People make progress

Asad Ali Jafri is a cultural producer, community organizer and interdisciplinary artist. Using a grassroots approach and global perspective, Asad connects artists and communities across imagined boundaries to create meaningful engagements and experiences. Asad has over two decades of experience honing an intentional and holistic practice that allows him to take on the role of artist and administrator, curator and producer, educator and organizer, mentor and strategist.

Ayana Contreras is a cultural historian, radio DJ and archivist. An avid collector with over 8000 vintage vinyl records, she hosts the Reclaimed Soul program on WBEZ and Vocalo Radio in Chicago. She is also a columnist for DownBeat magazine, and her book on Post-Civil Rights Era cultural history, titled Energy Never Dies: Afro-Optimism and Creativity in Chicago, is forthcoming through University of Illinois Press.

Ayesha Jaco is a Chicago based Philanthropist, Health & Racial Equity Convener and Choreographer. Ayesha is the founder and Artistic Director of Move Me Soul, an internationally-traveled youth dance company headquartered on Chicago’s West Side. Ayesha is a 2018 Chicago Dancemakers ForumLab Artist, 2019 Rebuild Foundation Dance Fellow & 2020 Helen Coburn Meier & Tim Meier Charitable Foundation for the Arts Honoree. Ayesha’s commitment to Arts in Youth & Community Development has led her to curate artist residencies with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago Park District, Jacob Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies and the Rebuild Foundation.

Chris is a queer, multiracial Filipina poet, teaching artist, and community organizer currently based in Chicago. She is the founder and Creative Director of Luya, a poetry organization that centers the voices of people of color. She believes deeply in using poetry to build community and to educate ourselves about history.

Debra Yepa-Pappan is Jemez Pueblo and Korean. She is a co-founder of the newly formed Center for Native Futures, and the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Native American Exhibition Hall at the Field Museum. She is an artist with international acclaim in the field of contemporary Native American art, and through her artwork and her work at the Field Museum she is committed to changing inaccurate representations of Native people, and advocates for the inclusion of Native first voice and perspectives.

Elijah McKinnon (they/them) is an award-winning artist, strategist, entrepreneur, activist and visionary from the future currently residing on planet earth. They received a Bachelors of Science from the Art Institute of San Francisco in Marketing and Management. In addition to serving as the Founder and Creative Director of People Who Care, Inc. their Chicago-based consultancy and studio practice, Elijah is also the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Emmy-nominated, intersectional web platform, OTV – Open Television and the Co-Founder and Development Director of project incubator and sliding scale venue for LGBTQ+/BIPOC individuals, Reunion Chicago. In 2020 they were announced as a recipient of the prestigious New Leaders of Chicago award by the Field Foundation of Illinois and MacArthur Foundation. In 2019, Elijah was recognized in New City’s Film 50 Issue as one of the Top 10 of 50 individuals changing the landscape of film in Chicago. In 2016 Elijah was named “Top 30 Under 30 LGBT People” in Chicago, Illinois by the Windy City Times and was invited to the inaugural African-American LGBTQ Education Summit at The White House. Elijah is preparing to launch their first feature-length film, THANDO that was filmed in South Africa and follows a Black queer couple fall in and out of reality, love and more. Additionally, They are currently in pre-production for their first feature-length documentary examining substance abuse in the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities.

Erik is a Chicago-based arts marketer and producer. He is the Director of Marketing & Communications for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and most recently held that same position at Writers Theatre. He is also a co-founder of Token Theatre, Chicago’s newest Asian American theatre company, and a board member with Filament Theatre, serving the young people of Chicago. He is also lead producer on the development of a new musical, THE BRASS TEAPOT. NYC: New York Theatre Workshop, Snug Harbor Productions, Invisible Wall Productions.

Ireashia M. Bennett (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker who explores the complexities of trauma, survival, and healing within Black communities through multimedia essays, short documentaries, and experimental films. Their artistic work has been exhibited locally in art spaces such as the Sullivan Galleries, Arts Incubator, Stony Island Arts Bank, and Chicago Art Department as well as nationally at the Museum of African American History in Boston, MA.

Megha Ralapati is an independent curator, arts manager, writer and parent based in Chicago, where she oversees the Jackman Goldwasser Residency at Hyde Park Art Center. The program supports artists across Chicago and internationally, as well as initiates collaborations with community-centered, experimental arts organizations like Project Row Houses (Houston) and ARTPORT Tel Aviv. Ralapati has also developed curatorial projects including Xenophilia in Chicago (2016), Double-Jointed at Scaramouche gallery in New York (2012), and contributed to New Narratives: Contemporary Art from India at the Chicago Cultural Center (2007). Her writing has been included in publications, South as a State of Mind (Documenta 2018); Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic (2015 Brooklyn Museum), Black Sun (2014 Devi Art Foundation) and Manual for Treason (2011 Sharjah Art Foundation), and she has presented ideas and writing at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU (New York 2013), Eyebeam Art + Technology Center (New York 2012) and as a participant at the Incheon Biennial (Korea 2011). Ralapati received an MA in Visual Culture from Goldsmiths and a BA in Art History and Anthropology from Columbia University.

