Team Members
Simran Noor (she/her) is an interdependent consultant and coach specializing in strategy, organizational development, and movement building. Her work centers on achieving values alignment, particularly around racial and social justice. Simran has over fifteen years of experience working directly with impacted communities, leading organizational change, developing policy and strategy, and working within the philanthropic sector. As a survivor, Simran comes to the work with a deep commitment to healing and transformation informed by her study and practice of embodied leadership.
Simran holds a dual bachelor’s degree in American Studies and Political Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a dual master’s degree in Public Administration and Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania. She currently serves as a board member for Building Movement Project and Borealis Philanthropy and is a proud member of Universal Partnership’s Warriors for Embodied Liberation. In her spare time, she loves to read, create music, travel, and spend time with family.Based in Philadelphia, PA, Simran was born into a Punjabi Sikh, Hindu, and Parsi family in New Delhi and raised outside Baltimore, MD.
Wanda Salaman, Mothers on the Move, Bronx, NY
Wanda is an Afro-Boricua powerhouse for the grassroots of the South Bronx. Determined to build
people power into economic power for black and brown women, Wanda is on the cutting edge of the social equity reparations cannabis initiative in New York State. Rooted in decades of organizing low-income tenants, marginalized youth and immigrant women, Wanda aims to build worker-owned cooperative businesses that keep wealth in the community.
Wanda has been Executive Director of MOM since 2002, developing leadership among people of color at the intersection of education, environment, housing and economic justice.
Wanda’s vision for empowering Bronx residents was born at the age of ten when she arrived to the South Bronx from Carolina, Puerto Rico in 1975. The Bronx was “burning” as building owners set their run-down buildings on fire for insurance, leaving tenant families out in the cold, devastated by demolition and abandonment. Wanda organized the girls on her block to clean up and reclaim an abandoned lot and form a baseball diamond and the first girls’ baseball team in the neighborhood.
She is the recipient of the Diario La Prensa Latina of the Year Award, 2000; A City Council Proclamation of Recognition 2001; and the Uptown Girl Power Majora Carter Award in 2009 and the Comité Noviembre “Lo Mejor de Nuestra Comunidad” Award in 2020.
Rusia N. Mohiuddin, based in New York, is a master trainer, facilitator, coach, and strategist who pioneered the integration of somatics into an organizing framework. Her current mission, through Universal Partnership, has been developing a holistic model for social justice change work that places in its center the necessary transformation of social change agents. Rusia brings a unique style to creating pathways for individuals to bring their best selves forward when enacting social change in their organizations & communities.
Rusia is authoring several books, one based on over 2 decades of organizing, that introduces a new model for social change in the 21st century. Drawing from experiences as a master trainer and facilitator, an executive director, and a frontline organizer, Rusia has piloted this new community organizing model, Embodied Organizing™, for the past four years and officially launched the program in 2018 with five organizations. To date, 400 organizers from over 47
organizations, across 25 states have been training to be Embodied Organizers.
Rusia has also developed a model for coaching social change agents, called Embodied Coaching™, that is based on her developed model of embodied leadership.
Over the last 25 years, Rusia has primarily worked in non-profit, community-based organizations and foundations across the U.S. Her organizing career started with 9 years as a street-level community organizer, & grew to leading organizations, notably helping to establish Families United for Racial & Economic Equality, co-founding the national intermediary, Social Justice Leadership, and as the Founder of Ma Mukti. More recently, Rusia is currently the founder and principal of UP and the CO-Director of Ma Mukti. Through this experience & her many years as a trainer, coach & consultant, Rusia
brings a well-grounded expertise of basic to advanced organizing training as well as
organizational & leadership development.
Maria is the Co-Director of Ma Mukti, a progressive non profit organization created to honor and uphold the memory and continue the great work of her beloved mother. Additionally, Maria is a freelance artist working predominantly in wax works.
From 2000 to 2016, she was employed with the NYC Administration for Children’s Services. Maria also taught Pre-Kindergarten and volunteered as an art teacher with the Mary Mitchell & Family Center.
