Judy Goldberger is a member of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting (New England Yearly Meeting) and of the Boston New Sanctuary Movement, an interfaith immigrant justice coalition. Her heart was first broken open working as a Birth Sister (doula) in Boston's immigrant communities.
Aarati Kasturirangan is a program officer for the Integration and Impact Unit of AFSC. Her name is pronounced Arthi Kus-thu-ree-run-gun. She was born in New Delhi, India; raised in Wilmington, Del.; became an activist, wife, Ph.D., and mother in Chicago; stayed home with her kids in D.C.; and has now settled in Philladelphia. She blogs about identity (aaratikasturirangan.wordpress.com), sings as much as possible, and tells dumb jokes with her kids.
Tai Amri Spann-Wilson is a preschool teacher and youth minister in Lawrence, Kansas. He has deep roots in Philadelphia and among Quakers, ignites a fire in those around him with his messages about radical change, the edges of poverty, racism, spiritual depth and transformation, and the remarkable grace of humanity. He has a degree from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and studied theology at the Pacific School of Religion. He served as a co-pastor of a Disciples of Christ Church in Oakland, California for two years during the height of the Occupy Movement.
Niyonu Spann is the director of the music group Tribe 1 and creator of Beyond Diversity 101, a five-day intensive experience grounded in faith that brings people together to acknowledge and manifest oneness. Read an interview with her or read more at her website.
Max Carter just completed a long tenure as director of Friends Center at Guilford College. Max is a recorded Friends minister with interests in the Middle East, the Amish, conscientious objection, and Quaker history. His graduate studies at the Earlham School of Religion and Temple University were in campus ministry and American religious history.
Laura Magnani served as director of AFSC’s Bay Area Healing Justice Program in California and has worked on criminal justice issues since 1971. She received her BA from the University of California in ethnic studies in 1971 and an MA from the Pacific School of Religion in 1982. She has worked on criminal justice issues for AFSC since 1989.
Lori Fernald Khamala is the director of the North Carolina Immigrant Rights Program for the American Friends Service Committee in Greensboro. A native of North Carolina, she grew up in the Charlotte Friends Meeting and later studied Spanish at Guilford College and spent time in Guadalajara, Mexico. She spent nearly eight years advocating for the rights of migrant and seasonal farmworkers in North Carolina and mobilizing the faith and secular community to support farmworker justice.
Scilla Wahrhaftig has a long history of Quaker activism, in England, Zimbabwe and the US. In November 2001 she spent nine months as staff for the Quaker United Nations Office in New York working on the issues arising from 9/11. Since 2003 she has been working as staff Program Director for the American Friends Service Committee Pennsylvania Office. Scilla is a member of Pittsburgh Friends Meeting in Pennsylvania.
Lauren Ballester is a junior studying Materials Science Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. She grew up in Philadelphia attending Quaker school for most of her life. She is involved in student activism on campus as a member of Penn for Palestine, Penn BDS and the Penn Haven Housing Cooperative. She recently spent two weeks in Israel/Palestine with Interfaith Peace Builders, connecting with peace activists, families, and communities working to end the occupation and learning how to bring the movement home.
Sandra Tamari is a Palestinian-American and member of the St. Louis Religious Society of Friends. She spends her free time as an organizer with the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and a member of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation Steering Committee. She holds a Master’s degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown University.