Our Team
Paula Lee Poy (she/hers)
Chief Excellence Director of Evaluation & Impact
Paula Lee Poy has been working at the intersection of equity, social policy, and evaluation for most of her career. She is a proud generalist and lifelong learner who relishes pulling together different strands of work, frameworks, and pieces of data to help organizations realize their mission – whether it’s through collaborations with DEI teams, HR, research and evaluation, or communications and development. An astute observer and strategic thinker, with a keen eye for operationalizing big ideas, Paula is instrumental in not only executing project elements but also in envisioning recommendations and roadmaps for moving forward. Paula has worked in various nonprofit sectors including, education, housing, food advocacy, and health and social policy research. She has a BA in Geography and Statistics from Mount Holyoke College and an MPA from Baruch College. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.
Crystal/Cristal Herrera (she/hers)
Flow Director
Crystal is a Dominican-Puerto Rican visual storyteller and poet currently completing her BA in Ethnicity and Race Studies at Columbia University (Class of ‘22), specializing in cultural productions. Much of her projects are influenced by her lived experiences as the first in her family to graduate, a child of an incarcerated parent, a professionally trained chef, and mother of two. Thus her writings & projects are grounded in food, identity, culture with a personal commitment to piecing together fragments for healing.
Jazné Bembry (she/hers)
Executive Assistant
Jazne’ is an experienced executive assistant, business development manager, and project manager. Driven by her passion for learning new skills, she takes pride in providing the best final product possible. As a Virtual Consultant, her goals include effective communication, administrative support, and business development. Jazne’ has dedicated her career to helping small organizations with business development. As a professional executive assistant, she specializes in task execution and time management. She has a Business Administration degree from Bowie State University.
Nica/Monica Victoria (she/hers/ella)
Project Manager
The eldest daughter of Mexican immigrant parents and mother of a multi-racial boy, Nica, brings a unique perspective to her work as a passionate advocate for historically excluded communities. She is a proud recipient of the Jack Kent Cook Scholarship, holding a double major in Creative Writing and Ethnicity and Race studies from Columbia University. Nica aims to amplify the voices and narratives from communities of color. She received an award for academic excellence on her senior thesis highlighting the Mexican community where she grew up. She is committed to social justice and advocacy, having spent a couple of years working with a grassroots nonprofit in her local school district, supporting BIPOC students and families. Nica is currently an MPA candidate at NYU School of Wagner specializing in leadership and management. She aims to expand her skills and knowledge to advance social justice and equity in her future endeavors.
Jody Drezner Alperin (she, her, hers)
Facilitator & Coach
Jody Drezner Alperin is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Off The Page, an arts education and theatre company. Off The Page works with young people in and outside of school, exploring issues they are most passionate about and creating new works of theatre with them and for them, including their adaptation of Jason Reynolds and Brenda Kiely’s ALL AMERICAN BOYS. Jody also works as a facilitator in group settings learning and advocating for racial equity and as a leader of white affinity groups.
Kate Engle (she, her, hers)
Facilitator & Coach
Kate brings her experiences as a preschool teacher, lifelong introvert, and anti-racism educator to her facilitation practice. Working in early childhood education taught her respect for the pace and nonlinearity of human development and the value of creating space for curiosity, exploration, and emotional risk-taking. Kate believes in following the lead of children in bringing critical clarity and radical imagination to dismantling adult-designed inequities. She is particularly versed in supporting schools and educational leaders to explore how white racial identity impacts educators, students, and communities.
Hope Lesane (she/hers)
Facilitator & Coach
Hope has served as a senior policy advisor on prenatal through early childhood strategies and priorities with a focus on grass roots and grass tops advocacy, research and statewide coalition building. Hope’s passion for policy and advocacy stems from her years as a classroom teacher, beginning with community based Head Start. Through research and advocacy, Hope is committed to improving policies that impact young children and their families, especially black and indigenous children. Hope serves as a public speaker, advocate, educator and coach for early childhood thought leaders across the country. Hope is an active member of several statewide and citywide early childhood advisory councils.
Nikolai Pizarro de Jesus (she/her/hers)
Facilitator & Coach
For over 10 years, Nikolai Pizarro has worked to empower predominantly Black and Brown parents and caregivers, particularly segments further marginalized by socioeconomic factors, with science-based frameworks of early brain development, literacy instruction, non-violent discipline, and self-directed education. She has facilitated workshops at hundreds of preschools and private early childhood centers, including over 300 Early Start and Head Start Centers.
Beata Moon (she/hers)
Facilitator & Coach
Through her various roles as a teaching artist, performer, composer, and activist, Beata Moon is able to fulfill her wish to work with people of all ages and backgrounds. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Moon's extensive experience as a teaching artist for Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Education, and the New York Philharmonic includes facilitating workshops about social-emotional learning for teachers and administrators and designing curriculum tailored for students of diverse backgrounds and abilities. She has facilitated conversations about race and restorative justice and believes in the power of music and the arts to heal and work towards social change.