Denver

Born and raised in Colorado, Aditi is passionate about making the health system work for every Coloradan, regardless of factors like race, income, and zip code. Aditi is currently a Senior Policy Coordinator on the government affairs team at Children’s Hospital Colorado. In this role, she works on local, state, and federal policy initiatives to elevate the health and well-being of kids and youth across our great state. Topics in her portfolio include health insurance coverage, healthcare access, oral health, injury prevention, food security and active living, marijuana, child health research, and more. Prior to joining Children’s Hospital Colorado, Aditi spent some time championing improvements in access to quality, affordable, and timely health coverage and care for all Coloradans at Center for Health Progress, a Denver-based nonprofit organization. Aditi earned her Bachelor’s degree in sociology from Colorado College, which is where her interest in advancing health equity rose to new heights. Aditi sits on the Board of Aurora Mental Health Center, in addition to participating in a collaborative of like-minded Asian American peers working on social justice. When Aditi is not poring over statutory language and adding members of Congress to speed dial in her phone, she is spending time with loved ones, reading, and model minority myth-busting.

Alejandro is a State government professional with experience in health law, health care, alternative dispute resolution, and community engagement. He is from Miami, FL and is a second-generation immigrant with parents from Colombia and Kashmir.

Alejandro holds a J.D. from CU-Boulder Law School and a B.A from the University of Miami. Alejandro is working to refine his program design approaches, directed toward under-served populations to improve community outcomes, via low or zero-cost means.

Ali works in Communications and Development at the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition and CIRC Action Fund. She graduated summa cum laude from Colorado Christian University where she studied Communications, Political Science, and Philosophy as a Daniels Fund Scholar. Ali considers her upbringing in a fundamentalist, Evangelical Christian and staunchly conservative mountain community just outside Denver, the fire that forged many of her personal passions and motivated her professional pursuits.

Her thirst for knowledge and curiosity about the world led her to study abroad at the University of Oxford for two semesters where she was selected among her cohort to receive the de Jager prize for academic excellence during her visiting student academic term. Ali also spent all four years of college traveling across the U.S. on her university’s forensics team where she served as team president, led her team to their record-best national ranking--top 4, and personally won multiple national championships in varied styles of speech and debate.

Ali’s proclivity to question the world around her also led her into political activism, beginning on her university campus--one of the top 10 most conservative universities in America. Recognizing the work to be done in her own life and immediate context, Ali co-lead her university’s student body in initiatives to encourage systemic change by the administration...seeking to motivate greater equity, transparency, and opportunity within the university system, especially for students of color. Her passions for racial and gender justice also moved her to volunteer and freelance with nonprofits serving individuals facing discrimination and homelessness in Colorado.

When an unexpected health issue prevented her from pursuing service in the Peace Corps, Ali found her skills and passions aligned with the mission and values of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, as they seek statewide systemic change to benefit immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ+ folx, refugees, and asylum seekers throughout Colorado.

When she’s not traveling or exploring the great outdoors, Ali enjoys exploring Denver's art and street art, taking photos, and discovering new coffee shops. The fight for justice and compassion is a lifelong commitment and one in which Ali seeks constant opportunity to cultivate in her own life and home state. As one of her favorite quotes reads: “There’s some good in this world…and it’s worth fighting for.”

Amanda was born and raised in Mexico City, where she got her undergraduate degree in International Relations. Her passion for understanding the dynamics of entertainment, culture, and international politics led her to pursue a Master of Public Diplomacy from the University of Southern California. During her time at USC, she served as the President of the USC Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars and got involved in community building activities between her peers and faculty and practitioners of public diplomacy.

Avid to gain more knowledge about media processes, she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Media Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Some of her research focuses on the use of video games as tools to foster empathy for peacebuilding, paying special attention to fair representation and diversity among different cultures. Another side of her research explores religious institutions and their use of digital media for diplomatic activities.

Amanda was a Research Analyst for the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands, which brings together world leaders in intimate and solution-driven meetings to address national and global issues. This experience gave her the opportunity to explore ways in which her research interests can have an impact on policy making. She is a strong believer in the power of media to promote progressive values and engage different generations across different platforms, which is why she wants to put her research skills to work outside of the academic environment. She hopes to work as a cultural consultant for educational projects within the entertainment industry and nonprofit organizations. Amanda is a city gal who enjoys doing arts and crafts (she’s now really into watercolor), going to museums, and a nice sunset from a rooftop. She misses Mexican food.