Rose DeStefano is an independent consultant and community organizer focused on racial equity, economic mobility, and transformative healing for 20+ years. For the last decade, Rose has led efforts to address long-standing structural racism and historic disinvestment in the Bronx, driving collective impact efforts, developing strategy and policy, and mobilizing community towards joy, self-determination, and possibility. Rose currently provides strategic consulting support for the Bronx Community Foundation. In her previous role, she was the Senior Director of Collective Impact at Children's Aid, building infrastructure for cross-sector systems change in the South Bronx. Additionally, she was the first co-chair of Children’s Aid’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Council and was involved in various inclusion efforts within the organization. Prior to her time at Children's Aid, Rose worked as the Director of Business Initiatives and Job Quality at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development where she oversaw the Best for NYC campaign. Best for NYC is a partnership between B Lab, the non-profit certifying B Corporations, and the NYC Economic Development Corporation to advance the social business movement with government agencies, community-based organizations, nonprofits, for-profit businesses, and investors. Rose is a fellow of the Sterling Network, a network of systems leaders who are working together to enhance economic mobility across NYC. She received her GreenMBA from Dominican University in California in 2015. A social worker at heart, Rose worked for 10 years supporting nonprofits focused on supporting children and families in India, Bolivia and California. She also teaches Kundalini and Hatha yoga.
For the past 20 years, she has worked with a diverse group of global and local stakeholders to challenge the policies that limit communities, especially Black and Brown women, girls, and femmes, from reaching their full potential. Her perspectives are rooted in an experience that includes being a law student in her native Dominican Republic, an immigrant grassroots Bronx organizer and pioneering co-founder of Sisterhood of Survivors, a Florida-based group led by survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, Executive Director at the Miami Workers Center, a workers rights community-based organization. Through it all, Olivo remains committed to bringing a gender lens to social and economic justice and unapologetically centering solutions on the leadership of black and brown femmes.
For the past 20 years, she has worked with a diverse group of global and local stakeholders to challenge the policies that limit communities, especially Black and Brown women, girls, and femmes, from reaching their full potential. Her perspectives are rooted in an experience that includes being a law student in her native Dominican Republic, an immigrant grassroots Bronx organizer and pioneering co-founder of Sisterhood of Survivors, a Florida-based group led by survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, Executive Director at the Miami Workers Center, a workers rights community-based organization. Through it all, Olivo remains committed to bringing a gender lens to social and economic justice and unapologetically centering solutions on the leadership of black and brown femmes.
Cristina Jiménez Moreta is an award-winning community organizer, political strategist, and a leading voice in movements for social justice. She is Co-Founder and former Executive Director of United We Dream (UWD), the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country. She and her family came to the U.S from Ecuador seeking a better life in 1998, growing up undocumented in Queens, New York. She is currently a Distinguished Lecturer with the City College of New York’s Colin Powell School a co-instructor with Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice (LDSJ).
Under Cristina’s leadership, UWD grew into a powerful network of one million members that shifted the politics and narrative about immigrants and immigration, ultimately delivering policy changes at the local and national levels. Cristina was instrumental in United We Dream’s successful campaign for President Obama to sign Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) into law.
In recognition of her work as a community organizer and movement strategist, Cristina received a 2017 MacArthur Fellowship, the Four Freedoms Award, and a spot on the 2018 TIME 100 Most Influential People List. Cristina has appeared in hundreds of national and local media outlets including USA Today, CNN, MSNBC, HBO, The New York Times, the LA Times, ABC, NPR, The Huffington Post, Univision, Telemundo, and La Opinion. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, CNN, USA Today, Huffington Post, and El Diario. She currently serves on the board of the Hazen Foundation, Rockwood, Equis Labs, Make the Road New York Action, and the Dream.US.
cjimenez28@gmail.com
marcia99@gmail.com
As I was growing up, two things played a very important role in my life- people and creativity.
Born in a political family, people were an everyday part of my life. From sunrise to midnight, our house was filled with people waiting to meet my father to resolve issues of their life. At a very early stage of my life, my father instilled in me an influence to help people in any way I can, even if it was just giving away a favorite toy or sharing chocolates. “Always put people above your own interest” my father would tell me. Putting a smile on someone’s face was like an eternal feeling that gave a sense of great satisfaction to my father which he passed onto his children.
As a child, beautiful creations always inspired me. I was privileged to grow up in a landmark mansion, all the intricate details of the house left a lasting impression on me. Entering the house was sequential, first a dark room then a lighted room, then a low ceiling, and then finally high ceilings then moments of light coming in passing through the wide verandas wrapped around the house. Such alternation of spaces used to mesmerize me. My favorite game was to follow the rays of sunlight filtering through the high clerestory windows of our house as if it was playing hide and seek through the colored stained glass windows creating a kaleidoscopic pattern on the floor. I used to dance along with the shifting rays of the sun, choreographing the experience.
