Stephanie Prom

Project Manager
She / Her / Hers

Stephanie Prom (she/her), Los Angeles born and raised, is a passionate advocate for the transformative power of creativity, in all of its forms. Graduating from Lewis & Clark College with a B.A. in International Relations, Stephanie dedicated her early career to education equity at home and abroad before moving into music and arts nonprofits, where she would find herself managing projects and initiatives of varying scales, locally and nationally. Her commitment to strategic partnerships and collaborative growth support her ability to align diverse talents for an impactful cause and led her to FreeFrom. As a daughter of refugee survivors, FreeFrom’s mission is close to Stephanie’s heart and she is honored to be able to support this incredible community. Stephanie enjoys learning languages, doing all things music, and napping with her dog and cat, Marty and Olive.

Julia Uyttewaal

Data and Research Senior Manager
She / Her / Hers

Julia believes research should be a tool for community-building, healing, and systemic change. She has been committed to social justice since her early days volunteering at a domestic violence shelter and starting an educational non-profit alongside refugees in France. At FreeFrom, Julia collaborates on community-driven, participatory research guided by survivors’ priorities and expertise. She also works to advance FreeFrom’s global research initiatives and strategy focused on building economic security for survivors around the world.

Prior to joining FreeFrom in 2022, she helped launch the Center for Human Rights, Gender and Migration at Washington University in St. Louis. There, she conducted research shoulder to shoulder with refugee and im/migrant communities to advocate for their inclusion in local COVID-19 response. She also managed multi-country studies aimed at improving response to gender-based violence among refugee and migrant communities in the Americas region and in North Africa. This work built on her earlier experience as lead researcher for the Sexual Violence Program at UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center.

Julia holds an MA in International Development from Sciences Po Paris and a BA in Geography from UC Berkeley. In her free time, she can be found editing a literary magazine for her micro-press, training for marathons with friends, and contemplating whether or not to acquire a dog.

Olivia Travis

Chief of Staff
She / Her / Hers

Olivia is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. She moved to New York City for her undergraduate studies, earning a bachelor’s degree in African American Studies from Columbia University. Olivia is deeply committed to social and racial justice and has used her background throughout her career to advocate for marginalized peers, facilitate discussions, and advise executive leadership teams on issues of race and equity. 

Olivia is a firm believer in art and joy as essential forms of activism. Her written works have been featured in multiple publications and showcased as part of the Renegade Reading Series. When not working, she can be found baking bread, building community, and tearing up the dance floor.

Cara McClain

Senior Fundraising Strategist
She / Her / Hers

Cara grew up in Missouri as the middle child of a family of five. After receiving her bachelor’s degree from the Missouri School of Journalism, Cara moved to Louisiana where she worked as a domestic worker and later in nonprofit development. She has helped grow and sustain resources for direct service nonprofits, humanities institutions, and, most recently, a national campaign advancing transformative federal paid family and medical leave policy. After relocating to Los Angeles in 2020, she joined the FreeFrom team in 2022. In her free time, Cara loves browsing library shelves for her next read, solving crossword puzzles, handbuilding pottery, and listening to podcasts on long walks.

Zizi Bandera

Operations Manager
They / Them / Theirs

Zizi is a queer, nonbinary, proud child of immigrants. Zizi brings a breadth of experience in organizing, movement building, and political advocacy at Equality California, Immigration Advocates Network, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of LA, and most recently, at the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. Zizi is honored to serve as a founding member of the Lieutenant Governor of California’s Transgender Advisory Council. Zizi was featured alongside their dad in El Canto del Colibrí, a documentary exploring the relationships between Latino immigrant fathers and their LGBTQ+ family members. Zizi is deeply invested in immigrant families and believes they are the catalysts for radical and long-term healing for our LGBTQ+ community.

Zizi holds a Master’s in Public Policy from Mills College and a B.A. in Economics with a Minor in International Relations from the University of California, Riverside. In their free time, you can find Zizi skating with their pup Potato, thrifting, and planning a new roadtrip with their partner.

Pilar Victoria

Data & Research Specialist

She/Her

As a Latina immigrant with a passion for research and advocacy, Pilar is committed to using her lived experiences along with her professional skills in the movement against gender-based violence.  Pilar has worked in academia, non-profits and international human rights organizations, where she has led data-driven initiatives that promote gender justice in the legal and immigration systems.

Pilar received her B.S. in applied psychology from New York University (NYU). She earned her Masters in human development and social intervention with a concentration on research methods also from NYU. 

Tiff Hernandez

Lead Designer
She / Her / Hers

Tiff was born and raised in New York, the daughter of Colombian immigrants. She studied sociology at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York. It was during her undergraduate studies that Tiff found that her most profound impact would be at the intersection of storytelling, design, and social change.

On her personal time, Tiff works with small businesses, fellow creatives, and community-led groups in need of design support. Her work is grounded in the belief that engaging, accessible and human-centered design are an integral part of movement building.

When she isn’t designing FreeFrom’s next report, you can find her color coordinating her bookshelf, picking up a new hobby or hanging out with her cats.

Hye Sun Kim

Systems Change Program Specialist
She / Her / Hers

Hye Sun is a 1.5 generation Korean-American immigrant who found home in Southern California. She is committed to racial and social justice. Hye Sun strongly believes that systemic changes must center on the impacted populations to achieve true justice. This has been a core tenet of her work, such as in recommending the establishment of a novel statewide Office of Racial Equity in California state government. She also scoped a unique racial and social equity audit for the San Francisco Planning Department’s Environmental Planning Division. Hye Sun joined FreeFrom in March of 2021. In her role, Hye Sun develops and implements strategies to create collaborative systemic changes that are centered on survivors of gender-based violence.

Hye Sun holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Northwestern University and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from UC Berkeley. She has a great fondness for chocolate, cartoons, and cats.

Dafne Jacobs

Growth Manager
She / Her / Hers

Originally from Guatemala, Dafne and her family relocated to Florida when she was 11. Living as a Latina immigrant in conservative areas of Florida, she experienced and witnessed injustice around her. Once Dafne became a DACA recipient in 2012, she was able to truly pursue a higher education. She found herself leaning on community advocates, leaders, and organizations in order to navigate the systems put in place by new laws that affected her and to advocate for herself to get access to the education she had earned. Her goal is being able to provide others with the support, direction, and hope that she received from others then.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Florida, she relocated to Los Angeles where she worked as a Research Analyst at Unite Here Local 11, the local labor union representing hospitality workers. During this time, she had the opportunity to help lead a Get Out the Vote campaign in Arizona for the 2016 election, and work to better understand campaign targets and strategize tactics. In 2017, Dafne joined the Hospitality Training Academy, where she began as Case Manager and later became the Special Projects Coordinator. At the Hospitality Training Academy, she led multiple events and projects, including working on a mobile application for union members and launching a bartender training program. She joined FreeFrom in December 2019.