Interfaith Civic Leadership Academy
Senior Fellows
Our senior fellows, from past ICLA cohorts, are an essential part of the multifaith network we are working to build. We are honored to work with them, and proud of their accomplishments.
2023 – 2024 Fellows:
Adama Bah is an immigrant rights advocate, and the founder of the Afrikana community center in Harlem, which helps connect asylum seekers with vital services. She has been at the forefront of NYC’s current migrant crisis, welcoming and supporting the newest New Yorkers at Port Authority. Adama came to the United States in 1990, at the age of two. She grew up in the States and attended public schools. Then, at the age of sixteen, her whole world changed. Law enforcement raided her apartment and handcuffed her, along with her father. She was detained and told she was “illegal.” Her father was deported. Adama was allowed to stay in the United States, but she was forced to drop out of school and support her family. Now Adama tells her own story in order to call attention to the plight of others like her.
Alveena Bakhshi is an American Sikh and a descendant of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith. She is also a Buddhist practitioner and an active member of Buddhist Global Relief. Since an early age, Alveena has advocated for underprivileged and at-risk youth, working with the Navjivni School of Special Education, Youth About Business, Greater Life Newark, and Dream for Kids DC, to name a few. Child Soldiers International published her poetical homage “Shot to Make Look Good,” in advocacy. With a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Alveena has a career in financial services and has mentored start-ups for the SIPA Dean’s Public Policy Challenge Grant. Throughout her life, Alveena has drawn inspiration from her family, which regardless of their circumstances has sought to serve others. She assisted Thapar University to form their first endowment to pay for STEM education, in honor of their founder and her grandfather. She is a proud mom to Ish-Gruheet, who also lives and works in New York City.
Reverend Dr. Charles Butler serves as Pastor of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Harlem, where he provides spiritual guidance, physical and emotional wellness workshops, and other programs for the community. He has also served as Vice President of Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, Inc. (HCCI) for over 20 years. At HCCI, he works for housing and economic justice by developing and facilitating workshops in homebuyer education, financial literacy, small business development, and other areas. Rev. Butler is also actively involved in community engagement and empowerment, for example by organizing and facilitating the annual “Community Day of Unity: Harlem Revive” – a social, emotional, physical, financial, and spiritual health revival. He hosts a local cable television program called “Illumination,” and has produced a short film entitled “Beneath the Radar,” exploring the high maternal morbidity rate among African American women in NYC. Rev. Butler is married to Carol Butler, and they have two sons Charles R. and Clement J. Butler.
John Choe is a founding member of the People of Color Worship and Reflection Group, and serves as Trustee of the New York Yearly Meeting in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). John helped establish the Flushing Interfaith Council, where he is currently Board President, to bring together the most religiously diverse community in the United States in mutual support and solidarity. As Executive Director of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce, John works to expand opportunities for immigrant entrepreneurs and advocates on behalf of our community. John previously served in the Office of the New York City Comptroller, the City Council, the Department of Finance, the Rent Guidelines Board, and the Corporation for Supportive Housing. John graduated with a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a Bachelors in History from the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Pandita Pratima Kushmani S. Doobay is an Indo-Guyanese musician and a human rights and social justice advocate, who was born and raised in Brooklyn. She was the resident Priestess and Community Liaison for Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus, and is the founder of Shridevi Arts, a community organizing platform and caravan temple. In 2018 she organized MataJi Chowki, a semi-annual forum of veneration dedicated to the nine forms of the Goddess through singing of bhajans (religious high-powered songs), messages of inclusion, empowerment, and community togetherness. The inaugural edition of MataJi Chowki was a historic convening in an Indo-Caribbean Hindu temple to focus on social justice issues, which included addressing gender-based violence and uplifting LGBTQ+ issues in the Caribbean diaspora. Pratima’s vision is to create spaces within our local communities for self-care, empowerment, community bonding, creative expression, and standing firmly in our power.
Minister Arelis M. Figueroa is a pastor, educator, substance abuse counselor, activist, and community organizer. Originally from the Dominican Republic, she has worked with marginalized communities in New York City for more than thirty years. She is the lead Pastor and Co-Founder of La Iglesia del Pueblo, a community founded in the tradition of Freedom Church of the Poor, with the support of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice. La Iglesia del Pueblo began meeting in 2020, and in 2022 entered into a partnership with the Presbyterian Church USA. Currently, La Iglesia is welcoming and ministering to new immigrants, supporting them in their daily struggle to build a better future for themselves and their families. Arelis is also a member and former Tri-Chair of the NY Coordinating Committee of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for A Moral Revival, a member of the Kairos Center Preachers and Teachers Bureau, a long-time member of Riverside Church, and member in discernment with the Metropolitan Association of The United Church of Christ. She holds an M.Div from Union Theological Seminary.
Minister Jon Giacobbe serves as a Clergy Liaison in his Roman Catholic parish in Lower Manhattan, which includes Old St. Patrick’s Basilica and Shrine Church of the Most Precious Blood. Deeply engaged in his community, Jon is a dedicated former member of his Community Board, and shows his commitment to public service by serving as an NYPD Community Partner appointed by the Chief of Police. He was recently honored with the title of Honorary Battalion Chief by the FDNY commissioner in recognition of his contributions. Additionally, Jon is the President of the Mulberry Street Block Association. Jon’s involvement also extends to the nonprofit sector, as he holds board positions at Fencing in the Schools and Grit and Grind. In his professional life, Jon serves as an Administrative Staff Analyst / Project Manager in the Office of the Chief Operating Officer at the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). He is also a driven entrepreneur, and a finance professional with a six-year tenure at both Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Adam Graubart is a fourth-year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. He also serves as the Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Intern at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the world’s largest LGBTQ synagogue in Manhattan. In his current role, Adam serves congregants of diverse identities through pastoral counseling, conversion mentorship, service leadership, young professional engagement, and education about Jewish texts and contemporary topics. He believes that all people deserve to exist in dignity and peace as they uncover what it means to lead a fulfilling, contributive life and connect with others on parallel journeys. In particular, Adam is passionate about tenant rights and housing justice. He organizes with Crown Heights Tenant Union and Tirdof’s Bayit Campaign, standing in solidarity with fellow New Yorkers and advocating for city and state policy agendas amidst the affordable housing and homelessness crisis. Upon ordination as a Reform rabbi, he aims to bolster a congregation as a place of insight, a rejuvenating sanctuary, and an incubator for transformational change.
