Grace Haddad is the founder of Empower Survivors Now. She is a senior studying English and Neuroscience at Rice University.

Lulie Haddad is an award-winning documentary producer, director, and writer. She has worked mostly on American History films for PBS. Earlier in her career she worked for Blackside, Inc., ABC News, Wall Street Journal Television, VH1 and she has produced films in India and Mexico.

Fabienne Doucet is Executive Director of the NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, and Professor of Early Childhood Education and Urban Education in the department of Teaching and Learning at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. She is also an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for Human Development and Social Change, and Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Born in Spain, raised in Haiti, and migrating to the U.S. at the age of ten, Doucet embodies a hybrid identity that is mirrored in her interdisciplinary approach to examining how immigrant and U.S.-born children of color and their families navigate education in the United States. A critical ethnographer, Doucet specifically studies how taken-for-granted beliefs, practices, and values in the U.S. educational system position linguistically, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse children and families at a disadvantage, and seeks active solutions for meeting their educational needs. Doucet has a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from UNC-Greensboro and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education with fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation.

Ana Gabriela Urizar is an immigration attorney, community advocate, and longtime champion for immigrant and vulnerable communities. Born in Guatemala and having immigrated to the United States as a teenager, she has dedicated much of her legal career to ensuring that immigrants, particularly those facing violence, exploitation, and limited access to legal resources—are able to understand and exercise their rights.

With nearly a decade of experience practicing U.S. immigration law, Ana represents individuals, families, professionals, and businesses across a broad range of immigration matters. A significant part of her service and pro bono work focuses on survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and other serious crimes. She has assisted survivors seeking protection through humanitarian immigration programs, including VAWA, T visas, U visas, asylum, and related forms of relief.

Ana is deeply committed to expanding access to reliable legal information within immigrant communities. She regularly provides pro bono legal consultations, educational workshops, community presentations, and emergency-planning resources designed to help immigrants understand their rights and make informed decisions for themselves and their families. She has also collaborated with the Consulate General of Guatemala in New York to provide legal guidance and immigration assistance to Guatemalan nationals, including individuals facing detention, removal proceedings, family separation, and other urgent immigration concerns.

Adam Brown is the Vice Provost for Research and Associate Professor of Psychology at the New School University, where he directs the Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine. His work focuses on the identification of factors that contribute to mental health issues following exposure to traumatic events and building large-scale capacity for mental health through community-based strategies. His work has been supported by NIH, USAID, Fulbright and numerous private foundations.

Andrea Ciannavei is a TV writer, teacher, EOL Doula and activist. She’s worked on shows which have aired on Netflix, FX Networks, Hulu, NBC, BBC America and Canal Plus and recently optioned her pilot Late Bloomers with Universal TV with Jessica Goldberg. In addition to teaching privately, Andrea has taught master classes and been a guest lecturer at Carnegie Mellon, Chapman University, Snow College and UC San Diego.

For a decade, Andrea worked for the Writers Guild Initiative to produce the Helen Deutsch Writing Workshops: free writing workshops for wounded warriors returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan (as well as their family caregivers) in Colorado, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, New York, Los Angeles, and the American Military Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. That program has expanded to include several more vulnerable communities including death row exonerees, undocumented people and survivors. She also conducted extensive interviews and research about women’s empowerment issues and scores of NGOs involved with that work across Africa, Asia and South America.

As an activist, Andrea centers most of her work around disaster relief, mutual aid and racial equity. She is in the process of earning her certificate as a practicing EOL Doula and was elected to her local Neighborhood Council in 2021 where she serves as Chair of the Public Safety and Outreach Committees.

Education: NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts’ Dramatic Writing Program and went on to Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Playwriting Fellowship 2008-2010.

Makai Knights is currently a university student who’s hoping to one day become a neurologist. He has a passion for performing arts technology, pushing for the world to see different expressions of ideas through song, art, dance, or computer code. Makai loves biomedical engineering, and is always open to learning new things.