network
where he mobilized thousands of people to confront corporations who
destroy the environment and violate human rights. Patrick's work has incorporated a range of creative tactics including brand busting, cross-cultural alliance building, markets campaigning and nonviolent direct action.
He has been deeply
involved in the movements against war and corporate globalization and
has helped organize countless creative interventions and mass actions including the historic shutdown of the Seattle WTO meeting.
He is
a frequent commentator on issues of social change
strategy, the ecological crisis and the power of framing and has guest lectured at numerous universities. Several of
his strategy essays were published in the anthology Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World. Patrick spends his time parenting, wandering through urban space, and
playing music for his friends. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and staffs smartMeme's west coast office.
Doyle Canning
Doyle
Canning is a strategist, trainer, and organizer with a deep commitment
to building 21st century social movements for ecological justice. She
came to the smartMeme collective in 2003 after studying
critical pedagogy, working as a grassroots organizer, and being banned
from Australia for her rabble rousing. As co-director at smartMeme, Doyle serves social movements a facilitator, messaging coach, and campaign consultant. She is a contributor to Letters from Young Activists (Nation Books, 2005), and has served on the advisory funding panel of the Haymarket People's Fund, an antiracist social change foundation for New England. Doyle practices yoga, sings, and celebrates life. She lives in Boston.
Associates
Maria Elena Letona
Ms. Letona is a native of El Salvador. She attended Oberlin College-Conservatory where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in piano performance and music history, and the University of Massachusetts Boston where she earned a Master’s and a Ph.D. in public policy. Ms. Letona has close to 25 years of experience working in and serving the non-profit sector as a volunteer, organizer, administrator, manager, and director. Her areas of expertise include program development, implementation and evaluation, community organizing, leadership development, organizational development, and immigration policy analysis. Her skills include public speaking, training, teaching and facilitation. For 10 years, Ms. Letona directed Centro Presente, a member-driven, statewide organization dedicated to achieving the self-determination of the Central and Latin American immigrant community of Massachusetts. Ms. Letona has received numerous awards including the 2005 Barr Fellowship and the 2006 “Drylongso Award” which recognizes “outstanding individuals for their work challenging structural racism and working to build a just society”. Currently, Ms. Letona is an organizational development consultant, facilitator and trainer.
Kiara Nagel
Kiara Nagel delivers training, consulting, and coordination services to foster collaboration and support equitable community development. She is an associate at the Design Studio for Social Intervention, and facilitates strategy work with the Interaction Institute for Social Change. Her work stems from an exploration of the historical patterns of development and forced displacement and she works to provide space for those most directly affected to be engaged in decision-making about how their places can be shaped, understood and represented. She has supported the growth of numerous initiatives locally, nationally, and internationally. Current projects include a capacity building toolkit for NeighborWorks USA to support smarter green initiatives among national members and a series of case studies connecting food and recreational justice issues to the built environment while exploring interventions to create more healthy and just realities. She serves as faculty at both the International Youth Initiative Program in Sweden and University of Orange, a free people’s university. Kiara holds a BA from Hampshire College and a Masters in City Planning from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Board
(* Indicates Executive Committee membership)
Myla Ablog *
Myla Ablog is the Ecologist at Heron's Head Park, a 24 acre city park in San Francisco with areas restored with native plants and 8 acres of restored tidal wetland surrounded by a neighborhood with a long toxic legacy. She works for Literacy for Environmental Justice, a small grassroots non-profit whose mission is to empower local youth and serve the environmentally justice affected communities of Bayview Hunters Point and Southeast San Francisco. She is currently a candidate for a Masters in Environmental Management from University of San Francisco. Myla stays involved in the local Asian Pacific Islander arts community through volunteering and advocacy. In her spare time, she likes to throw craft parties and work on knitting projects.
