board
lara davis, President
pronouns: she/her
Lara Davis is a musician, audio artist, and an arts administrator who has been active in youth development and community arts education for more than fifteen years. Her audio installations have been included in projects such as I WISH A MOTHER WOULD, the Red Lineage Community Arts Workshop, 1001 Names for Coochie Performance at Seattle Art Museum, and the Flying Dreams Installation at NEPO House in Seattle. As a musician she has performed and collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Seattle bands Air2aBird, Chi-Chi, and BRELLA. As arts education manager for the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Lara is the City’s representative for The Creative Advantage, a public/private partnership to ensure equitable access to high quality arts learning for all Seattle students. Lara serves on the National Advisory Committee for the Teaching Artists Guild, and received the 2015 Emerging Leaders Award from the Americans for the Arts.
Uma Rao, Vice President
pronouns: she/her
Uma has been passionate about anti-violence and social justice movements since she was young. Her roles have been to organize communities, serve on boards, train, and to raise funds, mostly within and for communities of color. Uma is currently the Director of Development and Communications for TAF (Technology Access Foundation). Prior to joining Team TAF, she was a regional organizer at Pride Foundation, raising and moving funds in rural areas of Western Washington. She also served as the Program Director at Social Justice Fund NW, raising and moving funds to grassroots social change organizations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. In addition, Uma spent several years as an advocate for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, and was the executive director of Chaya, supporting survivors in the South Asian community. Uma truly believes that reproductive justice is essential to liberation, and that stronger movements include grassroots philanthropy, community based strategies and leadership development. She is grateful for her mentors, peers, family and community. Some of her most favorite things include hot cups of chai, great stories and dancing to loud music in the mornings.
Fajer Saeed Ebrahim, Treasurer
pronouns: She/Her
Fajer is a second year If/When/How Reproductive Justice Fellow at Legal Voice, a nonprofit public interest law organization that works to advance women’s and LGBTQ rights in the five Northwest states. Fajer's work focuses on sexual assault on college campuses and reproductive equity. Fajer completed joint degrees is Law and Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) where she focused on gender advocacy, sexual health, and feminist jurisprudence. Fajer worked at Advocates, the political arm of Planned Parenthood of St. Louis and Southwest Missouri, and the Legal Advocacy for Adults with Mental Illness Project of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. She taught “Women and the Law” to undergraduate students at WUSTL and has served on multiple sexual assault and relationship violence task forces, helping produce comprehensive reports focused on addressing sexual assault. Fajer also works as a Title IX Project Manager at University of Washington’s Compliance Office.
tracy stewarT, Secretary
pronouns: she/her
Tracy is a mindfulness based mental health therapist and activist attempting the Bodhisattva path. She currently works with SURGE, Social Justice Fund (SJF), Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF), as well as supporting various community actions. She sees her role in community as a supportive safe space for people in discovering their gifts through mindfulness practice and social justice awareness. Her cup is filled by the outside places, silly friends, passion, and folks sharing their good medicine with each other.
Simon Adriane Ellis
pronouns: he/him or They/Them
Simon Adriane Ellis is a queer, trans- and genderqueer-identified Certified Nurse Midwife whose passion for reproductive justice started over 15 years ago with community organizing around issues of racial and economic justice, LGBTQ rights, and women’s bodily autonomy. As a midwife, their clinical practice is focused on providing sexual and reproductive health services across the lifespan for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Simon is a full scope staff midwife at Kaiser Permanente in Seattle, and has clinical specialties in abortion care, LGBTQ family building, and gender affirming care. Outside of the clinic, Simon’s advocacy work has included coauthoring the Cedar River Clinics trans health toolkit, conducting original research on transgender pregnancy, authoring textbook content on LGBQT health, and providing mentorship and training to students, clinic staff and healthcare providers.
Naomi Ishisaka
pronouns: she/her
Naomi is a longtime journalist, photographer, graphic designer and communications specialist with a particular emphasis on racial equity and social justice. She is currently the Communications Director of Social Justice Fund Northwest. Prior to this role, she was the Communications Director for SEIU 775 Benefits Group, an organization that provides benefits to state Home Care Aides. Prior to that, she was Communications Director for the immigrant rights organization OneAmerica (formerly Hate Free Zone). Until October 2008, Ishisaka served for the previous eight years as the Editor in Chief of the award-winning ColorsNW Magazine, a monthly magazine focusing on communities of color in the Northwest. Through photography, writing and design, Ishisaka documents and amplifies social justice movements and events. Her documentary photography of the Seattle Black Lives Matter movement is featured in a number of shows and galleries as well as in the documentary film “13th.”
staff
Jackie VaugHn
Pronouns: she/her
Executive Director
pronouns: she/her
Jackie Vaughn attended Eastern Washington University where she received her B.A. in Race and Culture Studies. At EWU Jackie began her organizing with Moviemento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan (MEChA). Since college she has worked in non-profits for most of her career and witnessed how they exploit, underserve, and oppress communities who are most impacted. This is why she is committed to organizing with anti-racist principals that center the power of Black and Brown communities. She organizes with Youth Undoing Institutional Racism, the Coalition of Immigrants, Refugees, and Communities of Color, and Ending Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC).
Rosann MariappuraM
pronouns: she/her
If/When/How Reproductive Justice Fellow
pronouns: she/her
Rosann graduated from the University of Texas School of Law, ’18. During law school, Rosann interned with Jane’s Due Process and the Center for Reproductive Rights, was president of her If/When/How student chapter, and served on the boards of the Lilith Fund and NARAL Pro-Choice Texas.
Prior to law school, Rosann worked at the Reproductive Health Access Project, which helps primary care clinicians integrate abortion, contraception, and miscarriage care into their practice. Rosann received a master’s degree in international relations from the City College of New York and her undergraduate degree from New York University. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and is the proud daughter of immigrant parents.