Gregori Lindsey is an avid believer in the ministry of empowerment. At the core of his belief lies an unyielding faith in G-D. Over the span of more than 40 years he has served in most church capacities, but his ultimate desire has grown beyond the four walls, towards advocating and demanding justice where there is injustice and offering support to the disenfranchised. For example, in August 2023 he took four Senegalese migrants who were sleeping on the ground at the Roosevelt Hotel into his small studio apartment, and created a “bible” of sorts with references and resources to link them to municipal benefits and local African communities. It was a true leap of faith – without a plan – but such community service empowers the recipients to build, rebuild, and in some cases rebuild again. In his professional life, Gregory is a travel advisor in the corporate and entertainment sectors, working with HBO, Red Bull, BET, and others. In the ICLA, he hopes to marry the knowledge of policy procedure and application with “boots on the ground” advocacy towards the goal of changing lives and communities.
Reverend James Lynch is the former President and current Vice President of the Buddhist Council of New York, an umbrella organization representing the diverse Buddhist communities of the New York Tri-State area. He is a Dharma Teacher authorized by the lay Buddhist organization Rissho Kosei Kai, serving as an official representative for their outside affairs in the New York area, as well as an official Rissho Kosei Kai representative to the United Nations. In addition, he has helped organize the Heiwa Peace Foundation, a think tank for peace whose primary work is done in the United States and Asia on behalf of its founder, the Venerable Dr. T.K. Nakagaki. He also sits on the board of Religions for Peace USA, which is the largest interfaith peace organization in America, and was recently appointed as a Trustee to the prestigious international Parliament of World Religions. In his professional life, he is a tenured professor and chairman of the Business Management Department in the Koppelman School of Business located at Brooklyn College, where he teaches Workplace Happiness and Spirituality.
Imam Adnan Rokadia is the Founder and Executive Director of Nafahat, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building community centered around spiritual practice. He also serves as the imam of Moslem Mosque Inc., the oldest continually operating mosque in New York, where he leads congregants in prayer and supports them in life-cycle rituals. Adnan has previously served as a Muslim chaplain at Stony Brook University, where he helped students navigate their faith on campus through education and spiritual counseling. He now continues his college chaplaincy work at Pratt Institute, where he serves their growing Muslim student community. In his professional life, Adnan has also worked within local state government, Muslim nonprofit organizations, and the nonprofit tech industry.
Adam Rosenberg is a co-founder and trustee of Kehillat Harlem, the first new Harlem synagogue in a century. Aspiring to enlightenment and a better path, wandering, wondering, hoping, and helping to sing a new song have always been Adam’s ways. Grandchild of survivors of pogroms and war, his history includes refugee to a land of opportunity, inspired by ideals, the highest and lowest, with streets paved with gold, too often ill-gotten. As a Columbia University undergraduate, what seemed like common sense, honesty, decency, charity, and justice is now commemorated by the National Register of Historic Places, and in an LGBTQ+ civil rights manuscripts collection. Embodying multiple identities is a spirit in which Adam finds breath, walking with and between a variety of communities: the heart of darkest Wall Street, film and tv, tech, and music, in Jerusalem and New York. This time and place now aches more openly than ever for the values which inspire him and lead him to ICLA inherited from his other namesakes: Abraham and Moses.
Reverend Mira Sawlani-Joyner is a daughter of immigrants, a pastor, a preacher, an educator, and a public theologian. She currently serves as Minister of Justice, Advocacy, and Change at the Riverside Church. Mira received her M.Div degree from Wesley Theological Seminary. During her time in seminary, Mira served as the Associate Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Peace Fellowship Church where she worked in partnership with congregants, community organizers, and activists to end gun violence in Washington, DC. Mira has also served on the launch team of Resurrection City, a Queer and Black-led church plant, as the former Community Pastor at Forefront Church NYC, and most recently as the Minister for Spiritual Development and Care at Middle Collegiate Church. Mira finds strength in her sense of community, leading a learning cohort with the Faith and Justice Network and engaging with fellow members of the Progressive Asian American Christians network. Mira’s unique background as a “third culture kid” of Philippine and Indian heritage in Hong Kong informs her decolonized approach to justice and advocacy.
Harpreet Singh Wahan is the Founding President and Director of the Flushing Interfaith Council, an initiative of concerned interfaith leaders to build bonds amongst different faiths and communities in Queens. A Sikh by faith, Harpreet is a member of the Sikh Center of NY in Flushing and Sikh Cultural Society of NY in Richmond Hills, and voluntarily acts as coordinator of all the Gurudwara managements in the East Coast. He was nominated by Mayor Adams as a member of the Asian Affairs Council, and was a Unity Grant recipient from previous Mayor Bloomberg. Harpreet is also an active member of Community Board 7, a former member of the Community Education Council of District 25Q, and an elected member of the Democratic Party County Committee of NY. By profession, he is an Assistant Manager in the IT department of Columbia University. He holds dual Masters from Columbia University, a Masters in Public Administration and an MS in Applied Data Analytics. He lives with his wife and two beautiful daughters in Queens, where he has lived for the last 31+ years.
Dr. Yousra Yusuf is a public health researcher whose work is grounded in the structural and social determinants of health, focusing on immigrant health, mental health, and reproductive health. She also serves in various capacities at nonprofit organizations working with Asian and South Asian communities in New York and internationally. Dr. Yusuf’s work is motivated by a commitment to advance health and gender equity in racial and religious minoritized groups in the U.S. through deep, meaningful collaborations. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with expertise in community-engaged research and mixed methods research using a life course perspective addressing health priorities in historically marginalized communities. She completed her MPH at the SUNY Downstate School of Public Health with a specialization in Epidemiology and a research focus in maternal health, and her PhD in reproductive and maternal health with a certificate in health communications at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
2022 – 2023 Fellows:
Dr. Ameena Ali is the Founder and Executive Director of the Federation of International Gender and Human Rights. This social impact organization was founded in New York as a sovereign consulate with the mission to make specific and intentional protocol, protections and provisions for gender and human rights, inclusively affordable and attainable to all indigent and underserved communities of domestic and foreign parentage. In February 2020 she retired as a Naturopathic Doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, and has been in organic medicine, home-birthing and the maternal education of women for over 30 years. In March of that same year, she was asked to return to medicine as a first responder in New York City at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of her recent accomplishments include: In November 2020, she was appointed to a special consultative status as the Director of Women’s Empowerment for the UN Department of Economic and Social Council. As of December 2021, she successfully trained over 230 certified sexual and gender-based violence advocates, in over fifteen countries over five continents. But her best accomplishment is being a Muslim mother of (now) adult daughters and “Nana” to fourteen grandbabies.
Jonathan Ammons serves as the Associate Director of the New York Office of Public and International Affairs and as the principal United Nations Representative of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition to his work for the Church, Jonathan currently serves as president of the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), an association of civil society leaders engaged in promoting FoRB within the United Nations ecosystem and throughout the world. He also holds a position on the national board of governors of the Religion Communicators Council and on the Universal Accreditation Board of the Public Relations Society of America. Jonathan holds a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in government and political communication from Johns Hopkins University. Jonathan and his wife Bree have four children and enjoy playing games, watching movies, and spending time outdoors as a family.