Ssimple things like doing a drawing or organizing a space in my home or even cooking a meal for someone used to give me lots of pleasure and soon I realized my passion for creativity and serving people. Inspired by such rich memories from childhood defined my passion to create meaningful spaces that make a difference in people’s lives.
Even though the journey to become an Architectural Designer was not an easy path but at the end of the day the profession gives a great sense of satisfaction to see the fruit of our labor and the smile on our client’s face, makes it all worthwhile.
I am Maliha. The profound insights imparted by my esteemed aunt have served as a wellspring of inspiration, propelling me to channel my utmost endeavors towards the pursuit of justice, equality, and empowerment. Through the establishment of this foundation, I aim to pay homage to the enduring legacy of Monsura Mukti Mohiuddin. With a shared aspiration, I eagerly anticipate the collaboration of exceptional souls, uniting our collective brilliance to effect positive change in our world, even if it be incremental.
Through this foundation, I eagerly anticipate acquiring the knowledge to spark and empower leadership among women of color, leading them towards a shared and tangible sense of liberation.
Through this foundation, I eagerly anticipate acquiring the knowledge to spark and empower leadership among women of color, leading them towards a shared and tangible sense of liberation.
maliha.86321@gmail.com
I love helping the community.
zaida@northwestbronx.org
kycnit@gmail.com
Ambitious leader with experience administering and enhancing operations for multiple retail-stores throughout the North East. Talented marketer, team builder and strategic leader with excellent relationship-building and problem-solving abilities. Solid history of success in Business Operations, Business Management, Business Revenue, and Business Development.
angel6g@gmail.com
I am a compassionate and dedicated physician with specialized training in family medicine. Presently, I thrive in an internal medicine practice with a focus on geriatric care and telehealth. As a devoted mother, I deeply value the importance of family and also bring that nurturing spirit to my medical practice. Witnessing the disparities in healthcare access on a daily basis, I am driven by an unwavering determination to champion equity in medical care and make a positive impact on my patients' lives.
stephbhess@gmail.com
Nasimul Ghani, a distinguished physician and board member of Ma Mukti, carries forward a legacy rooted in compassion and empowerment. Inspired by his eldest sister, the revered Monsura Mukti Mohiuddin, Nasimul holds dear the principles of charity and women's empowerment. His profound commitment to these ideals aligns seamlessly with Ma Mukti's mission to ignite the leadership of women of color, guiding them towards a collective embodiment of liberation.
mithuf@yahoo.com
Rusia N. Mohiuddin, based in New York, is a master trainer, facilitator, coach, and strategist who pioneered the integration of somatics into an organizing framework. Her current mission, through Universal Partnership, has been developing a holistic model for social justice change work that places in its center the necessary transformation of social change agents. Rusia brings a unique style to creating pathways for individuals to bring their best selves forward when enacting social change in their organizations & communities.
Rusia is authoring several books, one based on over 2 decades of organizing, that introduces a new model for social change in the 21st century. Drawing from experiences as a master trainer and facilitator, an executive director, and a frontline organizer, Rusia has piloted this new community organizing model, Embodied Organizing™, for the past four years and officially launched the program in 2018 with five organizations. To date, 400 organizers from over 47
organizations, across 25 states have been training to be Embodied Organizers.
Rusia has also developed a model for coaching social change agents, called Embodied Coaching™, that is based on her developed model of embodied leadership.
Over the last 25 years, Rusia has primarily worked in non-profit, community-based organizations and foundations across the U.S. Her organizing career started with 9 years as a street-level community organizer, & grew to leading organizations, notably helping to establish Families United for Racial & Economic Equality, co-founding the national intermediary, Social Justice Leadership, and as the Founder of Ma Mukti. More recently, Rusia is currently the founder and principal of UP and the CO-Director of Ma Mukti. Through this experience & her many years as a trainer, coach & consultant, Rusia
brings a well-grounded expertise of basic to advanced organizing training as well as
organizational & leadership development.
Maria is the Co-Director of Ma Mukti, a progressive non profit organization created to honor and uphold the memory and continue the great work of her beloved mother. Additionally, Maria is a freelance artist working predominantly in wax works.