Amy has been built her career around campaigns that advance progressive goals in the public and private sector. Currently, Amy is the Campaigns Director for State Policy Advisors, where she manages campaign investments to deliver large-scale impact across multiple issue areas. She previously managed Gail Schwartz’s Congressional campaign in Colorado’s 3rd District and served as Associate Director at Quad Learning, a venture-backed startup that partnered with community colleges to offer transfer support programs.

Amy is grateful for Denver’s sense of community, the growing list of places to buy coffee, and mountain adventures. She is a graduate of Colorado College and a proud alum of Denver Public Schools.

Bryce has over a decade of experience bringing diverse stakeholders together to explore solutions to complex problems.  As a participant of the Public Interest Research Group’s Green Corps program, Bryce engaged with stakeholders on issues varying from livestock marketing in North Dakota, defending California’s global warming legislation, elevating concerns around the Keystone XL pipeline in Houston, and ran a door-to-door canvass in Pennsylvania to protect local streams.  As staff with the Sierra Club, Bryce created community mapping and analysis tools used nationally by the organization and were leveraged to deploy the successful Ready for 100 Campaign in Colorado with involvement in ten community commitments. In the aftermath of the 2013 Colorado floods, Bryce was able to rapidly bring together a Flood Recovery Weekend with dozens of partners and hundreds of participants to support clean-up efforts.  Bryce’s community engagement has been extensive, from hosting statewide conferences with hundreds of attendees in Virginia, North Dakota, and Colorado to serving on local boards including the Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods regional neighborhood organization and Denver Mayor Hancock’s Sustainability Advisory Council. Bryce believes creating an inclusive space to ensure all stakeholders feel like they’re being heard and are able to contribute is essential in building a foundation for collaboration, while ensuring a just and equitable transition to a more sustainable future.

Choolwe Mandona is an enthusiastic and impact-driven civil chemical engineer who currently works in the realm of water supply infrastructure development, water disinfection, water reuse, wastewater treatment, pollution remediation and hazardous waste management. Choolwe was born and raised in the country of Zambia with her parents and two siblings. After graduating from high school, Choolwe moved to the United States to pursue a college education. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude, from Miami University of Ohio and Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. While in college, Choolwe pursued her passion for international-based humanitarian engineering with a water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) focus. She was actively involved in Engineers without Borders (EWB) working on projects based in Rwanda and Ecuador. She also pursued an internship in Rwanda where she participated in a government-supported nationwide campaign in distributing water filters and cook stoves. Upon her return, she led the efforts in hosting the 3rd Annual Colorado Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Symposium at the University of Colorado-an event that hosts WASH enthusiasts from different parts of the US and the world to discuss strategies in alleviating the global water challenges. In her current position with Golder Associates Inc., a global environmental engineering firm, Choolwe serves industrial clientele addressing their water-related needs and challenges. Her passion for global connectedness, engineering and leadership has led Choolwe to be a part of multiple organizations that include WorldDenver (WD), National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), Rotary Club WASH Committee, Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and United Nations Association (UNA).

Choolwe currently serves as the Vice President of the Membership Committee of the WD Young Professionals Board and the Secretary of the NSPE Central Chapter Executive Board. Her overarching vision is summarized by Mahatma Ghandi’s quote “be the change you wish to see in the world”. Choolwe would like to see more women in the engineering and leadership arenas creating impactful change in their societies. Outside her pursuits, Choolwe feeds her soul through travel, reading, exercising, cooking, dancing, laughing, spending time with God, family and friends.

Dalia is a natural born leader and entrepreneur. She was born in Mexico and raised in Denver, CO. Placing a high value in education, she is the first in her family to obtain a bachelor’s degree from Metropolitan State University of Denver in business administration and management. Currently, she works with families in private education. At an early age, Dalia discovered a great passion for entrepreneurship and founded a commercial cleaning business and a real estate investment company. Overcoming the challenges of starting a business from the ground up, she has learned the importance of having a support system. In her most recent endeavor, she co-founded Superate Mujer International and Empremart. The two ventures share the mission of helping young entrepreneurs promote and sell their products while offering education to help them grow their business together as a community.
 

