Staff

Christina (she/her) the Midwest Regional Organizer, is from the land known as Columbus, OH but currently resides in Cincinnati, OH.  Growing up, her views on classism, racism and sexism were shaped in part by being raised by a working-class single mother and through her radical elementary education at the Columbus Africentric School.

Curiosity about injustice led her to major in Political Science and Africana Studies at the University of Cincinnati. As a first-generation college student, Africana Studies called students to practice scholar activism which grounds her work today. After graduation, she joined Public Allies Cincinnati which prepared her for roles at the Office of Human Relations, Cincinnati Union Coop Initiative. These roles afforded her the opportunity to be a part of collectives that have published anti-racist educational guides, aided in passage of Indigenous Peoples Day legislation, and pushed Cincinnati closer towards institutionalizing racial and economic equity in the early childhood sector.

Throughout her journey, Brown has been grateful and self-critical and continues to politically evolve thanks to the mentorship of revolutionary Black organizers. Those folks inspired her to complete her Masters in Transformative Education at Miami University in 2018 which continues her pursuit towards becoming a scholar-activist. Christina sees RG as both curious and meaningful in the pursuit of a just and free world and looks forward to amplifying the role of the Midwest in making that world a reality.

Ekundayo (he/him/his) is a Hip Hop educator and grassroots organizer.  He is a lead organizer with the People’s Justice Project focusing on leadership development and the decriminalization of working class people of color. In 2011, Ekundayo was selected as an apprentice with Public Allies where he worked with The Urban League of Greater Cincinnati to facilitate the relationship between parent, school, and community. Additionally, he co-organized a community conversation campaign that addressed the lack of accessible resources for youth. Once the project was complete, he organized a Freedom School site to address the needs of an entire community by using education as a tool for liberation. In 2014, Ekundayo became a member of the National Juvenile Justice Network through the Youth Justice Leadership program where he co-launched a Freedom School program inside of three youth correctional facilities in Ohio from 2014-2016 to decrease the reentry rate and empower system involved youth. Ekundayo‘s work over the past 5 years has primarily focused on implementing prevention, intervention and restorative practices in schools, after-school programs, and in communities of color. He combines organizing, curriculum development, youth and young adult leadership development, and public policy as tools to liberate the African working class and other communities of color.

When Ekundayo is not in radical action, he watches anime, hits the gym, spends time with his fiancé, filling his life with the aesthetics of art (writing, poetry, visual art, dance, etc.) meditation, and trying new afro vegan recipes.

Faisal (he/him) is a queer-identified Muslim activist, speaker and writer, of Pakistani descent. Faisal has worked for social justice since age 19 when he founded Al-Fatiha, an international organization dedicated to supporting and empowering LGBT Muslims. He led the organization as its volunteer director from 1997 – 2003.  Faisal considers himself a global citizen, having grown up in Germany, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and a small town in Connecticut.  He has lived and worked in Boston, Washington, DC, Atlanta (and now New York City), supporting organizations working on HIV/AIDS education & prevention, reproductive rights and reproductive justice, public health and international human rights.  Faisal embodies the intersections of many identities (as an immigrant, a Muslim, a person of color and as a queer man) and he has shared his personal story of resilience and the stories of other LGBT Muslims at more than 150 colleges and universities.  Faisal’s passion lies in bringing people together to share their stories and struggles, and to collectively work towards building a just and equal world.  He enjoys traveling to see his chosen family around the world, dancing to top 40 music, watching the latest Hollywood blockbuster, and trying out new cuisines.

Iimay (they/them) joined the Resource Generation staff as Associate Director in August 2014 and became the Executive Director in January of 2017. They hold a vision for collective liberation in their heart and is passionate about creating and implementing strong organizational systems to turn their vision into reality. Prior to Resource Generation, they spent 3 years as the Director of Operations and Finance at The Management Center where they helped move the organization to the next level of performance.