From 2000 to 2016, she was employed with the NYC Administration for Children’s Services. Maria also taught Pre-Kindergarten and volunteered as an art teacher with the Mary Mitchell & Family Center.
maria@mamukti.org
Mili Bonilla is a veteran of the community organizing movement. She was a founding committee member and Lead Organizer of South Bronx People for Change- organizing faith communities to build a power base for social change during the devastating years of the burning of the South Bronx. She was also the co-founder of Mothers on the Move (MOM), a multi-issue social justice organization. After MOM, she went on to organize a movement to end inequities in NYC’s public school system with the Coalition for Educational Justice. She continues her political activism in actions for self-determination for Puerto Rico and justice for marginalized communities.
meelee2@yahoo.com
Chhaya Chhoum co-founded Mekong NYC in the Bronx, seeking to empower Southeast Asians through arts & culture, community organizing, and advocacy. Its work in the Bronx honors the history of the Bronx and all its people. As one of the earliest anti-deportation activists, Chhaya’s award-winning, strategic, and innovative leadership has been critical to the movement by laying the foundation for stopping numerous deportations of Cambodian refugees and ushering in the Right to Return campaign. Her achievements were recognized by the Ford Foundation and the Petra Foundation. Her work was featured in the documentary “Eating Welfare” and in the NBC Asian American “Deported” series. She is currently the executive director of Mekong NYC and serves on the board of National CAPACD.
chhaya@seafn.org
Noel is an immigrant from the Global South making home in the Deep South. Noel’s work is in the areas of policy, practice, governance, resource generation and critical production of knowledge and culture. Noel is the co-steward of the Deep South Solidarity Fund, a 5 year giving experiment that focuses on funding BIPOC individuals, institutions and infrastructure in Louisiana, Mississippi Georgia & Alabama.
Laura Jiménez has served as the Executive Director at CLRJ since 2011 and brings to this work the passion and commitment of close to 30-years of activism in the Reproductive Justice movement. She was raised in Santa Barbara, California, and since then, has made her way across the country and back. Along the way, she worked with the National Latina Health Organization in Oakland, California where she led a girls mentorship program and initiated a collaboration between the organization and UC Berkeley to offer a class entitled, “Redefining Latina Health: Body, Mind and Spirit”, as well as the serving as the Development Officer with the Dominican Women’s Development Center in Washington Heights, New York. Laura was a part of the birth and growth of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective from 1998 to 2011, becoming the Deputy Coordinator in 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia. During her time with SisterSong, she co-coordinated two national conferences and established the Latina Encuentro – a gathering of Latina leaders in the Southeastern Region which had as a goal relationship building and leadership development of Latinas across the South. The birth of her two daughters brought home the issue of reproductive justice, encouraged her interest in the area of birthing work, and recommitted her to the healing of women of color. Laura is an innate healer, mother, seer. She is a daughter of the ocean and a holder of hands and hearts.
Julissa Bisono, Co-Director of Organizing at Make the Road New York (MRNY), has more than 20 years of experience organizing immigrant and working-class communities. As Co-Director of Organizing, Ms. Bisono currently oversees MRNY’s Workplace Justice Project, Education Justice Project, and the TGNICQ Justice Project. She began her trajectory at MRNY by supporting community members searching for adult educational opportunities and often supported their kids as a social justice mentor and tutor. In subsequent roles, she helped register and activate thousands of first-generation immigrant voters in Queens and built a broad low-wage worker base committed to protecting workers’ rights. Bisono has also provided organizing and technical support to BASTA! and Padres en Accion–MRNY’s grassroots housing rights and education rights committees that focus on protecting people’s homes and creating equitable schools. Ms. Bisono also served as Co-Associate Director of the Organizing Department, supporting education justice, voter registration, and data and base-building work. Bisono is a graduate of Activate! A Community Organizing Fellowship and the recipient of the 2008 Mario Savio Activist Award. She has been serving in the Flushing Meadows Park Alliance Board since 2018. Bisono is very proud to have spent half her life working in Queens, the community and borough she calls home.
julissa.bisono@maketheroadny.org
Cristina Jiménez Moreta is an award-winning community organizer, political strategist, and a leading voice in movements for social justice. She is Co-Founder and former Executive Director of United We Dream (UWD), the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the country. She and her family came to the U.S from Ecuador seeking a better life in 1998, growing up undocumented in Queens, New York. She is currently a Distinguished Lecturer with the City College of New York’s Colin Powell School a co-instructor with Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice (LDSJ).
Under Cristina’s leadership, UWD grew into a powerful network of one million members that shifted the politics and narrative about immigrants and immigration, ultimately delivering policy changes at the local and national levels. Cristina was instrumental in United We Dream’s successful campaign for President Obama to sign Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) into law.
