Staff

Amara (she/her), got her start in advocacy as an intern at Forward Montana while studying at Montana State University. Over the next six years, she would serve in a number of roles, ultimately leaving the organization as Program Director, having run GOTV campaigns, lobbying programs, and a statewide census canvassing operation. She then moved on to Forward’s parent organization, the Alliance for Youth Action, where she supported Program and Executive Directors in Vermont, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, & Oregon in navigating the challenges she faced in her own time at Forward. Amara comes to Funders with a passion for empowering young […]

Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs Ashe is a southern non-binary Black butch artist, organizer, and cultural worker with roots in Louisville, KY. They received their Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Hite Art Institute – University of Louisville and have over 20 years of experience in advocacy, leadership development, youth organizing, and mentorship.  As a Black feminist whose own political artwork is grounded in liberation work, Ashe has curated and co-created several projects and practices of cultural solidarity with movement organizations such as Papel Machete / AgitArte, Southerners On New Ground (SONG), the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights (GLAHR) and the #Not1More […]

Pronouns: Sir/Her Cleopatra Jach Acquaye is a Black Gender Non-Conforming* Queer, born and raised in The Bronx, New York. A first-generation-born child of Ghanaian immigrants, her values deeply center radical storytelling; Cleopatra defines this through transparency, centering lived experiences, and capacity-building. She has over a decade of experience in community organizing, organizational development, and team management, which informed her leadership as the Co-Executive Director of The Audre Lorde Project and the Interim Co-Executive Director of Lambda Literary. Jach’s teachers have come from Generative Somatics, Black Organizers for Leadership and Dignity, and Communities for Police Reform. This allowed her to create […]