Born and raised in North Carolina, Iimay was politicized through interning with Southerners on New Ground (SONG), which builds, sustains, and connects a Southern regional base of LGBTQ people in order to transform the region. They moved to the Washington, DC area in 2008 to work for OCA (Organization of Chinese Americans) where they led programming for student leadership development. Iimay is an active member of the DC queer Asian American community and helped organize the Rainbow Dragon Fund, the region’s first grassroots queer Asian American giving circle. They got involved with Resource Generation through the DC chapter by joining a praxis group in 2013 and then organized the first DC people of color praxis group in 2014. Iimay is currently on the board of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. In their free time, Iimay enjoys attending silent meditation retreats, rock climbing, and watching movies with their partner Megan.

Jes (she/her) believes that change is inevitable and transformation is constant. Growing up poor in the Southeast, she also knows that sometimes change doesn’t come fast enough. For the last 5 plus years, Jes has gotten to work with an amazing collaborative of trainers who facilitate workshops on dismantling racism, dR works. Jes is excited to be joining RG’s team from a belief that radical wealth redistribution is a crucial part of creating systemic change. Jes is a birth worker, an auntie, a lover of bad puns and good herbal remedies. She works from her home in rural North Carolina amongst dogwoods and loblolly pines. Jes rarely leaves the house without her dog, a tender heart, and a novel in tow.

Contact me if you would like further information about any of our retreats or events.

Kaitlin (she/her) is based out Los Angeles, CA. Originally from California, she is a lover of a daily outdoor life. Kaitlin is excited to dig in, contribute to the innovative work happening at RG, and to build RG power from the inside-out in the fight for racial and economic justice.

Growing up in the diversity of Los Angeles, CA during controversial education reform helped Kaitlin understand the depths of inequality early in her life and drove her to engage in campaigns and build leadership in community – work that she later understood as organizing.  After college she worked for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), organizing mostly Latina in-home child care providers, leading civic engagement and electoral campaigns, and organizing a worker strike at a well-known hospital in CA. She also worked with grassroots organizations all over the country as a regional organizer with the Center for Community Change (CCC).  At CCC, Kaitlin worked with leaders from diverse grassroots groups locally and nationally to win critically needed changes for immigrant rights, healthcare, and economic justice for low-income people and communities of color. Some of the things that help Kaitlin bring her full self to this work are a daily Ashtanga yoga practice, being in the sun as much as possible, and any excuse to try out a new recipe and share it with others.

Contact me if you want to get involved in campaigns and tax organizing!

Katie (she/her) joined RG staff as the Western Regional Organizer in October 2018 and is based in Los Angeles, CA where she supports the Los Angeles, Bay Area, Portland, and Seattle chapters. Originally from the Bay Area and the Boston area, she found Resource Generation after a long journey of activism and organizing work with Asian Americans at the Claremont Colleges, with low-income and working-class tenants in Los Angeles Chinatown, and in her work in other grassroots Asian American communities fighting for social justice in Los Angeles. As a third generation Chinese American cis-woman who grew up with class privilege in the Bay Area, Katie holds gratitude for RG community and her time as a Los Angeles chapter leader. She is jazzed about RG’s vision of liberation and the role of young people with wealth in getting us all free. When she is not chatting about privilege and wealth redistribution, Katie is eating handmade noodles, going to musicals, or doing last minute craft projects.

Contact me if you want to get involved in Resource Generation and live on the western side of the U.S. (think CA, Pacific Northwest)

keithlee (they/them) grew up in a working class family in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. They are a founding organizer of the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) De-escalation Collective, which trains people in de-escalation strategies to prevent and interrupt state violence. keithlee is committed to organizing at the intersections of disability justice, abolition, racial justice, and poor/working class solidarity. They love listening to podcasts about spirituality, fermenting vegetables, and doodling on post-its. keithlee lives on unceded Nacotchtank (Anacostan) and Piscataway land in Washington, D.C. with their chosen family and their dog, Yuba. 

