ASTRAEA FOUNDATION - Key Persons
Alejandra Sardá-Chandiramani is a sexual rights activist. Because the full realization of sexual rights for all is inseparable from a fair economic and social order, Alejandra is also an activist against Neoliberalism, even when it disguises itself as progressive. Alejandra has a long trajectory of activism in different spaces, from the streets to the UN and feminist funders and continues to visit all of them. Alejandra is part of Akahatá - Equipo de Sexualidades y Genero and currently pursuing post-graduate studies on Human Rights (UNLP, Argentina). Alejandra is also a translator, writes novels and sings Uruguayan murga. Alejandra is married to Radhika Chandiramani, lives in Buenos Aires and has two feline life companions.
Alicia A. Wallace is a human rights defender with expertise in gender, public educator, and nonprofit consultant from The Bahamas. She is the Director of Equality Bahamas -- which promotes women's rights as human rights through advocacy and community engagement -- and a Caribbean Advisor for FRIDA Young Feminist Fund. Alicia is particularly interested in issues of identity, power, and privilege, committed to uprooting systems of oppression, and passionate about activating the feminist imagination. She produces The Culture RUSH monthly newsletter, tweets as @_AliciaAudrey, and always has a forthcoming project, toolkit, or paper.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, U.S. Fund
- Her Associate Director, U.S. Fund
Allie Phillips-Shinn grew up queer in Oklahoma, and it is her experience struggling to thrive in the U.S. bible belt that has continued to drive her activism today. With over 15 years experience in progressive movements, Allie's work is driven by the core belief that it is our communities, not our systems, that can and will create the radical future we deserve. It is that guiding principle that draws her to the Southern Anchors Fund now.
In addition to her professional activism, Allie is a photographer, almost always found with a camera or two on hand. In her free time she reads, camps, grows food, and spends time with her artist wife, her five step children, and her big, beautiful, extremely queer family of choice, all of whom are working in some way to build a better world.
Job Titles:
- Her Staff Learning and Development Coordinator
For six decades, Acey Honoree Angela Bowen has pursued her passions - dance, activism, writing and teaching- influencing and inspiring untold numbers. She trained and taught at the legendary Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in Roxbury from 14 to 22. Her talent and skills enabled her to dance professionally and establish the Bowen Peters School of Dance in inner city New Haven, Connecticut, which she ran with her husband for nearly two decades. Bowen learned what it meant to be a strong woman from her dance mentor and her mother. In the 1970s, she discovered Feminism, especially the work of poet warrior, Audre Lorde, convincing her to follow a new life path. Bowen became an out Black Lesbian feminist both nationally and internationally and was one of the first recipients of a Ph.D. in Women's Studies at Clark University. Dr. Bowen is an Audre Lorde Scholar and has written and spoken about the connections between and across social justice movements. She retired from teaching in the department of Women's Studies at California State University where she taught for 13 years. Dr. Bowen's Dissertation: "Who Said it was Simple: Audre Lorde's Complex Connections to Three U.S. Liberation Movements, 1952-1992" is the first dissertation about Audre Lorde. The final chapter "All These Liberations" is included in Lambda Award-winning The Wind is Spirit: The Life, Love, and Legacy of Audre Lorde, a bio/anthology by Gloria I. Joseph.
The following interview on Angela Bowen's life and legacy was fulfilled by her partner, the feminist filmmaker, Jennifer Abod. To learn more about Abod and her documentary, The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen, please visit Women Make Movies, Abod's Facebook page or the documentary's Facebook page.
I first saw Angela in July 1979 in New Haven, Connecticut. She was a speaker at rally after a citywide candle-lit Take Back the Night march protesting violence against women.
Annie Gonzaga is a black, lesbian, mother who grew up in the favela in Salvador Bahia, known as one of the most racist and most dangerous cities for LBTQ people in the world.