Ivana Bejaran is the Parent Organizer for Stand for Children Colorado working on early literacy efforts and empowering parents to get more involved in their communities and schools. She graduated from Manhattanville College in 2016 with a Bachelors Dual-Degree in International Studies and Communications, which led her to find the world of organizing through fundraising canvassing in the streets of New York City for an environmental non-profit. After she graduated she took a job with Change Corps, a one-year training academy for activists, where she got to travel to Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Washington to work on short -term high impact campaigns to turn registered voters out to vote, protect the affordable care act, raise awareness and protect consumer financial protections, raise awareness and stop the global gap rule, and raise funds to protect waterways in our country.

Being raised in the Dominican Republic she saw a lot of gender, age, and income-based discrimination and disparity on access to quality health care, social services but more importantly quality education. She aspires to be able to work on development projects in the Dominican Republic to improve the public-school system and build a more inclusive society giving every citizen of the Dominican Republic a fair chance to succeed in a competitive job economy.

Kathy Staats is a public health policy professional who is thrilled to be joining the New Leaders Council. She currently holds the position of Prevention & Policy Specialist at the Tri-County Health Department, supporting municipal-level chronic disease prevention policy processes. Starting in this area of work as a teen advocate, she draws on her background in substance abuse prevention and coalition building to inform the community-oriented way she approaches advocacy and education. A lifelong self-proclaimed “theatre kid”, she also feels passionately about bringing stage skills to the public health advocacy and storytelling sphere. Having just moved to Boulder in summer 2018, she continues to try and live out her motto of blooming where she is planted.

Lela grew up in Jackson, Missouri, and graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After graduation, Lela served as an AmeriCorps member with both City Year and Public Allies in Miami, FL.  During her time in AmeriCorps and experiencing the many injustices in America’s classrooms firsthand, she became deeply committed to the pursuit of educational equity for all. Upon completing her two years of service, Lela combined her love for the outdoors and teaching by becoming an outdoor education instructor.  She would go on to spend the next seven years teaching high adventure programming and science-based curriculum in California, Colorado, and Vermont. After zig-zagging across the U.S., an opportunity brought her back to Denver to stay. In her current role, she manages and oversees teacher recruitment for Rocky Mountain Prep, a network of public charter elementary schools located throughout the Denver Metro area.

Lela has a desire to connect individuals with one another insisting that if we take the time to learn about one another, we will be reminded of what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from. In her free time, Lela enjoys hiking, traveling, witty banter, good food, good people and catching a great film.

Matt grew up in Maryland and Oklahoma and has lived or spent substantial time working in 14 states on both coasts, in the South and throughout the Midwest. In 2014, Matt founded Reamy Consulting Group offering capacity to school districts, charter networks, and education non-profits to grow their impact. He began to offer support hiring, training, and retaining great, diverse talent. In this time, Matt saw a special need for a range of discrete and affordable talent services for organizations, which led to the creation of RCG Talent Solutions. Reamy Consulting Group’s past and present clients include Alliance College Ready Schools, the ASPCA, Breakthrough Collaborative, the Chamberlin Family Foundation, College Track, Ednovate Schools, Hiawatha Academies, IDEA Public Schools, Intercare Therapy, the NYU Steinhardt Virtual Teaching Residency,  Teach For America, The Mission Continues, The University of Arkansas, and United Friends of the Children.
 

Matt began his career as a Teach For America corps member leading his middle school students to more than three and a half years of reading level growth over two years. He joined the campus-based teacher recruitment team at Teach For America, managing over 200 full-time and part-time recruiters to successfully enlist thousands of college students to join the Teach For America program as teaching corps members from 2007 through 2012. Matt transitioned to a role as a TFA business partner in which he supported 50 fundraising, teacher placement, and operations staff in eight regions across the Midwest and South.

Matt has met kind and loving people everywhere and believes in this country’s potential to find a bright future. He enjoys hiking, yoga, reading, and skiing. Matt earned his bachelor's degree at the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Michael was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. After struggling for over a decade with heroin and alcohol use and time spent incarcerated, he began his journey of recovery. Upon entering recovery, Michael resumed a successful career in tech start-ups and after volunteering locally, decided to shift his career towards helping people who use drugs and reforming drug/healthcare policy.  Following his experiences and success working in the treatment community, he transitioned into a role with Young People in Recovery, a national grassroots advocacy organization, as a community organizer and volunteer coordinator.

