Meet the People Doing the Work
National Harm Reduction Coalition is a nationwide team of passionate humans who share a vision for a world that is healing from harms caused by racialized drug policies.
We’re located from coast to coast and represent a full spectrum of lived and professional experience.
We are catalysts and storytellers, connectors and collaborators, teachers and disseminators of the collective wisdom of the harm reduction community.
Meet the people of National Harm Reduction Coalition who are fighting for the rights of people who use drugs to survive and thrive.
Our Team On and Behind
the Scenes
Michelle Wright (she/her)
Director of Policy and Advocacy
Location: Oakland, CA
Email: wright@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
1. Personal stories really inspire me. Hearing the lived experiences of folks from all over the country who have faced every level of opposition and discrimination and still persist despite that. Especially Black folks and my trans femmes, masculine of center/gender non conforming identified folks + family that have always been on the front lines. Those who have been resilient - even while dealing with unimaginable circumstances. I see you.
2. Brunch.
What outrages you?
Loaded question answered in no particular order. Corporations as people. Social and/or systemic injustices. The women's restroom always having a line, no matter the city, the event or the circumstance. Toxic masculinity. The US health and bail systems. Profiteering and criminalizing Black folks, poor folks and those living in the margins. But on a lighter note, when I can't remember a song title, the artist or lyrics and humming just won't do.
Tanagra M. Melgarejo Pulido, MSW (ella/she)
National Learning and Engagement Strategist
Location: Oakland, CA
Email: melgarejo@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Love, justice, solidarity and mutual aid
What outrages you?
Injustice, stigma, structural violence, all the "isms"
Jen Sarduy (she/they)
Communications Manager
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Email: sarduy@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Belly laughs from my kids, animal videos on the internet, and Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown
What outrages you?
Capitalism, constipation, and corruption. Basically all of the C's.
Savannah O'Neill, MSW, CATC (she/her)
Associate Director of Capacity Building
Location: Oakland, CA
Email: oneill@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I am inspired by people standing in their power, femmes being shamelessly multifaceted, open and honest communication, friendships that span time, and great food.
What outrages you?
It takes a lot to make me mad on a daily basis, but I am outraged at the idea and reality of the prison industrial complex, judgemental people and feeling unseen.
Emma Roberts (she/her)
Senior Director of National Capacity Building
Location: New York City, NY
Email: roberts@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Working with individuals, teams and communities to bring about social change that is both tangible in the moment as well as long lasting. I've been lucky enough to be involved in this type of work for 30 years and still feel inspired to continue.
What outrages you?
When folks know they have privilege and they use it on purpose to maintain power and position at the expense of others.
Frances Fu (she/her)
DOPE Training and Data Coordinator
Location: San Francisco, CA
Email: fu@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Plants, nature, & good food
What outrages you?
When people (in power) try to take away the freedom, dignity & wellbeing of myself & our communities
Charles Hawthorne (they/he)
Capacity Building Manager
Location: Oakland, CA
Email: hawthorne@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Seeing my community make a way out of no way, my peers working to build a more beautiful and equitable world, and really great disco tracks
What outrages you?
Capitalism, people wielding stigma to control other people's bodies, and bad powerpoint formatting
Kimberly Sue, MD, PhD (she/her)
Medical Director
Location: New York, NY
Email: sue@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Doughnuts
What outrages you?
Health injustice
Orisha Bowers, PhD (she/her)
Regional Director (HepConnect)
Location: Memphis, TN
Email: bowers@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I'm inspired by the passion, smiles, love, and joy of my family, friends, kin, and kindred.
What outrages you?
I'm outraged by the overt hatred and inequity that exists in our global community.
Joann Gomez (she/her)
Executive Assistant + Special Projects Manager
Location: Raleigh, NC
Email: gomez@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Life.
What outrages you?
Nothing and everything.
Mike Selick, MSW (he/him)
Associate Director of Capacity Building
Location: Burlington, VT
Email: selick@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
What outrages you?
The War on Drugs
Petra Reyes (she/her)
Program Coordinator
Location: Oakland, CA
Email: reyes@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I'm inspired by the resilience of humans, opportunities that come with a new day, and the power of compassion.
What outrages you?
I'm outraged by systems of oppression, inequitable access to health care/services, and pineapple on pizza.
Alyshia Tuyet Gonzalez, MA (she/her)
Mobilization Manager
Location: New York, NY
Email: alyshiagonzalez@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
The resiliency of our communities inspires me every day, but I especially enjoy watching our youth discovering their inherit power and advocating for their communities through artistic expression.
What outrages you?
Racial inequity and oppression, particularly anti-Blackness in non-Black communities, workers not having a livable wage, and food waste.
Taeko Frost, DrPH (she/her)
Senior Director of Strategy & Innovation
Location: Sacramento, CA
Email: frost@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
anonymous acts of kindness, watching flowers bloom in the spring, seeing the silly side of someone, and baby giggles
What outrages you?