Annie Gonzaga is a black, lesbian, mother who grew up in the favela in Salvador Bahia, known as one of the most racist and most dangerous cities for LBTQ people in the world. She is a practitioner of Candomblé and lives in the outskirts of Salvador. About her creative practice, Annie states, "I have been resisting and practicing survival for the last 500 years through all my ancestors who have preceded me." She began to draw at a young age in response to the overt policing of her community and the violence that surrounded her. Annie states, "through art I can understand myself as whole. I can't publicly assume my religious identity because the public space is dangerous, nor leave my lesbianism locked in the closet because I can suffer lesbophobia on the street, much less undress my color, to finally be accepted, loved and then love myself. These are identities that are with me all the time and in everything I do. And through artivism I could see myself. To create an epistemology, through our ancestral heritages, is to glimpse the Afrofuturist black identity, diasporic utopia re-cognizing our cosmologies and identities. And all this is what I try to express in my art whether on paper or on a wall."
Astraea donor Alice Hom is a historian and community builder invested in bridging diverse and overlapping communities. She served on Astraea's board during the early 00's, and now serves on the boards of the Los Angeles Commission on the Status of Women, California Humanities, and Borealis Philanthropy.
THE ASTRAEA LESBIAN FOUNDATION FOR JUSTICE is the only philanthropic organization working exclusively to advance LGBTQI human rights around the globe. We support brilliant and brave grantee partners in the U.S and internationally who challenge oppression and seed change. We work for racial, economic, social, and gender justice, because we all deserve to live our lives freely, without fear, and with dignity.
Job Titles:
- French - Lebanese Freelance Illustrator
Job Titles:
- Her Vice President of Operations
Beldan Sezen is an artist who uses drawing, collage, and text. She has given workshops and master classes, participated in comic jams and exhibitions in Amsterdam, London, Berlin, Wiesbaden, New York, Beirut, Istanbul and Aleppo. Her previous graphic novels were Zakkum and #GeziPark. Her graphic memoir Snapshots of a Girl was listed in the 2016 ALA Over The Rainbow list. She has been awarded with the 2015 Astraea Global Arts Fund Award for her Turkey based project Butch It Up!. Her latest book To Separate The Body From The Machine is part of the New York Public Library and The Library of Congress special artbooks collections. Born in Germany to Turkish parents, she currently lives in Amsterdam.
Job Titles:
- Chief of Strategic Initiatives
- Her Chief of Strategic Initiatives
Biola Odunewu is a multi-channel communications specialist and entrepreneur with 15 years of experience in strategy, operations, marketing, and product development. For more than a decade and prior to joining Astraea, she owned and managed a successful and popular neighborhood cafe in Brooklyn providing a haven for food, a safe space for ideas or the solitary cup of coffee. Before that, she worked as a writer and executive producer for a wide range of traditional and new media platforms (both national and international), including CNN, ABC and HyperTV Networks, creating featured stories and content, interactive programming for live weekly broadcasts and more. Biola received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism (with a concentration in International News and Politics) from Georgia State University. She is originally from Nigeria and has lived in New York for 25 years. In addition to English, Biola speaks Yoruba.
Brenda Joyce Crawford has been in the thick of social justice work for over five decades. She's an unapologetic butch woman who comes from a blue collar working class background in the U.S. South. A great deal of her career has been spent promoting values-based leadership in order to create safe and welcoming environments where the richness of the information that resides within all communities can emerge and be appreciated and included in the planning or change processes. She has worked with such groups as Mental Health Consumer Concerns and Progressive Research & Planning for Action, and has won numerous awards for her community work and her work supporting those with experiences of alcohol and substance abuse, including the California Legislature Assembly Certificate of Recognition for Front Line Work, and Certificates of Recognition and Appreciation from Congresswoman Barbara Lee and U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer.
Crawford now lives in Vallejo, California and does work focusing on cannabis justice via the organization Senior-Cann, a cannabis education and healthy living membership for seniors that seeks to break the stigma associated with medical cannabis and aging.