In recognition of her work as a community organizer and movement strategist, Cristina received a 2017 MacArthur Fellowship, the Four Freedoms Award, and a spot on the 2018 TIME 100 Most Influential People List. Cristina has appeared in hundreds of national and local media outlets including USA Today, CNN, MSNBC, HBO, The New York Times, the LA Times, ABC, NPR, The Huffington Post, Univision, Telemundo, and La Opinion. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, CNN, USA Today, Huffington Post, and El Diario. She currently serves on the board of the Hazen Foundation, Rockwood, Equis Labs, Make the Road New York Action, and the Dream.US.
cjimenez28@gmail.com
Lucia Gómez is the Political Director of the NYC Central Labor Council – AFL-CIO. Prior to joining the NYC CLC, Lucia was the Director of Organizing and Strategic Partnerships for LiUNA Local 78. In different capacities, her life’s work has been around empowering Latinos, immigrants and their communities to take action through grassroots organizing, leadership development and civic engagement. Lucia has held high responsibility positions in government and non-government sectors. She has extensive knowledge of voting and enfranchisement laws, as well as extensive experience in election administration, geographic information systems, Census operations and community organizing. Ms. Gómez has a BA from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and studied anthropology at the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, México. Lucia is a graduate of the Cornell University/NYS AFL-CIO Union Leadership Institute, the Hispanic Federation/Baruch College – Leadership Institute, the Coro Immigrant Civic Leadership Program, a past Policy Fellow of the National Institute for Latino Policy, Board member for the NYS Immigrant Action Fund, Make the Road Action and the Vice-President of Latinas United for Political Empowerment Political Action Committee (LUPE PAC). She currently resides with her daughter, Victoria Jimenez Gomez, where she works daily towards developing and modeling the values of community empowerment, respect for diversity and strategic trouble making.
A true Organizer Organizer!! Community organizer that has been blessed to move across union organizing to grassroots organizing around social issues especially those that effect marganilized communities. Mo has also done work ranging from organizing, development, program development, events production, volunteer coordination and enjoyed it all. Mo goals are to continue to change the world by assisting people to help find their voice!!
Specialties: Community organizing and Volunteer training, Development, Program development and event planning.
mogeorgew4@gmail.com
Rose DeStefano is an independent consultant and community organizer focused on racial equity, economic mobility, and transformative healing for 20+ years. For the last decade, Rose has led efforts to address long-standing structural racism and historic disinvestment in the Bronx, driving collective impact efforts, developing strategy and policy, and mobilizing community towards joy, self-determination, and possibility. Rose currently provides strategic consulting support for the Bronx Community Foundation. In her previous role, she was the Senior Director of Collective Impact at Children's Aid, building infrastructure for cross-sector systems change in the South Bronx. Additionally, she was the first co-chair of Children’s Aid’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Council and was involved in various inclusion efforts within the organization. Prior to her time at Children's Aid, Rose worked as the Director of Business Initiatives and Job Quality at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development where she oversaw the Best for NYC campaign. Best for NYC is a partnership between B Lab, the non-profit certifying B Corporations, and the NYC Economic Development Corporation to advance the social business movement with government agencies, community-based organizations, nonprofits, for-profit businesses, and investors. Rose is a fellow of the Sterling Network, a network of systems leaders who are working together to enhance economic mobility across NYC. She received her GreenMBA from Dominican University in California in 2015. A social worker at heart, Rose worked for 10 years supporting nonprofits focused on supporting children and families in India, Bolivia and California. She also teaches Kundalini and Hatha yoga.
Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Programs, CUNY Law (Cohort 1)
Dean Carmen Huertas-Noble is a seasoned academic leader, CED practitioner and legal scholar with a distinguished career in the field of clinical legal education. Her extensive experience spans several key roles at CUNY School of Law, where she has demonstrated exceptional leadership and expertise in clinical programs, community economic development (CED) and social justice lawyering. She is an Anti-Racist, Anti-Capitalist who is justice centered with an unwavering commitment to humanity.
Dean Carmen Huertas-Noble is a seasoned academic leader, CED practitioner and legal scholar with a distinguished career in the field of clinical legal education. Her extensive experience spans several key roles at CUNY School of Law, where she has demonstrated exceptional leadership and expertise in clinical programs, community economic development (CED) and social justice lawyering. She is an Anti-Racist, Anti-Capitalist who is justice centered with an unwavering commitment to humanity.
A community organizer, wellness activist and author of the book American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal, Kerri is recognized across communities for her work to bridge transformational practice with social justice. She’s been teaching yoga for over 20 years and is known for making waves in the wellness industry by challenging norms, disrupting systems and mobilizing people to act. Her leadership has inspired CTZNWELL, a movement to democratize wellbeing for all and is committed to creating the conditions where everyone can thrive.