Reverend Dr. Holly Bonner is an award-winning interfaith minister, mental health professional, educator, writer, and creator of the website Blind Motherhood. Bonner established her site in 2012 after losing her vision and becoming legally blind. Rev. Dr. Bonner holds a Doctorate in Ministry from New York Theological Seminary, as well as master’s degree from various universities in public administration, social work, sacred theology, and pastoral care and counseling. Rev. Dr. Bonner is the Director of Spirituality and Civic Engagement at Wagner College, and has conducted academic research on disability culture and interfaith communities. She lives in the West Brighton section of Staten Island with her husband and two daughters. She often shares the pulpit with her guide dog, Teagan, a three-year-old German Shepherd from Fidelio Guide Dog School. When she’s not guiding Rev. Bonner, Teagan enjoys napping, playing with her human companions, and watching the wild turkeys roam Wagner College’s campus.?
Dr. Sheriden Booker is an Iyalorisha in the Lukumi tradition, and member of Ile Asho Fun Fun, an Orisha religious house that traces its lineage to Cuba and before that to Ijeshaland (present-day Osun State, Nigeria). Outside of her religious functions as a priestess, she is committed to addressing the racist and colonial roots of the stereotypes and legal discriminations faced by adherents of African Traditional Religions (ATRs), through solidarity with other ATR communities and marginalized religious groups. She is also invested in collaborations with fellow Olorisha committed to climate change activism. Booker has been an invited speaker for programs hosted by The United Nations, the Interfaith Center of New York, the Osun State Government of Nigeria, and the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in African American Studies and Anthropology from Yale University, and is currently the Director of the Beyond Identity Scholar Activist Program at the City College of New York.
Gareth Bryant has been a chaplain and imam since 2014. They studied Islam and the Arabic language under Siraj Wahhaj (Imam of Masjid at-Taqwa), studied Fiqh (Islamic legal analysis) under Shakiel Humayun (founder of the Foundation for Knowledge and Development), studied S?rah (the life of Muhammad) and Mustalah–ul-Hadith (authentication of narration), under Abdul-Rahman Khan (member of the Fiqh Council of North America), and studied `Ul?m-ut-Tafs?r (Qur’anic commentary) as an online student of Bilal Philips (founder of Islamic Online University). Mr. Bryant received Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) training at the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, and completed their chaplaincy residency at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital. Mr. Bryant additionally has submitted research regarding at-Tajn?n (jinn influence / demon possession) vs. mental illness to the Michigan State University Dept. of Psychiatry. They have also presented their research at Cambridge University (Clare College), at the 11th Annual Global Muslim Mental Health Conference in 2019.
Shokuchi Deirdre Carrigan is an ordained Soto Zen priest, a yoga teacher, and most recently is completing certification as a Health and Wellness Coach. A resident of Brooklyn (Coney Island) she is currently a volunteer with Sanghas Supporting Refugees, a group of practitioners from various Buddhist traditions in New York supporting refugees who have recently arrived. While training at her home temple at Green Gulch Farm in California, Shokuchi was on the Board of Directors of the Marin Interfaith Council, where she was actively involved with their many community projects. In addition to a BA in Contemporary English and American Literature from Scripps College, Shokuchi holds a BFA and MA in Dance and Media, and had a long career as a dancer and choreographer in the San Francisco Bay Area. She co-founded and directed KADEKA DANCES FOR KIDS, a group of professional dance performers and teachers who offered creative movement classes and dance residencies in public schools in California.
Reverend Joyce P. Brandon Dugger is the eleventh Pastor of the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ. She is the First African American to serve as Pastor of the church since its inception on February 22, 1886. She is also the third woman to serve as Pastor of the church. Pastor Joyce also serves as a Protestant Chaplain for students, faculty, and staff at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, NY. In addition, she is a retired public school crisis intervention teacher and certified peer mediator in Districts 19 and 21 in Brooklyn, NY. For the past 20 years, Pastor Joyce has facilitated peer mediation and conflict resolution sessions in middle school, high school, and faith-based settings. She holds a master’s degree from Audrey Cohen College in Public Administration and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC. Pastor Joyce is currently working on her Doctorate of Ministry at Memphis Theological Seminary.
Rick Feldman worked throughout the Bronx as a science, special education, and library teacher for over 30 years. He was active through those years in the Common Cents Penny Harvest, teaching students about philanthropy through practice, and bringing the community into the classrooms through twice-yearly Community Read-A-Loud programs. After retiring he spent a year working with sixth-grade classes on developing a curriculum to teach 9/11 through the lens of remembrance. The final project was recognized as one of the six notable projects in 2014 by the 9/11 Tribute Museum. Since then, in his Riverdale Community, where he was raised and where he raised a family he has redirected his focus on community projects, working across various groups to build unity. He is closely rooted to the Jewish community and has a special focus on Holocaust education due to the personal experiences of his mom’s family. Additionally, eight years ago he started a project called Art for AID that raises money for local needs by recycling people’s stuff, and has raised over $25,000.00 to meet community needs.
Reverend Lauren Ahava Jacobs is an interfaith minister and faith-based activist. She co-founded the Community Kitchen at Romemu Synagogue two years ago and continues to manage its volunteer effort, publicity, and fundraising, including for its Family Day & Winter Coat Drive Initiatives. For the past 2 ½ years she has also co-chaired the Romemu Social Action Committee, where she has organized & presented panel events on Food Justice, Children’s Rights, and Finding Common Ground in American Democracy. She is currently partnering with Ruth’s Refuge to form Apartment Setup Teams in an effort to resettle immigrants seeking asylum in NYC. As an ordained graduate of One Spirit Interfaith Seminary and certified teacher of Meditation, Mindfulness, and Yoga, she has facilitated interfaith meditation and mindfulness workshops including through her course, “Mindfulness in Action: Taking the Next Right Step toward Tikkun Olam – Repairing the World”. A longtime justice-motivated educator, she has also led interreligious sessions with youth in spiritual and secular spaces throughout New York City, teaching and storytelling on tolerance, equity, open-mindedness, and courageous compassion.
Dimitrios Katsiklis was born in Volos, Greece, and currently lives in Washington Heights, NY. Dimitrios holds a bachelor’s degree in Pastoral Studies from the University Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens, master’s in Theology and Byzantine Musicology with specification in the Athonite Chanting Tradition from the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, an MBA from the Hellenic American University, Nassau, NH, and a Diploma of Mastery in Byzantine Music. He is the Master Chanter and the Pastoral Assistant of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattam. Dimitrios has served in many parishes all the around the Christian Orthodox in Greece and the USA as a master chanter, youth director, and pastoral assistant. As a pastoral assistant of the National Shrine of St. Nicholas is committed to the social outreach for relief and support of those in need.