Celia Alario
Celia Alario is a PR and media strategist, grassroots communications consultant, media skills trainer and facilitator. She works at the intersection of campaigning, grassroots organizing and marketing to support organizations, film makers, artists and authors in engaging key audiences for their stories, tapping both traditional media/marketing and new media/web 2.0 tools to create meaningful opportunities for engagement. As founder of ‘PR for People and the Planet’ she’s helped spin groundbreaking social action campaigns, trained thousands of spokespeople and placed hundreds of stories about critical social justice and environmental issues in prominent national and international media outlets over the last 14 years. Alario was a Producer on Michael Moore’s Emmy-nominated television show ‘The Awful Truth’ and served as an Outreach Producer to create publicity and audience engagement campaigns for a number of award-winning documentaries and television programs, including Sir! No Sir!, Trade Off and Building Green (PBS). Alario has also worked in community radio journalism and currently produces public affairs programming for KZMU, the Pacifica affiliate in Moab UT. She got her radio start in the News Apprenticeship Program at Pacifica Radio’s KPFA in Berkeley, California, where she also co-produced and co-hosted ‘Terra Verde’ and ‘Flashpoints’. Alario serves on the Board of Directors of the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and the Advisory Boards of BEN (Business Ethics Network) and IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War).
Alexa Bradley
Alexa Bradley is a Program Director at On The Commons. As part of the organization’s leadership team she works to support community solutions rooted in the commons principles of collective stewardship and equitable use of our resources. She has worked as an organizer, facilitator, trainer and popular educator for over 25 years, with a particular focus on linking community organizing to broader social movement strategies. Previously she worked as a senior partner at the Grassroots Policy Project providing tools and training to build the resilience, vision and power of community change organizations throughout the US. She was an organizer and Co-Director of the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action, a groundbreaking labor-community coalition. She is also the recipient of a Bush Leadership Fellowship to research participatory processes and other transformational tools in organizing and leadership development. Her current work includes a focus on the Great Lakes Commons Initiative, an effort that links the goals of ecological stewardship, social equity and deepened democracy. Alexa just moved to Brooklyn, NY with her partner where she intends to enjoy exploring the city, yoga, performance and gardening.
Shahid Buttar
Shahid Buttar is a civil rights lawyer, hip-hop & electronica MC, independent columnist, non-profit leader, grassroots community organizer, singer and poet. Professionally, he leads the Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BORDC) as Executive Director. He also serves as co-Director of the Rule of Law Institute, a U.S.-based organization supporting international efforts to defend or restore the rule of law. Previously director of a program to combat racial and religious profiling by federal authorities, an associate director of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, and a litigator in private practice with a prolific public interest docket, Buttar has long advocated in defense of the Constitution. He graduated from Stanford Law School in 2003, where he served as executive editor of the Stanford Environmental Law Journal and as Professor Lawrence Lessig’s teaching assistant for Constitutional Law. As a musician, Shahid has performed around the world for audiences as large as 50,000, and released his debut CD, Get Outta Your Chair, in 2008.
Shana McDavis-Conway *
Shana McDavis-Conway is the Co-Director of Emerson National Fellows Program at Congressional Hunger Center - a leadership development fellowship for young people interested in hunger and anti-poverty work. She has been a committed food justice and human rights activist for 10 years, working with organizations like D.C. Hunger Solutions, Hartford Food System, the Community Food Security Coalition, the National Family Farm Coalition, Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center, Sacramento Hunger Commission, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Shana is a founding board member of smartMeme's Strategy Training and Organizing Resources for Youth (STORY) program, an alumna of the Emerson Program, and a former AmeriCorps*VISTA.
Gopal Dayaneni *
Gopal has been involved in fighting for social, economic, environmental and racial justice through organizing & campaigning, teaching, writing, speaking and direct action since the late 1980's. He currently serves on the staff of the Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project, which works to bring a strategic understanding of ecological crisis and transition to racial and economic justice organizers. Gopal also serves on the board of the International Accountability Project, is an active trainer and organizer with the Ruckus Society and a member of the Progressive Communicators Network. Gopal works at the intersections of war, corporate globalization, global ecology, environmental justice and democracy. Gopal has been a campaigner for Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition on human rights and environmental justice in the high-tech industry and the Oil Campaigner for Project Underground, a human rights and environmental rights organization which supported communities resisting oil and mining exploitation around the world. Gopal has been active in Direct Action to Stop the War and other anti-war and global justice movements. Gopal is also an elementary and early childhood educator, working formerly as a teacher and as the co-director of the Tenderloin Childcare Center, a community based childcare center supporting children and families forced into homelessness. Currently, Gopal stays home with his daughter, Ila Sophia and son, Kavi Samaka Orion, and crams political projects in on the side.