Job Titles:
- Program Coordinator for InterACT
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Partnerships
- Her Associate Director, Partnerships
Britt is a queer feminist, born and raised in the American South, with over 10 years of experience working to advance human rights. Britt is committed to supporting a feminist philanthropic model that strives to shift power back to communities and their expertise. After receiving her Master of Public Policy from Duke University, Britt joined Global Fund for Women as the Economic Justice Program Officer, where she managed the portfolio's grantmaking and supported the organization in developing a climate justice strategy.
Life and work have led Britt to living for extended periods in South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Washington, DC, the Republic of Kazakhstan, and now New York City--which feels like a wonderful combination of all of the above. When she's not working, you can find Britt enjoying a Broadway show, scoring big in pub trivia, or attempting to surf at Rockaway Beach (attempt being the operative word).
Chantal Partamian was born in 1984 in Beirut, Lebanon. She currently works in film production and has directed a few short films and documentaries, which have been shown at different projections and events in France. Most of her work is done with digital video, super 8 mm and 16mm. Chantal is also a founding member of two amazing organisations Meem and Nasawiya both in Lebanon. In her own words: "I consider myself a feminist because I believe in equal opportunities and rights. Gender equality is essential for me and I believe in autonomy and body integrity."
Chivuli Ukwimi is an African trans activist and an international development and public health specialist with extensive experience in program development, grant-making, and philanthropy. She is the current deputy director of the International Trans Fund. Chivuli has also managed multiple grant-making and philanthropy portfolios within various public and private foundations including OSF's Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and Hivos Southern Africa. Other organizations include Outright and Population Services International (PSI) in Zambia.
Chivuli is a current board member of IRANTI and has previously served as a founding board member of African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHeR) and board chair for Dignitate Zambia. Chivuli has qualifications in development studies, public health, development finance, international relations, and diplomacy from Africa's top universities with a wealth of experience in developing and implementing social and health justice programs for marginalized and inadequately served groups across Africa and the globe.
Job Titles:
- Her Grants Management Officer
Job Titles:
- Her Associate Director of Grants Management & Compliance
Eleanor Palacios, now retired, lives in San Francisco where she continues her activism by volunteering for The Chicana Latina Foundation, OpenHouse, and Puente de la Costa Sur. The Chicana Latina Foundation is an organization whose mission is to empower Chicanas/Latinas through personal, educational, and professional advancement. OpenHouse provides housing, services, and community programs for LGBT seniors. Puente is a resource center on the South Coast that provides services for the farmworkers and their families. In 2003, Eleanor joined the Board of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, transferring over as an employee, to Events Manager, three years later. She continued her position at NCLR until 2013. In 2002 when the San Francisco LGBT Center opened its doors, Eleanor quickly volunteered once a week at the reception desk. It was at this time that she saw a need for more LGBT Latinos to get involved in this new Community Center. She along with 3 friends founded the Latino Forum, a space for LGBT Latinos to meet and gather, plan social events, and be a part of this new Center. The Latino Forum continued for 3 years, with special celebrations promoting Cinco de Mayo and Dia de los Muertos. Also in February of 2002 under the name of Lady Iguana Productions, Eleanor produced and created, Riquisimo, an all-Latina lesbian review of comedy, music, spoken word, art, and dance performance. She also served on the board of Astraea between 2009 - 2011. From 1992 until now, Eleanor has also worked part time for Olivia Travel.
Job Titles:
- Her Associate, Institutional Partnerships
Job Titles:
- Him Director of Communications
Fanny (Cata) Gomez-Lugo is a feminist, activist, human rights lawyer and academic. She has been an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center (GULC) in Washington DC since 2012, where she teaches courses on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity/expression and sexual and reproductive rights. She is the Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy with Synergía - Initiatives for Human Rights, a cross-regional NGO. She was the human rights specialist at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in charge of coordinating the execution of the legal work, projects, and the activities of the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Persons (2012-2016). She is originally from Venezuela, where she obtained her law degree (Juris Doctor equivalent) (UCAB, 2003). She earned a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree with a focus in international law (McGill University, Canada, 2006). On a scholarship from the University of Chile, she pursued graduate studies on the human rights of women (2007). She completed the Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program (WLPPFP) at GULC (Washington DC, 2009). She is the author to several publications in the areas of sexuality, gender, and international human rights law.