Eugene Nam is a human rights lawyer and faith worker who has worked in gun violence prevention, immigrants’ rights, refugee resettlement, and international development. The center of Eugene’s advocacy has been to litigate—in the courtroom, behind the pulpit, and on the streets—against a moral economy of blame that inflects so much of our legal and political discourse. We are so willing to justify unjustifiable vulnerabilities with our rhetoric, whether about undocumented immigrants’ failure to “just get in line,” incarcerated people’s choice to “disrespect the law,” poor people’s unwillingness to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps,” or victims of violence who were not saved by “good guys with guns”—because we are beholden to a pernicious individualism borne of spiritual impoverishment. Eugene joins the ICLA fellowship with the hope of better understanding how faith communities can help serve as a sanctuary from this moral economy of blame and nourish and enrich our sense of what we owe one another. Eugene is a joint-degree graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D.) and Harvard Divinity School (M.Div.).
Imam Mehmet Ozalp (Mohammed) is an independent thinker and researcher who received his MA degree at Columbia University and MDiv from Union Theological Seminary. He is currently a staff chaplain and imam at Maimonides Medical Center of Brooklyn. His research interests are psychology of oppressed, double-consciousness, intersections between science and religion in the post-modern world, Abrahamic spiritualities of America, dichotomies among Sufi-Shia-Sunni understandings of Islam, and political theology. In his free time, he enjoys working on languages, reading fiction, and benefiting from music as a coping mechanism.
Reverend E. Tyrone Pittman is a Brooklyn-born and bred native New Yorker. He accepted the Lord as his personal Savior and was baptized at the age of eight by the Reverend Dr. William Augustus Jones, Jr., who also licensed him in June 2000, and ordained him in January 2006 to preach the Gospel. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Religious Studies and Christian Education from the Jacksonville Theological Seminary, Jacksonville, Florida. Rev. Pittman currently serves as Executive Pastor, with a focus on administration and community engagement, at the “history-making” Bethany Baptist Church of Brooklyn, where Reverend Dr. Adolphus C. Lacey is the Senior Pastor. In addition, he is a strategy team member for Metro IAF’s East Brooklyn Congregations, a member of the 79th Precinct Clergy Council, and a committee member for Young Life Bed-Stuy (a mentoring organization that introduces young people to Jesus Christ).
Karen Sonilal is an Indo-Trinidadian artist, writer, and dancer. With a background in architectural design, Karen’s approach to female empowerment is one that honors the need for balance through stability with the aim of improving interpersonal relations. A Trinidadian native, and a member of the LGBTQ community, Karen’s enthusiasm and passion for activism drove her to do so for the people that also live within the margins of society with Jahajee Sisters. Her most successful feat has been leading her community through change during times of tumult. In her spare time, Karen is devoted to her spiritual practice and, as a survivor, she is driven to do the work she feels called to do, and strives on creating and maintaining safe and sacred spaces for those affected at the hands of gender-based violence and abuse.
Reda A. Taleb is a native Detroiter and the proud daughter of Lebanese Muslim immigrants. She is a strategic, transformative leader, with a demonstrated history of over 15 years of nonprofit experience that spans civic, legal, entrepreneurial, and social justice movements across the United States. As the Founder and CEO of Dream Catcher Innovations™, Reda serves a national clientele with services including nonprofit development and management, program design and implementation, strategy development and implementation, fundraising, social impact movement building, DEI advocacy, and community building. Reda’s work is rooted in interfaith coalition–building for a more just and equitable NYC/world, through decarceration and civic engagement, trauma-informed healing justice, children’s books, spoken word, and podcasting. Reda is the former Community Education Program Coordinator for the Muslim Community Network, and remains deeply engaged with NYC CBOs serving Arab American and Muslim communities city-wide. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, hiking/biking, cooking delicious Arabic food, traveling, and deepening her new roots in NYC.
Weini Zhao is a full-time religious worker at the International Hua-Yan Buddhist Federation in New York City. She is a Buddhist practitioner and meditation teacher, dedicated to organizing Dharma preaching, meditation, and other Buddhist activities in the community. She is keen to continuously explore how to more effectively promote life in the community, environmental education, and education that guides positive concepts of death. At the same time, she has a strong interest in promoting the concept of interreligious cooperation in contemporary society. She was born in China, and was an associate professor at a Chinese university, before becoming a religious worker.
2021 – 2022 Fellows:
Alyssa Abernathy was born and raised in Queens and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Alyssa received a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from The College of New Rochelle School of New Resources. She also attended and graduated from Long Island University (Brooklyn) campus, where she obtained a master’s degree in Social Work. Alyssa is currently employed as a social worker with an organization in which she serves the homeless population. Alyssa also served as a youth leader in ministry and various other positions in ministry, providing faith, unity, and love. Alyssa Abernathy founded the 501 ©3 nonprofit organization, the Life Equip Group Inc.
Reverend Antoinnette Renita Donegan is a southern-born transplant resident of Staten Island. Antoinnette loves the work she does in her position as the Community Coordinator for the Central Family Life Center located in the Stapleton area of Staten Island and the Clergy Liaison between two local police precincts. She loves her True 2 Life team which is the cure violence program. She believes that young adults must be seen through the lens of hope, love, and compassion and not their circumstances. Her passion has been recognized with numerous civic and community awards. She is a recipient of the citizen’s police academy training, people’s police academy, and chaplaincy task force.
Christopher Belden is a current sophomore at Manhattan College triple majoring in economics, history, and peace studies with a concentration in environmental economics. He is currently working as the student assistant to the director at the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Educational Center (HGI) located at Manhattan College. As assistant to the director, he works with multiple campus organizations and clubs to organize various events throughout the year to not only educate the Manhattan College community but to also acknowledge the concerns the students have with ongoing events in society. He places great emphasis on community outreach and social justice having been raised on the value of giving back to those in need.
Daniel Leyva is the Program Director of the Latino Religious Leadership Program, an initiative of the Latino Commission on AIDS. For the last 27 years, he has been bringing health education and promotion in Spanish and English for underserved Latino congregations in faith-based setting in New York. In this role, Daniel has worked with his team to elevate the capacity and readiness for communities of faith to provide testing, referrals, and access to care for the most vulnerable communities in NYC. Daniel has also worked as Capacity Building Specialist under the CDC’s Diffusion of Effective Behavioral program and as Programme Support Officer for Latinamerica and the Caribbean at the United Nations Development Program in New York City. He is a graduate of the Pastoral Care and Counseling Program at Blanton Peale Institute in New York City. He holds a degree in Business from the City University of New York. Daniel is passionate about working to build bridges of cooperation between communities of faith and LGBTQI+ serving groups and organizations. The body of his works focuses on the impact of stigma, discrimination, and prejudice that negatively impacts health outcomes. He is a proud Episcopalian married to John Hatchett.
