Our Team

We join arm-in-arm dedicated to building a large, powerful, and loving network of women with incarcerated loved ones.

DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE: Nana Duffuor

SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW: Brittany Farr, Ph.D., Yale Law School, J.D Candidate, Connecticut

ESSIE FELLOWS

Taina Vargas-Edmond, Essie Fellow Lead – Oakland, CA

Cheryl Diston – Oakland, CA

Jessica Martinez-Escobar – Oakland, CA

Catalina Bautista-Palacios – Oakland, CA

Tanea Lunsford – Oakland, CA

Sakari Lyons – Suisun, CA

Natasha Terry-Robinson – Pittsburg, CA

Anita Wills – San Leandro, CA

Shamika Wilson – Redwood City, CA

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Makis Antzoulatos - Staff Attorney, Committee for Public Counsel Services (Boston, MA)

Gina Clayton - Founder & Executive Director, Essie Justice Group (Oakland, CA)

Jared Leiderman - Director of Finance and Operations, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (Menlo Park, CA)

Kirsten Levingston - Program Director, Racial Justice Program, Wellspring Advisory LLC (New York, NY)

Chantá Parker - Special Counsel for New Initiatives, Innocence Project (New York, NY)

Malika Saada Saar - Senior Counsel on Civil and Human Rights, Google (Washington, D.C.)

Karen Shain - Reentry Policy Planner, Reentry Division, San Francisco Adult Probation Department (San Francisco, CA)

Tejinder Singh - Partner, Goldstein and Russell, P.C. (Washington, D.C.)

Teresa Younger - President and CEO, Ms. Foundation for Women (Brooklyn, NY)

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Michelle Alexander, Esq. – Associate Professor of Law, Ohio State University

Lenore Anderson – Founder & Executive Director, Californians for Safety and Justice

Megan Comfort, PhD. – Senior Research Sociologist, RTI International

Nannette Delage – Project Manager, Juvenile Justice Advocate, Florida

Breanna DiGiammarino – Co-Head, Indiegogo Life

Soffiyah Elijah, Esq. – Executive Director, Correctional Association, New York

Meena Harris, Esq. – Attorney, Covington & Burling LLP, Washington, DC

Clothilde Hewlett, Esq. – Public Policy Attorney, Nossaman LLP

Elsa Johnson, PhD. - Clinical Psychologist, Women’s Therapy Center

Surina Khan – CEO, The Women’s Foundation of California

Marcia Levy, Esq. – Executive Director, Pro Bono Partnership, New York

Robert Rooks – Organizing Director, Californians for Safety and Justice

Lateefah Simon – Program Director, Rosenberg Foundation

Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. -- Director, Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Institute and Clinical Professor

Amanda Wallis – Senior Banker/Board Member, U. S. Trust

Anita Wills – Executive Director at Inter Council for Mother's of Murdered Children