Today Michael serves as YPR’s Communications & Chapter Director where he coordinates external communications, public relations and directs the organization's volunteer leadership teams across the country. In addition to his work with YPR developing community organizing and advocacy efforts, Michael has served on Alkermes Inspiration Grant review board, serves with several Denver-area Recovery Courts and serves on the Denver Sheriff’s Department Advisory Board. He is currently pursuing his BA in political science. In his personal time, Michael enjoys spending time reading, painting, traveling and enjoying Colorado’s outdoors with his wife Kasha and their dogs Chula and Petey.

Michael is a chartered accountant with background in finance, economics, public administration and professional experience in banking and public sector. He has skill sets in financial analysis, due diligence, audit, budget analysis, financial statistical analysis, research, transaction structuring, project risk analysis, capital project & asset finance. Michael worked for Standard Bank Group where he led risk-based audit engagements and later with the bank’s finance team on capital lease, debt structuring, credit and asset finance transactions for small & medium enterprises, corporations, public agencies and state governments. He also had a brief stint with the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity as a Research Analyst with Policy Development, Planning and Research department.  

Academically, he holds a Master of Science degree in Finance & Economic Development from the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom and a Master of Public Administration degree with a distinction from the University of Illinois Springfield. Professionally, Michael is a member of the American Economic Association and the Royal Economic Society, United Kingdom. Outside of his professional work, Michael volunteers for National Model United Nations where he help write conference background guides on sustainable development, climate change; facilitate debates and lead sessions at the annual New York conference.

Sarah Al-Haj is a First Grade Teacher with Denver Public Schools and strongly believes that the purpose of education is social justice. After graduating with a BS in Nursing from James Madison University, she joined the United States Peace Corps. Sarah served as a Community Health Empowerment and Promotion volunteer and worked with staff at the health center to develop programs to prevent non communicable diseases in her community. During her time with the Peace Corps, Sarah planned curriculum to engage students in practicing a healthy lifestyle, helped organize a female empowerment camp for high school students, and built lasting relationships with community members through cultural exchange. After serving two years in the Peace Corps, Sarah extensively started to question the systems that exist in her own society. She pursued a Master’s Degree in Education with a specific focus on culturally responsive pedagogy. Sarah has dedicated her career to figuring out how to make the education system more equitable for the diverse population of students in her community. She started her teaching career at Denver Center for International Studies at Fairmont Elementary where she embedded social justice into her daily lessons. After spending two years there, Sarah wanted to learn more about her community so she moved to Ellis Elementary where she is currently a first grade teacher. Ellis is a multicultural community where Sarah enjoys teaching and learning from her students. Sarah truly believes that every student is worthy of a purposeful, high-quality education that allows them to be change-makers in their communities.

Shaun Don tha TRUTH (Teach Resilience Utilizing The Heart) is a Denver based Hiphop Artist, Educator, and MC. Heavily influenced by his native Oakland, Cali roots, Shaun blends West Coast style with East Coast understanding. A 2018 Youth On Record Fellowship award winner, Shaun cultivates spaces for community dialogue to address love, self-identity, trauma and mental health through workshops engaging poetics and music. During his studies at Kansas State University, Shaun first began to organize students as critical thinkers of systematic oppression. He has worked with youth at risk since 2014 as an intensive mentor, educator, and community leader. Shaun is currently a co-host and production assistant for the podcast My Youth On Record, "where artists share the music they created as teens". With hopes to bring awareness to the mental health and love of Black Men and Black Boys, Shaun Don will be releasing his debut album and poetry project Roots of a Black Rose in late Spring 2019. Shaun challenges perceptions of western masculinity as a Black Son of his bi-racial mother and white Gramma, while attempting to understand the absence of his Father and Grandfathers. There are countless battles of depression, suicide, and love intertwined through truthtelling. Please consider joining Shaun in the movement towards peace, forgiveness, and Truth.