Danielle Williams-Thiam has a passion for empowering diverse religious communities with tools to live out their values through social action. She currently serves as a Community Educator with CONNECT NYC, where she collaborates with diverse faith communities to create and strengthen their response to gender and family violence. Danielle also supports Daughters for Justice NYC in their advocacy efforts to prevent community gun violence. Previously, Danielle was a faith-based community organizer for the Live Free campaign at Sacramento Area Congregations Together, organizing to end police brutality, mass incarceration, and intra-communal violence. She holds a Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary.
John Ducksworth was born in Harlem and attended the NYC Public School system. Currently completing his Doctorate of Ministry degree at New York Theological Seminary as well as having a master’s degree in Public Administration from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. As an officer in The Salvation Army rising to the rank of Captain he has served in various capacities throughout the Northeast and New England states. He has provided leadership to Court based programs, Community Corrections, probation and juvenile justice agencies, private corrections corporations, and social services agencies. His various roles have expanded from experiential to providing direct service, to middle and senior management positions, to government agency Executive Team. He is a licensed trainer and facilitator of Restorative Justice Principles and Practices. Currently the Metropolitan New York Area Coordinator for the national multi-faith campaign Ending Mass Incarceration (EMI). He has been published and is married to Joan and they have two daughters ages fifteen and eleven years old.
Jaiwantie Lakhnath, is a native of Guyana, living in New York. She comes from a deep-rooted Arya Samaj/Hindu family and is a staunch believer in the Vedic Dharma. A committed Arya Samaj/Hindu volunteer with a missionary spirit. As an education professional, mother, and grandmother, she takes a deep interest in imparting Vedic/Cultural Education in younger ones towards their goal of becoming a true human being. For 30 years, she has successfully directed the Arya Vir Dal Camps in Arya Spiritual Center, Queens New York, and the Arya Samaj/Hindu community in Guyana. She has helped establish the youth forum platform at Arya Spiritual Center. She is the current President of the United Arya Samaj Federation and as the Past President of Arya Spiritual and vows to relentlessly work to achieve the goals of Making the Universe Noble- Krinvanto Vishwam Aaryam.
Kristina Lopez (she/they) is an artist, death doula, meditation teacher, and Buddhist practitioner. Her practice is informed by an intersectional lens dedicated to collective liberation. She created Liberating Death in 2021 as a death-positive education resource and end-of-life planning service for New Yorkers. As a death doula Kristina aims to bring more mindful awareness of death so that we may all live with less fear of the unknown. She is a second-generation Caribbean American born and raised on Lenape land in NYC.
Mahtab Khan is an activist from Queens, NY. In 2019, he graduated from CUNY John Jay College with double majors in Political Science and Criminal Justice with double minors in Law and Human Rights. Since then, he has been preparing to go to law school. In 2020, he was a Delegate and organizer for presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders. He also ran for District Leader with his team the “NY AD 24 Democratic Slate”. Now he is the Secretary of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, where he helps mobilize the Muslim community here in NY to become more civically engaged and informed about local elections.
Marianne Montero was born and raised in New York City and has been active in churches with a commitment to social justice during most of her adult life. The first church that she joined was The Riverside Church. She comes from a family of activists, as both her parents were activists working for equality, working against racism and discrimination, and nuclear disarmament two generations ago. She has a degree in Education and has attended New York Theological Seminary. One of her internships for her seminary degree was working with the Minister for Social Justice at Riverside Church. Most recently, she has been a member of Riverdale Presbyterian Church in the Bronx. Riverdale is becoming increasingly diverse, and I believe there are ways that the various faith communities can come together to work collaboratively on issues that affect us all.
Mark Levy is a lifelong New Yorker who’s lived in three of the five boroughs while working varied careers in the non-profit, public, and small business sectors. He grew up in The Bronx and Upper West Side and lived in Park Slope, Ditmas Park, and is currently in Madison Square with his wife Alisa Brot. He graduated from SUNY New Paltz. In the non-profit world, he worked as a tenant organizer, a low-income housing manager for 2 CBOs: Manhattan Valley and Flatbush Development COs. In the public sector, he was a senior construction, facilities, and property management positions with 4 city agencies including HPD, DHS, and DCAS. He oversaw the management of thousands of City-owned residential properties in Brooklyn and Queens supervised maintenance and construction for the City’s homeless shelters, ran historic preservation and handicap accessibility projects for the City’s historic courthouses, and damage assessment at Ground Zero after the attacks of 9/11. He retired from the city in 2002 to start a family tour guide business with my 3 sons The Levys’ Unique New York.
Hajj Mohamed Amen was born in Ismailia, Egypt. He graduated from the law school of Cairo University and worked as a lawyer in Egypt for two years. He came to the US in 1996 and settled in Manhattan. He began his career in the US as an English-Arabic Interpreter for special projects with TransPerfect Translation and law firms Strook & Laven and Davis Polk & Wardwell. Mohamed joined the New York City Police Department in 2007. After quickly excelling, he was transferred to the elite unit of Transit Manhattan Task Force in 2009. In 2011, he joined the Community Affairs Bureau, where he conducted outreach to houses of worship, senior centers, hospitals, and youth centers using his language skills and background as a tool to build bridges between the different communities of NYC and the Police Department. In August 2015, Mohamed joined the Clergy Outreach Unit focusing on developing relationships between various houses of worship and the Police Department, inclusive of all religions and denominations. Detective Amen’s work with the community helped identify and link community leaders, and community-based organizations, which helped strengthen community ties, and establish a contact list for the NYPD. Additionally, Mohamed is the Arab Muslim Liaison to the Police department. Mohamed is committed to strengthening ties between all communities in New York City with the NYPD.
Ryan Hill Ryan Hill of Richmond, VA has been a creative, analytical lover of humankind. Having a career in finance exceeding 15 years, he now plans to integrate the physical, spiritual, emotional, and financial into a practice offering holistic services to the disenfranchised. He has been working with LGBT populations performing justice and restorative work since 2018. Currently, he is a board member of LGBT Faith Leaders of African Descent and volunteers as a faith leader with Equality New York advocating for policies that benefit Black and Brown LGBT communities. A lover of music, art, and the human spirit, Ryan desires to implement the arts and spirituality in every aspect of life fostering an environment where people can heal.