In her over twenty-year career as an educator and leader in higher education, Monika L Son, PhD, has found that contemplative-based somatic skills and practices are what seed and ground sustainable transformative change. This work, she believes, is about sifting through, uncovering, revealing and reclaiming more of what is already there. Part of our reclamation is also to accompany our grief, anger and helplessness. To be whole is to also befriend these strong emotions; to reclaim vulnerability as a strength. Monika’s training as student of Zen Buddhism and Buddhist chaplaincy have greatly informed her work as an educator, Embodied Leadership Coach, Facilitator and Movement Chaplain. For her, justice is about supporting those impacted by oppression, including those who lead our movements/change work, to practice alternative ways to be in relationship to power and to cultivate the spaciousness to respond from a place of personal power, presence, care, compassion and accountability.
(she/her) Andrea Colon is a first generation U.S citizen with roots in Guatemala and Puerto Rico. She attends Baruch College and is majoring in Economics with a minor in Law & Policy. Andrea brings 5 years of community organizing experience, having worked with youth in Far Rockaway, NYC on different issues such as dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, criminal legal reform, and food sovereignty. As a womanist, she understands the intersectionality, both racial and gender, that exists in these oppressive systems. As the the Co-Executive Director of Sis & Non-Cis, Andrea is committed to healing, affirming and protecting young girls, women, and gender non-conforming youth of color who are mostly impacted by racism and cis-hetero normative ableist patriarchy.
Staci has been experimenting at the intersections of personal and social transformation for the last 30 years through the work of somatics, trauma healing, embodied leadership, and transformative justice. She is the author of "The Politics of Trauma: Somatics, Healing and Social Justice" (North Atlantic Books 2019), which has been translated into German, and "Healing Sex: A Mind Body Approach to Healing Sexual Trauma" (Cleis 1999, 2007), which has been translated into German, Japanese and Spanish.
Staci is an innovator in the field of Somatics, focusing on how it can bring transformative capacity to social and climate justice movements and help heal the impacts of trauma and oppression. She runs online and in-person programs and teacher trainings, and partners with social and climate justice organizations. She co-founded generative somatics, a multiracial organization dedicated to building social justice capacity. She serves as a senior teacher at the Strozzi Institute and plays a central role in shaping its methodology. In 1999, Staci founded generationFIVE, a transformative justice non-profit committed to ending child sexual abuse within five generations.
Staci is an innovator in the field of Somatics, focusing on how it can bring transformative capacity to social and climate justice movements and help heal the impacts of trauma and oppression. She runs online and in-person programs and teacher trainings, and partners with social and climate justice organizations. She co-founded generative somatics, a multiracial organization dedicated to building social justice capacity. She serves as a senior teacher at the Strozzi Institute and plays a central role in shaping its methodology. In 1999, Staci founded generationFIVE, a transformative justice non-profit committed to ending child sexual abuse within five generations.
I am Maliha. The profound insights imparted by my esteemed aunt have served as a wellspring of inspiration, propelling me to channel my utmost endeavors towards the pursuit of justice, equality, and empowerment. Through the establishment of this foundation, I aim to pay homage to the enduring legacy of Monsura Mukti Mohiuddin. With a shared aspiration, I eagerly anticipate the collaboration of exceptional souls, uniting our collective brilliance to effect positive change in our world, even if it be incremental.
Through this work, I eagerly anticipate acquiring the knowledge to spark and empower leadership among women of color, leading them towards a shared and tangible sense of liberation.
Through this work, I eagerly anticipate acquiring the knowledge to spark and empower leadership among women of color, leading them towards a shared and tangible sense of liberation.
coming soon.
Wanda Salaman, Mothers on the Move, Bronx, NY
Wanda is an Afro-Boricua powerhouse for the grassroots of the South Bronx. Determined to build
people power into economic power for black and brown women, Wanda is on the cutting edge of the social equity reparations cannabis initiative in New York State. Rooted in decades of organizing low-income tenants, marginalized youth and immigrant women, Wanda aims to build worker-owned cooperative businesses that keep wealth in the community.
Wanda has been Executive Director of MOM since 2002, developing leadership among people of color at the intersection of education, environment, housing and economic justice.
