Our Team
Stevie
(she / her)
Coordinator of Evaluations &
Development
Jenelle
(she / her)
Operations & Finance Coordinator
Program Team
Alexis
(she / her)
Director of Programs
Rae
(she / her)
Program Manager
Empowerment Self Defense
Georgina
(she / her)
Youth Program Manager
Jasmín
(she / her)
Youth Leadership Coordinator
Bianca
(they / them)
Anti-Violence Educator & Advisor
Our Instructors
Celina
(she / her)
Upstander Instructor
Emily
(she / her)
Upstander Instructor
LaRelle
(she / her)
Upstander Instructor
Lauren
(she / they)
Upstander Instructor
-
Celina is an organizer and social worker with over a decade of advocacy experience. Through popular education, she emphasizes intergenerational community building, solidarity economics & dismantling of anti-Black racism to create transformative solutions among historically marginalized communities.
-
Emily is a queer Dominican woman, born and raised in NYCHA housing in Brooklyn, and am currently a digital media professional at the United Nations. She has a deep passion for writing, justice, and teaching. In 2017, Emily graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a Bachelors in creative writing and comparative literature, and has published works in Huizache, Girls Write Now: Two Decades of True Stories From Young Female Voices, and the journal, Wizards in Space. She’s an avid writer of fiction, memoir, and poetry and facilitate a monthly book club that centers the fiction of women of color through her book review Instagram at @readwithemily.
Emily is vested in working with her communities digitally and on the ground to meet immediate needs. After about 2 and 1/2 years with CAE, she is passionate about engaging folk and helping them come to their own conclusions about how to navigate conversations about justice and liberation.
-
LaRelle is currently a School Social Worker with the Department of Education. Prior to this role, she worked as a Clinical Marketer providing Substance Abuse services to organizations. She is a licensed master social worker and is skilled in group facilitation and crisis intervention. LaRelle believes that all people deserve access to quality care and will continue to do expansive work to reach more people.
-
Lauren previously worked as a social worker in youth development spanning benefits casework to grief counseling to therapeutic arts. Their community organizing also includes oral history, direct action, and healing work with Japanese American organizations on incarceration and immigration detention. Lauren holds a Masters in Social Work from Hunter College and a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from New York University, with additional trainings in trauma, de-escalation, and grief support. In all areas of their work, they hope to draw upon our histories and narratives to support creating person-centered spaces for healing and learning together, to build capacity and connection in community. Lauren is based in Queens, NY, and originally from Maryland.
Nordia
(they / them)
Upstander Instructor
Nadia
(they / them)
Upstander Instructor
-
Nordia joined CAE’s team in October 2021 as the Upstander Program Manager and has now returned as a facilitator. As a queer Black non-binary yoga and meditation instructor, spiritual practitioner, and trauma-informed facilitator, Nordia is dedicated to holding space for spiritual formation as a liberatory practice—helping others connect with the divine, themselves, and their communities. They are passionate about creating brave, immersive, participatory experiences that empower individuals to expand their knowledge and make informed, abundance-grounded decisions fostering a loving connection to oneself.
With a Master of Divinity in Theology from Union Theological Seminary, Nordia identifies as a womanist practitioner, deeply engaged with the rich legacy of ancestral wisdom and earth indigenous ways of being.
A little more about me: I have a deep love for Octavia Butler and enjoy binge-watching TV series from the 1860s and Viking era. I’m also a proud plant momma, and urban gardening is one of my passions. Recently, I became a paw parent to my spicy 8-month-old kitten, Stella. I find joy in the simple things, like long walks, listening to soft R&B, and feeling the wind gently caress my face.
-
Nadia has experience in advocacy, community development, and facilitating events for women, the LGBTQIA community, and youth. Nadia is passionate about empowering others to advocate for freedom and tap into their inner healing capacities, through art, storytelling, and movement.
Gabriel
(he / him)
ESD Instructor
Grey
(he / him)
ESD Instructor
Lorraine
(she / her)
ESD Instructor
Re
(they / them)
ESD Instructor
-
Originally a community organizer from Puerto Rico, Gabriel strives for liberatory practices and envisions a world where harm is addressed with support, not punishment. With a background in martial arts, social work, arts, and transformative justice, he embraces a holistic approach to create systemic change.
-
Grey has been a self-defense and de-escalation instructor with CAE since 2019. Outside of their work with this organization, they have been organizing and leading self-defense workshops in NYC as well as other localities both national and international since 2015. They hold a Third-Degree Black Belt in Tae-Kwon-Do, as well as a number of years of experience in mixed martial arts such as Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing and more. They enjoy creating accessible, trauma-informed, and safer educational spaces to share vital self-defense skills for the benefit of participants and their communities.
-
Lorraine came to CAE in 2010, working as an administrative intern and later training to become an Empowerment Self-Defense instructor. She has taught people of all ages (from children to seniors) physical and verbal self-defense strategies. And enjoys supporting participant's development and watching their confidence grow.
Lorraine enjoys collaborating on initiatives for community care and healing. She trains with a volunteer marital arts and self-defense group that provides community workshops and free self-defense tools.
-
Re’s self-defense teaching experience spans a decade of professional and volunteer work and centers ethical practice. They believe that self-defense extends beyond individual action and is founded in collective safety and well-being, making community care and activism integral to their practice.
-
Sammy is a visual and martial artist. He has combined his personal life and professional life to serve the community. As a life-long martial artist, Sammy has modified his training and developed free self-defense classes. As a visual artist, he has used his artwork to educate, empower and inspire others.