Data and Research Senior Manager
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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.

Project Manager
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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.

Special Projects Manager
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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.

Operations Manager
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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.

Data & Research Specialist

She/Her

Pilar was born and raised in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. As a Latina immigrant with a passion for research and advocacy, she 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. In her free time, Pilar enjoys running, reading nonfiction and catching up on her favorite podcasts.

Lead Designer
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Tiff was born and raised in New York, the daughter of Colombian immigrants and a first-generation college graduate. She taught herself how to use Photoshop when she was 11 and has been constantly picking up new creative mediums ever since from collaging to photography to poetry. Tiff became passionate about social issues in high school when it became clear that her lived experiences and that of her community were deeply impacted by larger systemic structures. This lead her to study 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 and social change.

On her personal time, Tiff has devoted her skills to working with small businesses, DJ collectives, her friends and local community-led groups in need of design support. Tiff began freelancing for FreeFrom in August 2020 before joining full-time in April 2021. Her work is grounded in the belief that engaging, accessible and human-centered visuals 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.

Systems Change Program Specialist
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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.

Growth Manager
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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.

Director of State Policy and Advocacy
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Sabrina is a daughter of an immigrant from the Philippines and is the youngest of 4. She comes from a mixed race and multi-ethnic family. Sabrina is committed to and passionate about economic and racial justice. During her time in graduate school at the Goldman School of Public Policy, she worked with a number of policy organizations on issues such as affordable housing, access to school meals, and human services. As a former Emerson Hunger Fellow in the 18th class, she helped to improve CalFresh/SNAP access for people who are unhoused and worked to increase school meal participation rates among children living in poverty. She joined the FreeFrom team in December of 2019. Since joining, she has worked to lead FreeFrom’s state level policy initiatives with a goal of passing survivor wealth-centered legislation in every state. Sabrina also holds a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from UC Berkeley. In her free time she enjoys baking, yoga and hiking. She rarely says no to adding a new plant to her home.