Sahar Alsahlani has been on the interfaith scene in NYC for over six years, in myriad roles that promote interfaith social justice. She is a member of the Community of Living Traditions, an intentional multi-faith community, and co-chair of The Fellowship of Reconciliation, the country’s oldest interfaith organization geared toward peace and non-violence. She is also on the board of Religions for Peace, USA, a United Nations-affiliated NGO; a fellow at Greenfaith, an interfaith environmental network; and a board member of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). She perceives her work as a way to encourage civic engagement with people from different backgrounds in the five boroughs. She has been involved in justice activism as a representative of CAIR and the broader Muslim community, including environmental justice causes, such as Standing Rock, and racial justice causes, such as Ferguson and Charlottesville.
2020 – 2021 Fellows:
Dharmachari Ananta is a mindfulness and social change advocate and is passionate about helping people find purpose and the resources they need to live fulfilling lives. He believes in the power of a calm and loving mind, the bonds of community, and simple empowerment tools to bring about change in oneself and the world. Ananta has practiced mindfulness and loving-kindness meditations for over twenty-five years, including three years of retreat time. He has practiced these as samatha (calming) meditations, and as vipassana (insight) meditations, along with various other insight practices and reflections, including numerous Tibetan-style visualizations. He took ordination into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2007 during a four-month retreat in Spain.
Emre Celik has been Executive Director of the Peace Islands Institute, New York, since July 2019. He arrived in New York after 10 years in Washington DC where he was President of the Rumi Forum (2009-2019), an organization dedicated to interfaith and intercultural education and projects of engagement. He has worked in numerous non-profit and community organizations with a focus on education, social harmony, community collaboration, and interfaith understanding. In Washington DC he sits on the Religious Freedom Center’s Committee on Religious Liberty and the International Religious Freedom Roundtable on Capitol Hill. In October 2015, he organized the first-ever White House Eid-al Adha reception where he also provided opening remarks.
Sati Gurdial is a Hindu community leader in her mid-sixties, with a belief system known as Arya Samaj meaning a Noble Society. She is primarily involved with administrative leadership and secondary with spiritual leadership. Her career was in the financial field, working on Wall Street for over 25 years. She is now retired. Since childhood, she was curious about religion and spirituality. In 1985 she migrated to New York and again got fully involved with the church and interfaith groups. Currently, she is the General Secretary of the Tristate Arya Samaj, registered as the United Arya Samaj Federation. During the past 30 years, she has served as a leader in various roles for the Arya Samaj faith-based organization locally and nationwide.
Fayth Henderson is the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives for the 67th Precinct Clergy Council / The GodSquad, an organization of predominately Christian faith leaders working to reduce gun violence in Central Brooklyn.
Ayoka (Mayanah) Johnson is a mother, anthropologist, biblical scholar, community activist, and member of the Israelite community. With each of these identities working together, Ms. Johnson founded Genesis 2 Ministries Ink, which is dedicated to reclaiming accurate biblical feminine identities. Her organization, Ha Nasheem, established in 2018, embodies her sincere belief that “TIP: Torah is Practical” and its membership has either sponsored or created initiatives that encourage healthy sustainable families and communities, including ending gender-based violence in all of its forms. She is a community speaker and the author of a number of papers interrogating issues that affect women of faith such as My Partner in Jealousy and Womanhood 101: The Essential Reader for True Biblical Feminine Identities.
Dustin Tyler Joyce grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been a part of his life since his mother joined the church when he was 4 years old. At the age of 19, he began a two-year mission for the church in the Salt Lake Valley in Utah. After his missionary service, he studied urban planning and French at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and Universite Paul Cezanne (now Aix-Marseille Universite) in Aix-en-Provence, France. He began his career in urban and governmental affairs and communications in Washington, D.C., where he met his wife, Susan. He has served as the bishop of the Jamaica 1st Ward, his church’s English- and Haitian Creole-speaking congregation in southeast Queens, since 2019.
Brian Lai is Co-Founder & CFO of Abe’s Eats, a social impact organization dedicated to fostering religious and cultural inclusivity through food. Abe’s Eats is best known for producing the first-ever Interfaith Meats that are both Zabihah Halal and Glatt Kosher at the same time. Prior to Abe’s Eats, Brian spent 5 years within the asset management industry as a public accountant and private consultant with KPMG, Goldman Sachs, and Constellation Advisers. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University with a major in Accounting along with a Master’s in Accounting from the University of Pittsburgh. In his spare time, Brian loves discovering new musical artists and currently sits on the Associate Board of Apex for Youth, a local nonprofit that serves at-risk youth in NYC communities.
Shahana Masum is a Chaplain with the New York State Chaplain Task Force. She received her degree in Sociology and Anthropology from the College of Staten Island and lives in Staten Island with her husband and children. Shahana is one of the leading community organizers in New York City. Among her many roles, she is the Executive Board Member of Bangladeshi American Advocacy Group (BAAG), one of the largest civic engagement organizations of half a million Bangladeshi Americans in New York. She is the Co-Founder of American South Asian Community Services (ASACS), Co-Coordinator of the New York City Clergy Roundtable, and Community Outreach Director for Muslim Sisters of Staten Island (MSSI). Also, she is a member of the New York City Civic Engagement Commission’s Language Assistance Advisory Committee.
Rev. Deborah McKeever retired after working 33 years, in various positions, for the City of New York. The last position she held was Deputy Director of Housing for HIV / AIDS Services Administration (HASA). She knows that this position was ordained by God because of the road that she walked with her own brother, Dwight, who died of AIDS in 1985. While working for the City, she completed her undergraduate degree and went on to receive her Masters. She attended One Spirit Seminary and upon graduating, was ordained an Interfaith Reverend. She is currently a minister at Sacred Fellowship Ministries (SFM), located in Brooklyn, where 80% of the congregation identifies as LGBTQ. She has always been an advocate, connecting people to services, and a voice for the voiceless. She writes poetry/prayer/praises and has (self) published a book, From Bar Stools to Church Pews.
Afsana Monir has completed her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Law from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and Yeshiva University, Cardozo School of Law. During her law school career, she worked as a Legal Counsel in the Immigration and Human Rights Law areas in London. Before founding Project New Yorker, she worked closely with the marginalized communities, especially Bangladeshi and South Asian immigrant communities across NYC and the UK. While working as a Program and Development Director at Bacdys, she implemented the girl’s safe space project in East NY/City Line, Brooklyn that was focused on serving the Bengali immigrant youth age 13-24. She is a committed social activist, skilled in conflict resolution, and has done extensive community organizing.
Vijah Ramjattan is a spiritually conscious community activist, artist, organizer, and leader who advocates for social, environmental, and ecological justice. In 2017, Vijah founded the United Madrassi Association Inc. (UMA), a progressive volunteer-based non-profit organization committed to bringing about unity-in-the-community, within the Madrassi/Tamil Diaspora and with other Hindu and Non-Hindu sects, NGOs, NPOs, and grassroots organizations. Through active civic participation, collaboration, and meaningful humanitarian work, Vijah aims to create a culture of “Devotion-in-Motion.” Vijah’s areas of interest are in eco-friendly worship, youth development, fostering female empowerment, and creating meaningful platforms for people to build, maintain and share their identity through hands-on community service.