Jihan Gearon*
Jihan Gearon is Diné (Navajo) and African American. Jihan grew up in Fort Defiance, located on the eastern part of the Navajo reservation in Arizona. She is a graduate of Stanford University with a Bachelors of Science in Earth Systems and a focus in Energy Science and Technology. In her current role as Executive Director of the Black Mesa Water Coalition (BMWC), Jihan leads her staff and network in building a just transition away from the fossil fuel based economy of the Navajo Nation and towards a green economy that uplifts the traditional economy and honors the culture of the Navajo people. Jihan is an active organizer, speaker, and writer on Indigenous Peoples rights, and environmental, energy and climate justice. Her experience and expertise includes work on Indigenous Peoples rights, environmental justice, climate justice, and the impacts of energy development, climate change, and related policies on Indigenous Peoples and people of color. Jihan is based out of Flagstaff, Arizona.
Gilda Haas
Gilda Haas is an educator, organizer, and urban planner, who in past lives has helped start a credit union, a land trust, and numerous organizations (such as SAJE and the Right to the City alliance) — all towards building a more fair and democratic economy. She teaches in UCLA’s Urban Planning Department where she also started their Community Scholars Program , and divides her time between consulting, coaching, and Dr. Pop, her alter ego website. Dr. Pop is a popular education website that helps people become better story-tellers and strategic thinkers. Dr. Pop focuses on how the
economy , urban planning, and democracy work, provide living examples of how they
can work better, and offer tools for organizers, educators, students, activists and
all manner of curious people who are interested in change. Gilda lives in Los Angeles and is married to mystery writer Gary Phillips, and has two adult children, Miles and Chelsea.
Ilyse Hogue
Ilyse Hogue is the Communications Director for MoveOn.org. Before joining MoveOn, she spent seven years as a Program Director for the Rainforest Action Network, working to pressure Wall Street to institute environmental and social screens on lending and investment. She is a long time social change activist with extensive experience as a campaigner, communications strategist, organizer, trainer and well known commentator on issues of movement building, narrative, and online organizing. She is one of the co-founders of smartMeme Strategy and Training project and the founding Chair of the Board.
Trina Jackson
Trina Jackson is a social justice activist and organizer based in Boston. She has facilitated numerous trainings and workshops on racial justice, anti-oppression organizing, and reproductive justice for women of color. She works as an organizational development consultant to social justice nonprofits. Previously, she served as an advisory board member of the Mass CEDAW Project, a founding member of Boston Incite! Women of Color Against Violence, Boston Women of Color Coalition for Reproductive Justice, and the Board Chair at Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), which works to achieve environmental justice for low income communities of color. Trina is interested in African American women's relationship with the natural environment. She lives in Jamaica Plain, enjoys nature photography, yoga, and talking daily walks around Jamaica Pond in her neighborhood.
Sujin Lee
sujin helps groups and individuals build impact through strong relationships, clear communication, and vibrant leadership. Through her coaching and consulting, sujin helps social justice organizations and alliances reach clarity on their strategic priorities while building collective power & using collaborative decision-making to support their goals. sujin uses team coaching to help groups build trust, increase their effectiveness, realize their collective vision for change, and cultivate shared leadership. In leadership coaching, she uses her strong intuition and non-judgemental approach to help individuals connect to their values, passion, and creativity.
sujin has experience working with service, organizing, and policy advocacy organizations in various fields, including education, environmental justice, economic justice, domestic violence, reproductive health and justice, LGBTQ organizing, gender justice, youth organizing, and civic engagement. For the past 15 years, sujin has worked for social justice and healthy communities as an organizer, facilitator and program director in Los Angeles, Oakland, and internationally. As a former Community Fellow at Tides Foundation, she coordinated economic & reproductive justice funding initiatives. She is currently a Board member of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) and SmartMeme Strategy and Training project.
Brooke Lehman *
Brooke has been active as an educator and organizer in NYC since the mid 80s. She was a founding member of the Direct Action Network and of Bluestockings Bookstore . Brooke currently serves as a faculty member of the Institute for Social Ecology, as a board member for smartMeme, and as the Director of Operations for the Yansa Foundation, an organization focused on energy justice. Brooke leads workshops on meditation and social change, and works as an organizational transformation consultant, helping groups to design and sustain healthy democratic processes.