Navel gazing, manspreading, chewing loudly, sweeping generalizations, and putting people in boxes
Lizzie Maldonado (she/they)
Associate Director of Communications
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Email: maldonado@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Dreaming of a future where no one is disposable, community organizing and a new notebook.
What outrages you?
Prisons and the policies that fill them, moral panic, and shredded lettuce.
Helen Jones (she/her)
Senior Director of Operations
Location: New York, NY
Email: jones@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Union Square Farmers Market
What outrages you?
When people cut in line!
Kristen Marshall (she/her)
DOPE Project Manager
Location: San Francisco, CA
Email: marshall@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
The resiliency, smarts, and joy of the communities I'm a part of and serve in San Francisco. Donuts. Drugs. The way a San Francisco sunset turns everything in the city gold. Perfectly applied eyeliner. My hilarious, brave, and infinitely loving mother.
What outrages you?
Inaction. Complacency. Cowardice. Politicians.
Nathalia Gibbs (they/she)
LGBTQ + Harm Reduction Coordinator
Location: New York, NY
Email: gibbs@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Anime, abolition, food, harm reduction, mutual aid, Bolero, intersecting movements, The Red Deal, dismantling misogyny, queerphobia, cishet patriarchy, anti-blackness, compulsory monogamy, fatphobia, and ableism, community, chosen family, the complexities of Haiti, aloe vera, the pelvic floor, transformative justice, exploring accountability, finding ease, the word delicious, and our amazing capacity to hold multitudes.
What outrages you?
CGI animated talking animals/objects, the violence of erasure and complicity, moving from fear and scarcity, yoga that feels like a cardio class, desirability politics, epistemological violence, neoliberals, the co-optation of movement language by harmful institutions, hiding substantiative conflict as agenda items, shame, Neo-colonialism/Imperialism, the demonization of interdependence, surplus labor, how difficult it can be to access care and love, and capitalism in general.
Jenna Haywood (she/they)
Associate Director of Community Mobilization
Location: Oakland, CA
Email: haywood@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
People power
What outrages you?
Lately, NIMBYs
Keila Núñez (she/her)
Senior Accountant
Location: New York, NY
Email: nunez@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
People who live and breathe helping others, no matter the cause. It is why I've chosen to only work for organizations that provide social services and fight for social justice.
What outrages you?
Injustice, inequality, inhumane treatment of others
Kacey Byczek (she/they)
Capacity Building Services Manager
Location: Louisville, KY
Email: byczek@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Sex work decriminalization activism, and mutual aid networks organized and supported primarily by street-based, queer, and trans sex workers, and sex workers of color. Multi-racial, multi-generational working class progressive organizing, particularly in the U.S. South and Midwest. Talking with people who use drugs and sex workers. And, of course, my dog, my friends' kids, and Dolly Parton.
What outrages you?
I'm outraged by a lot in our white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist society, but lately, I am finding myself especially outraged by jails and prisons (and especially the racist/classist system of cash bail); the U.S.'s two-party political system; the U.S.'s lack of competent and accessible healthcare (especially for PoC, people who use drugs, and people living below the poverty line); and doctors who say that pregnancy and birth can cure endometriosis.
Nancy Nwaifejokwu (she/her)
Donor Relations Officer
Location: New York, NY
Email: nwaifejokwu@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I am inspired by the history that lives within me. The countless women who we will never read about that fought for me to be where I am.
What outrages you?
I am outraged that black women are still dying from a lack of access to reproductive health services.
Laura Guzman, JD (she/her)
Senior Director Capacity Building & Mobilization
Location: Oakland, CA
Email: guzman@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Community work that centers loving ourselves, loving our people and spreading the love far and wide! Dismantling and disrupting systems that get in the way of loving and caring for each other.
What outrages you?
Systems (of allegedly "care") that are designed against supporting, maintaining and sustain the wellness and thriving of our communities.
Dana Kurzer-Yashin (she/her)
Overdose and Harm Reduction Trainer
Location: New York, NY
Email: kurzer-yashin@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I am inspired by the everyday activism of people who use drugs and engage in sex work, as well as anti-racist, queer, reproductive, disability and transformative justice movements.
What outrages you?
I am outraged by many things, but a big one is conversations around substance use that center the healing of white people.
Maria Chavez (she/they)
Senior Director of Equity, Inclusion, and Cultural Events
Location: Portland, OR
Email: chavez@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I'm inspired by the creative tenacity that I see in my community. I feel honored to be part of a movement that is making the world a more equitable and joyful place.
What outrages you?
I have lost many people over the years. Beyond the grief that I feel, it's how unneccesary their deaths were, how easily their lives could have been saved that fills me with anger and determination.
Christine Cline-Leung (she/her)
Associate Director of Contracts
Location: New York, NY
Email: clineleung@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Activists and social justice workers and movements addressing root causes of inequity
What outrages you?
Corporations and politicians that promote and fuel divisions and violence between groups
Porsha Dixson (she/her)
SRO Project Coordinator
Location: Oakland, CA
Email: dixson@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I am inspired by the history that lives within me. The countless women who we will never read about that fought for me to be where I am.