Stephanie Manriquez is an award-winning writer, radio producer, journalist, and teaching artist with a passion for highlighting social justice issues affecting Latino communities. She is the Executive Director at Contratiempo, a literary and cultural organization that preserves and highlights the cultural contributions of the Spanish-speaking Latino population in the United States. She leads the National Museum of Mexican Art’s youth journalism program, and was recognized in 2020 by the Field and MacArthur Foundations as one of 11 “Leaders for a New Chicago.” She regularly produces and creates content for Lumpen Radio, which includes overseeing the Communities Amplified multilingual radio initiative.

Ahmad Jitan is a community organizer at IMAN, where he leads the Corner Store Campaign in addition to supporting IMAN’s other organizing and advocacy efforts. Like many other Palestinians and children of refugees, Ahmad has called many places home. An immigrant to the United States from a young age, he was raised predominantly in the U.S. South, whose culture of resistance and resilience he carries with him to this day. Ahmad has worked as an educator and community organizer advocating for young people, racial justice, and immigrant and refugee rights in Durham, NC; Brooklyn, NY; Beirut, Lebanon; and Nablus, Palestine. Ahmad passionately brings his experience in settings as diverse as public schools, grassroots organizations, international non-profits, as well as higher-education to IMAN and Chicago where he hopes to learn from local leadership and build collective power. Through IMAN’s Corner Store Campaign and broader Food Ecosystems work, Ahmad strives to transform Chicago’s corner stores from sites of mere transaction or exploitation to ones of solidarity and healing and a model for racial and economic justice.

For close to three decades, Barak adé Soleil has contributed to the contemporary arts scene across Turtle Island, Europe and West Africa. An award-winning artist, curator, and facilitator, Barak bridges the lived experience of being black, queer and multiply disabled with traditions from the African diaspora, access aesthetics and postmodernism to create multilayered performative works and cultivate stimulating global conversations. In Chicago, Barak has served as the Consultant in Audience & Community Engagement for The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, curated the inaugural city-wide Moving Dialogs series, and presented creative works at Gallery 400, Stony Island Arts Bank, Links Hall and Gray Centre for Arts & Inquiry. Barak sits on the city’s Cultural Advisory Council for the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Through relational, community centered dialogic and artistic engagements, Barak intends to address the complexities and nuances of intersectional ways of being informed by first voice-perspective.

Christina provides operational oversight and team support at Greater Good Studio. Christina was previously managing director of special exhibitions at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she coordinated projects within a teaching gallery and gained appreciation for communication and design as tools for social change. Christina holds a master’s in business administration, a master’s in history and museum studies, and a bachelor’s in sculpture.

Jamie is an experienced graphic designer, front-end developer, and wordPress expert with a demonstrated history of marketing and advertising. She is also skilled in logo design, branding, and typography. Jamie has a Bachelor of Fine Arts focused in Graphic Design from Columbia College Chicago.

Kyle has a deep interest in people, culture and how we create meaning in the world around us. His background is in communication design, design innovation, and the human-centered design process. At Greater Good Studio, he leads the design practice to create strategic solutions for social impact with our partners by bridging critical thinking and organic creativity.

As a creative, Nadia has a deep passion for developing designs that are centered in fun functionality. She believes that each stage is integral to creating the best design and devotes herself to the design process from principles to prototyping. Her skillset is media-centric and ranges from audio engineering to creative visual design. A researcher by nature, Nadia enjoys finding creative solutions that simplify the user’s journey. She is an inquisitive and imaginative thinker and UX design enables her to use her traits to assist others in the digital experience.

Ruti is a multi-disciplinary designer from Bolivia with a passion for human-centered design, ethnographic research and social impact. Her interest in user-centered design led her to study Interior Design at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and to explore complementary fields such as graphic design, UX, and service design.

Sara Cantor is a creative leader and human-centered designer focused on equity, inclusion and social innovation. After seven years using human-centered design to create new markets for corporate clients, she co-founded Greater Good Studio in 2011 to apply the process and principles of design to the more pressing challenges of the social sector. Her team of “pissed-off optimists” has helped nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies to build internal capacity for social innovation, create and prototype new programs and services, and sustain and scale their impact.

Sasha’s experience in research and design helps her flex from strategic planning to information design. She enjoys leading each step from structuring research and its analysis to telling a clear story that inspires action. Most recently, she was a Lead Design Strategist at Relish Works where she led projects around the future of the restaurant industry, distribution, and financial services. Sasha holds a BSBA in Marketing and a BFA in Communication Design from Washington University in St. Louis.

Shauntelle has experience working in all aspects of video production and has always searched for ways to bring her creative energy into the administrative space. Shauntelle is drawn to the way art and design are able to connect people across racial and socioeconomic boundaries. Shauntelle holds a B.A. in Communications from Old Dominion University and a master’s in Communication with a focus on Digital Media & Storytelling from Loyola University Chicago.

Venita is an organizer and digital strategist with a passion for racial and gender justice and legislative advocacy. Her most recent experiences include training women of color organizers in the 2020 election cycle and leading a digital campaign to support passage of the CARE and HEAL Acts. She is a member of the Chicago Foundation for Women’s Anti-Racism Transformation Team.