Yvonnne Yen Liu*
Yvonne Yen Liu is a senior researcher at the Applied Research Center, a racial justice think and action tank, which publishes Colorlines.com. In addition to contributing regularly to Colorlines.com, Yvonne has been published in Yes! Magazine, In These Times, and Alternet. She serves on the advisory committee for the Food Chain Workers Alliance and is involved with a chapter of Bring the Ruckus. Yvonne has a BA in cultural anthropology from Columbia University and a MA degree in sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center, where she pursued a PhD. Yvonne considers herself part of the post-Seattle generation, global justice activists both influenced and critical of the anti-WTO mobilizations. She cofounded NYC Summer, a youth of color organizing school, and served on the boards of WBAI 99.5 FM and Seven Stories Institute. A native New Yorker, Yvonne is now based out of Oakland,California and her family lives in Shanghai, China.
Joseph Phelan
Joseph Phelan has been active in left movement work for the last decade. Originally from New York, he cut his teeth in the global justice movement as an activist and agitator, and was grounded in organizing in the CUNY student movement, and now builds the capacity of grassroots leaders to tell their own stories to the world as the Communications Coordinator for the Miami Workers Center. As an artist and published writer he has pieces appearing in ZNet, RaceWire, ColorLines, Left Turn, and People's Tribune. Joseph is also an editor for www.organizingupgrade.com, a new online forum for progressive and left organizers to explore and understand these changing times. And he wants to win.
Amaad Rivera
Amaad Rivera has committed his career to addressing structural inequality. Most recently he was the Director of United for a Fair Economy’s Racial Wealth Divide Program. Amaad was the lead author of "State of the Dream 2009: The Silent Depression," and "State of the Dream 2008: Foreclosed". His articles and publications have been featured in major media outlets such as the Washington Post, Black Agenda Report, Huffington Post, National Public Radio, Democracy Now, Too Much, BET.com, numerous local radio stations, CSPAN and Boston Neighborhood Network News. From founding the KidsVote Initiative in Holyoke, MA to participating in a delegation to Puerto Rico of academics and community leaders in exploring contemporary and historical barriers to economic mobility of Puerto Ricans in Holyoke, Amaad has been deeply involved in the community. Before coming to United for a Fair Economy, Amaad served as AmeriCorps Program Officer for the Massachusetts Service Alliance, co-managing a portfolio of organizations dedicated to addressing issues of poverty, health care disparities, environmental disasters, education inequity, civic engagement, volunteerism and youth development. Amaad has served on numerous boards and community initiatives including the Racial Imbalance committee advising the Department of Education and the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Educators Network (GLSEN). Amaad currently sits on the board of Community Change Inc., based in Boston, Massachusetts. Amaad attended Bentley University, where he received his Bachelor's degree in Marketing with minors in Psychology and Information Technology. He received his Master's Degree in Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Anasa Troutman
As an artist, producer, cultural strategist and philanthropist, Anasa Troutman operates at the powerful nexus of creativity, spirituality & strategic thinking for the alignment of love and the human condition. Currently a Senior Fellow at the Movement Strategy Center in Oakland, California, Anasa is in partnership with several artists and national arts and organizing institutions developing a body of work designed to explore and engage the intersections of art + culture + transformation. Based in Atlanta, Ga., Anasa began her career as a producer working with artists like India.Arie, Jiva and Donnie who were learning to use their music to make the world a more fair, just and loving place. Anasa has spent the years since, working with artists and organizations honing and expanding her craft to intensify the strategic impact of creative practice on social and political realities. Anasa’s work has been vast and varied, working locally, regionally, nationally and internationally with artists as well as organizations like; The National Hip Hop Political Convention, Institute for Policy Studies, Dennis Kucinich for President, The Young People’s Project, Progressive Majority, The Campaign for America’s Future and the historic Highlander Center. In addition to her current work at the Movement Strategy Center, Anasa also engaged in her own creative practice with her production company, Phoenix Butterfly, developing a collection of songs entitled, “bounty” and a series of multi media installations entitled “art is change.”
Diana Pei Wu *
Diana Pei Wu has worked as a researcher, organizer, activist, media maker, communications and popular educator on housing, gentrification, immigrant rights, youth organizing, environmental justice and climate justice locally and nationally sporadically since 1989, and deeply since 2002. Diana also holds a PhD in Society and Environment from the University of California, Berkeley, is fluent in Spanish and English, and also speaks Mandarin Chinese, French and Portuguese. Her current day job is Assistant Professor, Urban Communities and Environment, at Antioch University Los Angeles.