Conor Reidy is a life-long Bronx resident, currently working as the Campus Minister at Manhattan College, in the Department of Campus Ministry and Social Action. As Campus Minister, he works on faith-based and spiritual programming for our undergraduate and graduate campus community of 3,500 students. In his role, he works closely with students, faculty, and administrators to create safe spaces for sharing stories about career choices, relationships, values, decisions; all the things that make up our faith lives. He is a graduate of The College of the Holy Cross and Rutgers University.
Pandit Vyaas Sukul comes from the “SHUKLA” Lineage. Shukla means the brighter part of the month and comes from the term Shukla Paskha. Vyaas’ father was the late Pandit Vishnu Sukul, and his grandfather was the late Pandit Harry Sukul. Panditji’sentire family has been delivering the messages of god and has up kept the rituals and rites of our dharma, Satya Sanathan Vedic Dharma. Panditji presides at Vishnu Mandir, a Hindu temple in the Bronx, where he is the Spiritual Leader. Aside from his religious devotion, Panditji works as a Manager in the Finance Department at his organization where he manages a team to deliver the goals of his company. Panditji graduated with a dual-degree in Economics and Political Science B.S. and will be completing his MBA in 2020.
Jeremy Tibbetts is the coordinator at Yavneh On Campus, where he works with students on over 40 college campuses to build local Jewish communities and to establish a campus-wide Jewish student movement. He is also the director of the Iyyun Kollel, an organization dedicated to the study and experience of Jewish spirituality, led by renowned kabbalist and Torah scholar Rav DovBer Pinson. Jeremy studied Public Health at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and now lives with his wife Emily in Crown Heights.
2017 – 2018 Fellows:
Warren J. Abney was raised in New York and had the importance of education, church, and community service instilled in him at an early age. Mr. Abney has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science Studies from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a Master’s Degree in Mental Health and Group Work from Hunter Siberman School of Social Work, Warren Jason Abney has spent over twenty -five years counseling and equipping a diverse population of clients with the goal of helping families achieve personal growth and improve their overall social functioning. Mr. Abney is the Co- Founder of Transforming Life Families Services a 501(C3) Organization, working with seniors, helping men and women with parenting skills and family relationships, substance abuse, clothing pantry.
Ramatu Ahmed is the Founder and Executive Director of the African Life Center which serves the African community. She played a vital role in the establishment of the Medina clinic at Harlem Hospital for the underserved Muslim-African immigrant community. Ramatu also consulted with the New York University School of Medicine’s MARHABA Project assisting in research on breast and cervical cancer Muslim women and the Diaspora Clinic serving the immigrant African community in the Bronx. Her cross-cultural approach has enabled her to work constructively with diverse communities in New York City. She is known for her social justice activism and has received several recognitions for her community engagements and public service. She was born and educated in Ghana, West Africa.
Imam Dr. Ahmet Atlig started his career in Imams and Preachers Seminary in Izmir, Turkey in 1984. After being ordained in 1989 as imam, Muslim cleric, he went to Dokuz Eylul University, Theology Faculty, in Izmir and graduated in 1994. Ahmet taught religious studies in high schools of various cities as religious education teacher for six years. In 2002, he completed his MA in religious studies at the University of St. Thomas, St. Mary’s Seminary, Houston, TX. He earned his PhD in philosophy in 2007. Simultaneously, Ahmet served as the imam of a Turkish Mosque (New Packham Mosque) for 5 years in London, U.K. He is currently the Secretary General of Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF) in New York, New York. The JWF is a member of United Nations Economic and Social Council, receiving “consultative status” in 2012. He serves also as a Chaplain at Manhattan Veterans Hospital and an Imam at Manhattan Turkish Mosque.
Naureen Akhter is a Bangladeshi American Muslim activist, parent and entrepreneur. She serves on her local Community Education Council and has served the office of the Mayor on various education initiatives. She is an organizer with Muslims for Progress, helping to mobilize the Muslim American community towards increased civic engagement. As a parent of two young children in the New York City public education system, she is passionate about improving her community to best serve them and future generations. Prior to this she was an Associate at Dalberg Global Development. She has a Bachelors from Barnard College, Columbia University in Physics. Naureen is also a social media influencer – sharing her beautiful cake creations with her thousands of followers. She has a love for baking and all things culinary. She speaks Bengali and Italian. She and her husband recently performed Hajj, fulfilling a lifelong obligation to her faith.
Dr. Marie Lily Cerat holds a Ph.D. in Urban Education and a Certificate in Africana Studies from the Graduate Center of CUNY. A writer of several published books, she uses post-colonialism and culturally responsive/sustaining pedagogy, examining the Haitian language and culture in the education of Haitian learners. In addition to her scholarly activities, Cerat has a long history of organizing within the Haitian community in New York. She is the co-founder of Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees (HWHR), a group established in 1992 to provide ESL and adult literacy programs to Haitian immigrants and refugees. Dr. Cerat has worked in the New York public education system for over 20 years.
Manbo Dòwòti Désir is Manbo Asogwe – a High Priestess in the Haitian Vodou tradition. She is also the Founder and Chief of the AfroAtlantic Theologies & Treaties Institute (ATI) www.ATI-global.org, and the DDPA Watch Group. A human rights activist, Manbo Désir Since 2015 she has served as the Chairperson of the NGO Committee for the Elimination of Racism, Afrophobia and Colorism located at the United Nations. She lectures extensively on the objectives of the International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024. She is the designated UNESCO Expert for the International Slavery Museums and Sites Conference 2018, and has worked on cultural policy and development with the International Labour Office in Geneva.
Mika’il DeVeaux Mika’il DeVeaux is an adjunct associate professor at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College (CUNY). He is the co-founder and Executive Director of Citizens Against Recidivism, Inc., directs Citizens’ Muslim Re-entry Initiative, and is a certified anger management facilitator. Dr. DeVeaux is also principal at DeVeaux Association, a consulting firm that provides evaluation, monitoring, and other services for nonprofits. He has over three decades of experience working with people impacted by the justice system. His research interests include hyper-incarceration’s impact on the African American community, Black male incarceration, reentry, incarceration policy, and class, racial inequality. His most recent research relates to formerly incarcerated Black men who have lived productive lives in their communities and elements which can be used as tools to promote better reentry.