Wanda’s vision for empowering Bronx residents was born at the age of ten when she arrived to the South Bronx from Carolina, Puerto Rico in 1975. The Bronx was “burning” as building owners set their run-down buildings on fire for insurance, leaving tenant families out in the cold, devastated by demolition and abandonment. Wanda organized the girls on her block to clean up and reclaim an abandoned lot and form a baseball diamond and the first girls’ baseball team in the neighborhood.
She is the recipient of the Diario La Prensa Latina of the Year Award, 2000; A City Council Proclamation of Recognition 2001; and the Uptown Girl Power Majora Carter Award in 2009 and the Comité Noviembre “Lo Mejor de Nuestra Comunidad” Award in 2020.
Wanda is an Afro-Boricua powerhouse for the grassroots of the South Bronx. Determined to build
people power into economic power for black and brown women, Wanda is on the cutting edge of the social equity reparations cannabis initiative in New York State. Rooted in decades of organizing low-income tenants, marginalized youth and immigrant women, Wanda aims to build worker-owned cooperative businesses that keep wealth in the community.
Wanda has been Executive Director of MOM since 2002, developing leadership among people of color at the intersection of education, environment, housing and economic justice.
Wanda’s vision for empowering Bronx residents was born at the age of ten when she arrived to the South Bronx from Carolina, Puerto Rico in 1975. The Bronx was “burning” as building owners set their run-down buildings on fire for insurance, leaving tenant families out in the cold, devastated by demolition and abandonment. Wanda organized the girls on her block to clean up and reclaim an abandoned lot and form a baseball diamond and the first girls’ baseball team in the neighborhood.
She is the recipient of the Diario La Prensa Latina of the Year Award, 2000; A City Council Proclamation of Recognition 2001; and the Uptown Girl Power Majora Carter Award in 2009 and the Comité Noviembre “Lo Mejor de Nuestra Comunidad” Award in 2020.
Simran Noor (she/her) is an interdependent consultant and coach specializing in strategy, organizational development, and movement building. Her work centers on achieving values alignment, particularly around racial and social justice. Simran has over fifteen years of experience working directly with impacted communities, leading organizational change, developing policy and strategy, and working within the philanthropic sector. As a survivor, Simran comes to the work with a deep commitment to healing and transformation informed by her study and practice of embodied leadership.
Simran holds a dual bachelor’s degree in American Studies and Political Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a dual master’s degree in Public Administration and Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania. She currently serves as a board member for Building Movement Project and Borealis Philanthropy and is a proud member of Universal Partnership’s Warriors for Embodied Liberation. In her spare time, she loves to read, create music, travel, and spend time with family.Based in Philadelphia, PA, Simran was born into a Punjabi Sikh, Hindu, and Parsi family in New Delhi and raised outside Baltimore, MD.
Simran holds a dual bachelor’s degree in American Studies and Political Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and a dual master’s degree in Public Administration and Social Policy from the University of Pennsylvania. She currently serves as a board member for Building Movement Project and Borealis Philanthropy and is a proud member of Universal Partnership’s Warriors for Embodied Liberation. In her spare time, she loves to read, create music, travel, and spend time with family.Based in Philadelphia, PA, Simran was born into a Punjabi Sikh, Hindu, and Parsi family in New Delhi and raised outside Baltimore, MD.
As a young black womyn growing up in a quickly gentrifying community, experiencing systemic and institutional oppression, like so many of my peers, I found myself drowning. I was lucky enough to find a home in the Youth Power Project (YPP) of MRNY where I was able to begin my re-education and reintegration into my community that I had been living in, but also felt hidden from. YPP was and still remains my family where I learned key principles and values essential to any leader – trust, compassion, honesty, accountability, self-love and sustainability. All exactly in that order.
As a member of MRNY, I found myself working collaboratively with my peers and organizers to coordinate local, citywide, and national youth organizing events through the Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC) and the Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ). A few years later, I had the amazing opportunity to become part of the YPP team as an organizer on staff. MRNY at the time was the coordinating anchor organization of AEJ. I took on the role of event planning and logistics for AEJ national convenings at 19 years old. MRNY saw leadership and skills that I didn’t even realize were being cultivated in myself at the time. With each convening wanting to meet the needs of all the communities that I would be serving I was committed to making sure that each convening, meeting, training, action, youth networking event was better than the last and it was. This was one of the many moments during my organizing career where I remember feeling, seeing, and embracing joy from a job well done. While wearing my coordinating and logistics hat, I also still had to show up as an organizer and support the young people.