Maria (she/her) is a communications and media strategist with a background in community organizing. She has developed and implemented strategic communications campaigns to advance progressive policy, shift public opinion, and build power on issues ranging from restaurant workers’ rights and transparency in the food system to environmental regulation and gender justice. As a first-generation college student, with a B.A. degree in Political Science and English from Colorado State University, she is committed to using the power of media to amplify movements led by working-class and poor communities that are advancing racial and economic justice.

For fun, she enjoys reading feminist science/speculative fiction, checking out women-led independent movies, and visiting farmed animal sanctuaries.

Contact me if you are interested in interviewing a member of Resource Generation.

Nadav (he/him) is a multiethnic organizer with Mizrahi (Arab Jewish) and Ashkenazi (Eastern European Jewish) roots. He was born in Jerusalem and grew up in the Bay Area in a professional/managerial class family. For several years, Nadav’s political and spiritual home has been at Kavod, a community that integrates Jewish practice and organizing. He’s led solidarity economy and abolitionist projects, in partnership with organizations such as Boston Ujima Project and Muslim Justice League, and co-facilitates a Jews of Color, Indigenous Jews, Sephardi & Mizrahi (JOCISM) caucus. Before joining staff in April, Nadav first connected with RG Boston in 2017 and participated in Praxis. He previously worked as a financial coach supporting families living in subsidized housing programs. Outside of movement work, he’s nourished by singing in community, making playlists, spending time in the nearby arboretum and watching/playing basketball. 

Nora (she/her) joined RG in January 2019 as the High Net Wealth and Family Philanthropy Coordinator. She was born in DC, raised in the Colorado mountains and has come back to DC as her home. She was politicized in the environmental justice movement and has deep respect for land and indigenous peoples from whom it was stolen. The student climate movement taught her about disruption, working in faith-based advocacy showed her the possibility of transforming institutions, and organizing white people to flank the Movement for Black Lives taught her about solidarity, risk, and rigor. As a young person with class privilege, Resource Generation showed her how to be honest with her community and invest in movements like she believes we’ll win. She is also a baker, an artist, and curates queer events that end before 10 pm.

Etta (she/her) is the daughter of loving, working-class parents who labored the land in Mississippi and in factories on the South side of Chicago. Shonettia has worked extensively at the intersections of wellness and social justice: she was a crisis worker for survivors of domestic violence at a hospital and trauma center, led the creation of the inaugural wellness program for the Chicago Freedom School, was a founding member of the Incite! Chicago chapter, and has written policy to improve health education and resources in public schools. She has collectively organized conferences and hosted events highlighting the lives of political prisoners and state-sanctioned violence, and led workshops and retreats focused on the liberatory practice of love and healing.

Etta received her Master’s in Health Arts & Sciences from Goddard College, where she researched black women’s reproductive health, resilience, and magic. She is grateful for being radicalized by mostly queer women of color and is motivated by her love for sassy black girls who stand on sidewalks with their hands on their hips.

Now residing in Philadelphia near the Wissahickon Park which she visits a few times a week, Etta finds spirit in House music, dancing, international travel, and the ocean, and gets excited when she meets people who can appreciate her 80’s sitcom and music references.

Yahya (they/them) comes to Social Justice work out of a deep sense of love for their family and community and a need for our collective liberation to be possible. Keenly interesting to them is how we build meaningful equity alongside agency; they feel like relationships across difference are a key part of making that happen. Philadelphia, un-ceded Lenni Lenape territory, is where they live and love. Outside of Resource Generation, they are very involved in their cooperative housing community, the Life Center Association (LCA) and sit on the board of Philly’s social justice foundation, Bread and Roses Community Fund. When they close their computer, they can be found cooking for friends, being overly-confident at board games, or lost in thought in their car before getting out at their destination

Contact me if you live one of our chapter cities and want to get involved or if you are a young person of color with wealth looking to get involved.