Mrs. Jennifer Elisson-Lackard serves her community as head of the Station of Hope Prison Ministry at Grace Baptist Church in Mt Vernon and as a Community Board Member in the Bronx. She has spent the last decade engaging communities around social justice issues for collective impact. She Professionally, she is a strategic human resource management consultant for startups, providing coaching on how to build the company that everyone wants to work for and advocates for the formerly incarcerated as Founder of the Race for Re-Entry, Lead Organizer for the Re-Entry Meetup and Re-Entry Facilitator for the New York Department of Corrections. Currently completing her Master’s degree in Labor Relations from Cornell University, Lackard is a graduate of the University of Michigan and maintains a healthy marriage of 12 years while co-parenting her 2 young boys with an inmate in the federal correctional system.
Todd Fine is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is a cultural activist focused on history, preservation, and story-telling. Through various campaigns, he has worked to reintroduce New Yorkers to the Syrian Quarter of Downtown Manhattan, stressing especially its religious diversity and the ideals of its literature. He is the President of the Washington Street Historical Society, a nonprofit organization whose chief project is to build a memorial to Kahlil Gibran, Ameen Rihani, and other Arabic poets in a new park the City is constructing in the financial district. He is also working to save St. Joseph’s Chapel, the Catholic September 11 Memorial and the descendant of the city’s earliest Maronite church. He is a PhD student in American History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.
Reverend Kyndra Frazier is an emerging filmmaker, licensed Master Social Worker, and Baptist Clergywoman. Kyndra is the Associate Pastor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at First Corinthian Baptist Church, and the Executive Director of the church’s free mental wellness center, The HOPE Center, both located in Central Harlem. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Candler School of Theology, Emory University, as well as a Master of Social Work from Columbia University in the City of New York. Kyndra’s research interests include Religious Trauma Syndrome and the intersections of mental health, queer identity, and Christian Fundamentalism as it relates to LGBTQ persons of color. She is currently working on her first documentary film, A Love Supreme: Black, Christian, and Queer in the South.
Chaplain Linda Golding received her Masters Degree in Jewish Studies and the Certificate in Pastoral Care and Counseling from the Jewish Theological Seminary (NYC) in 2013 and became a Board Certified Chaplain through the Association of Professional Chaplains in 2014. Golding has served as Staff Chaplain at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/CUMC since 2010, caring for patients, family and staff and was appointed Coordinator of Pastoral Care for Milstein Hospital in 2015. She is the chaplain member of the hospital’s Ethics Committee and Organ Donor Council; leads didactics on Ambiguous Loss, Spiritual Pain, and Pastoral Care for Non-Responsive Patients; serves as a preceptor for medical student clerkships; runs Wellness Groups for Nurse, Neurology and Rehabilitation Residents, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellows; has presented at conferences in the U.S. and abroad; and is an adjunct professor in the Bioethics program at Columbia University where she teaches Pastoral Care and Bioethics. She is active in Congregation B’nei Jeshurun.
Beth Hermelin I grew up on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, and enjoyed countless summers at the beach with family and friends. I attended New York City Public schools through high school, and went away for college in New York State. Upon college graduation, I began my first career at CBS Television, New York City, working in production in the news department, children’s shows, and sports. Several years after my two daughters were born, I changed careers and became a public teacher in New York City. I worked as a teacher, literacy coach, and assistant principal before retiring after 25 years of public service. Since last November, I have been devoting my time to social justice issues regarding immigration, the effects of political policy on our country, and volunteering to preserve The Elizabeth Street Garden in Little Italy. She is an active member of East End Temple.
Tiffany Lee is Director of a Catholic, community-based organization, Altagracia Faith and Justice Works, which empowers community leaders to promote social justice through faith formation, leadership development, service, and advocacy opportunities to effect concrete local change in Northern Manhattan. Tiffany also previously worked for an international, interfaith nonprofit organization, International Partners in Mission, directing the Immersion Experience Program, and has over 10 years of experience working in faith-based community development, especially in Latinx communities both internationally and domestically. She holds a BA in Sociology, Peace and Conflict Studies from College of the Holy Cross and an MA in International Development and Social Change from Clark University.
Giovanna Maselli is the co-founder of Buddhist Insights, a non-profit connecting people with Buddhist monks and nuns in NYC, and of Rockaway Summer House, a retreat center offering free meditation and mindfulness programs (including classes, workshops and retreats) in the Rockaway peninsula. A creative strategist and former editor for publications like Vogue Italia, Elle Italy, The Guardian, and D Repubblica, Giovanna develops and promotes community programs such as free community dinners, sustainability workshops, and environmental stewardship classes that engage people from a wide variety of different backgrounds and walks of life.
Davanie Singhroy is a twenty-two year old student at Adelphi University, currently majoring in biology and molecular neuroscience. She is also an advocate for those with chronic illnesses and disabilities, working to raise awareness and fight ableism. Davanie is a devotee of the Shaanti Bhavan Mandir. She was drawn to the mandir’s message of peace, love, inclusivity, and the importance of seva, or service to others. With the mandir’s youth group, she participates in many acts of community service, including feeding the homeless, volunteering at soup kitchens, visiting children’s hospitals and nursing homes, and raising funds and gathering supplies for impoverished regions and victims of natural disaster. Davanie firmly believes in the group’s motto, “The hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray.” In striving to apply this principle to her life, she joined Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus, hoping to combat the injustices currently plaguing our society.
Tsering Lama is a Tibetan refugee born and raised in Nepal. She holds a BA in Psychology from Hunter College, working as a domestic worker for 7 years as she completed her education. Tsering has always loved being involved with her community. In Nepal, she was part of Studio 7, an English ensemble theater cast. She worked as a volunteer organizer for two Tibetan non-profits, Dropo Team and Ancient Culture Protection. Tsering has volunteered with New York Cares since 2009, and continues to be involved in the Tibetan Movement in New York. She joined Adhikaar as an English for Empowerment facilitator in 2014. Tsering began working as a full time organizer for the Nepali-speaking domestic workers in NY in 2016.
Venerable Liwen Youwangshih Wang followed Venerable Master Hsin Yung, the founder of the Fo Guang Shan International Buddhist Order, learning Buddhism for many years when she was in Taiwan. She was fully ordinated in 2008, at the Order’s North American headquarters, Hsi Lai Temple in Los Angeles, California. Venerable Youwang was a volunteer of FGS Xiang Yun Temple in Austin, Texas for many years. She also joined Buddha’s Light International Association, Austin Chapter and was elected president unanimously by its members. Her professional specialty is in teaching Chinese as second language and early childhood education as she was a teacher for many years in Taiwan and the United States. Venerable Youwang served as the executive director at Buddha’s Light Hsi Lai School for four years and then in 2012, she was assigned to FGS Xiang Yun Temple as director of general affairs. In November 2014, Venerable Youwang was transferred to IBPS New York and since then has served as the temple’s executive director.