The extension of trust, compassion, honesty, and accountability that was given to me as a youth leader was critical to my successful experience as an organizer. I also realized the importance of cultivating self love and learning to be more sustainable if I was going to continue to want to serve my community for the long haul. I had the opportunity to further my professional development by participating in an 11 week intensive training: Leaders for Embodied Organizing (LEO), with Rusia Mohiuddin from Universal Partnership. LEO was the integration of somatics & organizing skills. It was exactly what I needed. I came back from the training ready, grounded, and understanding just exactly how I wanted to continue to work with young people from various socio economic and health backgrounds within in my community.
2017, I spent it assisting a new local organization in the South Bronx build out their youth program, bring on a permanent staff for the Youth Team, assist in their year long development plan, and assisted in the creation and facilitation of their first ever youth summer program where stipends were raised through a grassroots effort. Even as I have since transitioned out of my role the relationship with the leaders & staff brought on continue to live on.
During this time I was also a student-apprentice of Warrior’s for Embodied Liberation (WEL). WEL is an apprenticeship program developed and lead by Universal Partnership's principle, Rusia Mohiuddin. WEL is a 2-year training program in which the students learn and practice the core methodologies for embodied training and coaching. as a part of their studies, students explore, learn, and develop pieces on our understanding of many things related to change work. One of the first points of entry, into understand the work UP does, is human nature. what is human behavior and how does change happen? It has been and continues to be a privilege to share space with mentors & peers that seek to change the world with integrity, resilience, humor, & love at the center. It is the breath of fresh air & understanding that I have been seeking.
Organizing is a small world and I have had the honor to meet & share space with former Picture the Homeless members (PTH) during my leadership as young organizer. After taking a much needed break and through intentional reflection I felt ready to come back into the organizing movement and I feel lucky to have found another home with Picture the Homeless (PTH). There is already so much richness and authenticity! I am looking forward to sitting, listening, building & creating lasting impactful change with PTH members and staff.
As a member of MRNY, I found myself working collaboratively with my peers and organizers to coordinate local, citywide, and national youth organizing events through the Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC) and the Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ). A few years later, I had the amazing opportunity to become part of the YPP team as an organizer on staff. MRNY at the time was the coordinating anchor organization of AEJ. I took on the role of event planning and logistics for AEJ national convenings at 19 years old. MRNY saw leadership and skills that I didn’t even realize were being cultivated in myself at the time. With each convening wanting to meet the needs of all the communities that I would be serving I was committed to making sure that each convening, meeting, training, action, youth networking event was better than the last and it was. This was one of the many moments during my organizing career where I remember feeling, seeing, and embracing joy from a job well done. While wearing my coordinating and logistics hat, I also still had to show up as an organizer and support the young people.
The extension of trust, compassion, honesty, and accountability that was given to me as a youth leader was critical to my successful experience as an organizer. I also realized the importance of cultivating self love and learning to be more sustainable if I was going to continue to want to serve my community for the long haul. I had the opportunity to further my professional development by participating in an 11 week intensive training: Leaders for Embodied Organizing (LEO), with Rusia Mohiuddin from Universal Partnership. LEO was the integration of somatics & organizing skills. It was exactly what I needed. I came back from the training ready, grounded, and understanding just exactly how I wanted to continue to work with young people from various socio economic and health backgrounds within in my community.
2017, I spent it assisting a new local organization in the South Bronx build out their youth program, bring on a permanent staff for the Youth Team, assist in their year long development plan, and assisted in the creation and facilitation of their first ever youth summer program where stipends were raised through a grassroots effort. Even as I have since transitioned out of my role the relationship with the leaders & staff brought on continue to live on.
During this time I was also a student-apprentice of Warrior’s for Embodied Liberation (WEL). WEL is an apprenticeship program developed and lead by Universal Partnership's principle, Rusia Mohiuddin. WEL is a 2-year training program in which the students learn and practice the core methodologies for embodied training and coaching. as a part of their studies, students explore, learn, and develop pieces on our understanding of many things related to change work. One of the first points of entry, into understand the work UP does, is human nature. what is human behavior and how does change happen? It has been and continues to be a privilege to share space with mentors & peers that seek to change the world with integrity, resilience, humor, & love at the center. It is the breath of fresh air & understanding that I have been seeking.
Organizing is a small world and I have had the honor to meet & share space with former Picture the Homeless members (PTH) during my leadership as young organizer. After taking a much needed break and through intentional reflection I felt ready to come back into the organizing movement and I feel lucky to have found another home with Picture the Homeless (PTH). There is already so much richness and authenticity! I am looking forward to sitting, listening, building & creating lasting impactful change with PTH members and staff.