A native of Nicaragua, Tatiana is a lifelong environmentalist and outdoor enthusiast. She moved to the US in 2000 amidst the national debate on how the US would handle the changing climate. Tatiana graduated from Florida International University in Miami with a degree in Environmental Studies and minors in Chemistry and Hydrology. She spent two years working as an environmental consultant with a multinational company where she gained firsthand understanding of how public policy incentivizes behavior in the private sector. Through her work, Tatiana was deployed as an environmental first responder during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill which inspired her to transition to public service and pursue further education in the field of environmental economics. Tatiana spent one year as an AmeriCorps volunteer in Tucson assisting at-risk youth develop paths towards completing their high school education and envision future career options.  With the financial support of the US Department of Agriculture National Needs Fellowship, Tatiana earned a masters degree in Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Over the last six years, Tatiana has dedicated herself to public service working as an economist for the National Park Service. As one of the few economists in the bureau, Tatiana conducts economic analysis related to preserving the outstanding national natural and cultural resources while balancing public access for enjoyment, education and inspiration.

Tatiana is an active member of the community and volunteers with various organizations including Metro Caring, Denver Food Rescue, Lutheran Family Services of the Rocky Mountains, Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver, WalkDenver and Family Promise. When not working, Tatiana enjoys reading hiking, meeting friends over coffee, and hosting large dinner parties.

Uriel Berrum recently relocated to Denver and has become active in policy and local politics. Before joining Effct as Partner, Uriel worked on state tax and revenue policy as a fellow with Urban Leaders Fellowship. He brings experience in politics, policy, and finance to his current role at Effct where he is the business development lead. He works in tandem with the CEO to develop and implement winning digital strategies for the company’s clients.

In late 2018, Uriel co-founded, Building the Bench, a small donor committee in the State of Colorado in order to help elect Latinx candidates, progressive candidates of color, and first time candidates of color. For the 2018 midterms, Building the Bench monetarily helped 9 Latinas in Colorado get elected across the state.

Uriel spent over two years working in finance with Goldman Sachs. Uriel served as a risk analyst covering a wide range of industries including: aerospace and defense, manufacturing, shipping, and transportation. He also covered municipal entities on the Public finance team covering state and local government, higher education, healthcare, and public utilities. While at Goldman, Uriel participated in various high level committees coordinating with local teams and federal regulators as a part of the Shared National Credit Examination. He helped the firm develop a new rating methodology that addressed the changes to public accounting practices on pension plans. He was also a member of the Steering Committee for the office-wide Hispanic and Latino Network.

Uriel graduated from the University of Denver (DU) with a B.A. in Economics, Public Policy and his personal favorite, a minor in Philosophy. He earned his degree with distinction for writing his undergraduate senior thesis: Closing the Achievement Gap: A Look into Hispanic Underperformance in Educational Opportunity where he analyzed the historical, cultural, and economic factors contributing to the low high school Latino graduation rates in the United States. Uriel Berrum is a native Coloradan, his parents are both natives of Mexico, and he was the first in family to earn a college degree. Uriel enjoys traveling, exercising, reading philosophy, and staying active in the community. He is U.S. history enthusiast and enjoys learning about the post WW2 era.

Val is a native New Yorker, new resident of Colorado, and staunch advocate for environmental justice. She attended the State University of New York at New Paltz, where she earned her BS in Biology with an Environmental concentration. After presenting the results of her research at conferences like the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, she developed a deepened understanding of adverse health effects of air and water pollution on a wide range of health conditions. This solidified her commitment to advocate for sustainable and responsive public policies.  

She went on to earn her MPH in Environmental Health and to complete the Fellowship on Women and Public Policy at the State University of New York at Albany. Through her placement at the Department of Environmental Conservation in the Division of Water and NYC Watershed, she implemented The Pilot Pharmaceutical Take-Back Program, managing over 242 pharmacies and informing lawmakers on the Drug Take Back Law, which was passed in July 2018. Upon her move to Colorado, Val immersed herself in politics and worked on the Colorado Democratic Party's Coordinated Campaign as a Field Organizer in Adams County. At the core of her work is a deep appreciation the beauty of nature and belief in human responsibility to protect and preserve it for future generations as well as to effectively mitigate the impact of human activity on environmental health and public health outcomes.

Outside of her passion for advocacy and the environment, Val also enjoys teaching trauma-informed yoga classes and exploring new activities. As of late, Val can be found playing the violin with her novice hands, exploring new recipes in her kitchen, relishing in the beauty of Coloradan trails, or tackling NY Times crossword puzzles.