Job Titles:
- Her Manager, Institutional Partnerships
Job Titles:
- She / Her Associate Director of Development, Individual Giving
Join us on December 13, 2018 for a special live reading of Casablanca with Writer/Director Jason Reitman and Academy Award nominated actor Elliot Page! All proceeds will benefit Astraea.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Her Executive Director
Job Titles:
- Executive Director at ILGA World
Julia Ehrt (she/her) is the Executive Director at ILGA World, assuming the role as of November 2021. She previously served as the organisation's Director of Programs, developing ILGA World 's programmatic work and managing the Programmes team. She is a widely respected LGBTI activist and community leader.
Job Titles:
- Her Development Officer, Institutional Partnerships
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, Astraea 's First Hired Staff
- Her Executive Director Emerita
Job Titles:
- They Communications Associate
Job Titles:
- Deputy Executive Director
Job Titles:
- Her Vice President of Strategic Engagement
Job Titles:
- Her Director, International Fund
On August 30th, Astraea is hosting a community discussion with Mary Hooks, Co-Director of SONG.
Job Titles:
- He Associate Director, International Fund
Job Titles:
- Her Senior Donor Systems and Database Manager
Job Titles:
- Them Program Officer - Africa
Job Titles:
- Her Director of Equity and Belonging
Job Titles:
- She / Her Senior Program Officer, Capacity Strengthening
Rebeca Eunice Vargas (Rebeca Lane) nació en la Ciudad de Guatemala en 1984, en medio de una guerra civil. Desde temprano comenzó a investigar métodos para recuperar la memoria histórica de esos años de guerra, subsecuentemente convirtiéndose en activista por las familias cuyos seres queridos habían sido secuestrados o asesinados por el gobierno militar. A través de este trabajo de organización ella se dio cuenta de que las mujeres tenían menos poder en el liderazgo y así nació su visión feminista. El teatro siempre ha sido parte de su vida; ella actualmente forma parte de un grupo de teatro y Hip Hop que creó La Eskina (2014) para abordar la violencia contra la juventud en regiones marginalizadas de la ciudad, con el uso del grafiti, el rap, el breakdance, pinchar discos (deejaying) y el parkour. Desde 2012, como parte del colectivo de Hip Hop, Última Dosis, comenzó a grabar canciones de rap como un ejercicio de poesía. En 2013, salió su EP "Canto" y ella comenzó una gira por Centroamérica y México. Lane ha participado en muchos festivales y seminarios notables en Centroamérica y Suramérica sobre derechos humanos, el feminismo y la cultura del Hip Hop. En 2014, ganó el concurso Proyecto L, el cual reconoce música que refuerza el derecho de expresión. Además, ella trabaja como socióloga con varias publicaciones y da conferencias sobre culturas urbanas e identidades juveniles y, más recientemente, sobre la educación y su rol en la reproducción social de la inequidad.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Programs
- Her Vice President of Programs
Job Titles:
- Them Communications Officer
Job Titles:
- Them Associate Director of Programs, Intersex Fund
Job Titles:
- They / Them Program Associate, U.S. Fund
Job Titles:
- Him Program Associate, International Fund
Job Titles:
- Her Program Officer for Europe, Central Asia, and Middle East / Southwest Asia
Job Titles:
- Her Associate Director of Operations
Job Titles:
- They / Them Grants Management Officer
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair
- Co - Chair of the Board
Job Titles:
- IYC Communications Coordinator
Job Titles:
- She Program Officer, U.S. Fund