What outrages you?
I am outraged that black women are still dying from a lack of access to reproductive health services.
Jose Martinez (he/him)
Hepatitis C + Harm Reduction Associate
Location: Bronx, NY
Email: martinez@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
My community
What outrages you?
Injustice
Brooke Alexandria Paine (she/her)
Program Assistant
Location: New York, NY
Email: paine@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I am inspired by the communities at home and around the world that practice mutual aid and uplift each other in the face of adversity.
What outrages you?
I'm outraged by the blatant lies that started and sustain the war on drugs, and the systems of power that perpetuate them under false pretenses.
Erica Poellot, MSW, MDiv (she/her)
Director of Faith and Community Partnerships
Location: Bronx, New York
Email: poellot@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Art, stories, connection, love, justice, my daughter, prayer, Jesus, community, sharing, truth-telling, survivors
What outrages you?
Systems rooted in white supremacy, dehumanization, stigma, violence, and greed/capitalism
Tamika Jackson, CES (she/her)
Harm Reduction Resource Manager
Location: Alpharetta, GA
Email: jackson@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Existence, My biological and chosen human connections, Radical Hope and Radical Black Joy ...
What outrages you?
Anti- Black Racism, Racism, White Privilege, White Fragility, Ableism, Gender Bias, Transphobia, Respectability Politics, and Black Mama Mortality Rates...
Lill Prosperino (they/them)
Southern States Regional Organizer
Location: Coal River Valley, WV
Email: prosperino@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Communities coming together to take care of each other and keep each other safe! Mutual aid. When people take direct action! I feel inspired by knowing we really don't need this system and all the ways it holds us down, and I know we already have the tools to have something better.
What outrages you?
Policing, the racist war on drugs, the prevalence of fascism directed at PWUD (people who use drugs) and/or people who trade sex. Urban-centeredness and how it can leave rural and poor/working class folks behind.
Ritti Mendieta (she/her)
Operations Manager
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Email: mendieta@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I am inspired by potential. Potential to change, potential to grow, what could be, not necessarily what is.
What outrages you?
What outrages me is a lack of empathy and a disregard for life. To be empathetic to each other's journeys and to respect the life around us.
Hiawatha Collins (he/him)
Harm Reduction Community Mobilization Coordinator
Location: New York, NY
Email: collins@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Living Life: Making a way for those who have yet to realize they have a Voice and they Matter. Standing Because it's the Right, Just thing to Do, even if alone.
What outrages you?
To be determined (lol)
Jessica Smith, MA (she/her)
Community Mobilization Coordinator
Location: Arcata, CA
Email: smith@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Community building, mutual aid, other harm reductionists, roller derby, the potential for real transformation and revolution, flowers, radical self-love and acceptance, delicious food
What outrages you?
Cops, NIMBYs, capitalism, lack of affordable housing, stigma
Logan Benton, LBSW, CCM (she/her)
Grants Manager
Location: Birmingham, AL
Email: benton@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I'm consistently inspired by so many things, but phenomenal people, plants, sunshine, and animals holistically keep me going. I tend to thrive more when I take the time to truly appreciate the strength and beauty that surround me daily, which I have noticed tenfold since I began working with nHRC and the larger harm reduction community as a whole. You all consistently encourage and motivate me more than I can even begin to express, which I am eternally grateful for.
What outrages you?
While I could go on and on about this, the various injustices within our communities are the primary things that outrage me. As audre lorde said: “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” I will continue using my privileges to try to combat these injustices in every facet of society, to the best of my ability, and in the meantime - I will continue to be outraged.
Pervaiz Fariduddin
Staff Accountant
Location: Newington, CT
Email: fariduddin@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
I recently had a daughter and I never knew what I was inspired by until now. Being a father inspires me to work hard and stay focused on things that matter to me the most which is my family and my career.
What outrages you?
I am outraged by Racism and being Judged by the color of your skin, your religion, or your country of origin outrages me. I have been racially profiled just because of my country of origin so when I see any type of racism or discrimination I am outraged.
Sarah Howell-Miller
Faith in Harm Reduction Program Coordinator
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
Email: howell-miller@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Seeing people and communities engage in resistance, creativity, and solidarity in ways I never would have thought of on my own. Reading, especially science fiction. Watching plants grow. Time in the mountains and near bodies of water.
What outrages you?
Willful ignorance. Using piety to explain away injustice. People intellectualizing forms of oppression that don't directly affect them. Unsweetened iced tea.
Terra Haywood
Grants and Data Coordinator
Location: Oakland, CA
Email: terrahaywood@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
The human experience, vulnerability, compassion and forgiveness, community, queers, harm reduction.
What outrages you?
2020, misguided internet trollers, call-out culture that contributes to unproductive shame/stigma, white fragility, late-stage capitalism, I don't love waiting in line.
Jessenia Garcia
Capacity Building and Community Mobilization Manager
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Email: garcia@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
The privilege of having someone trust me to share their story with me. Art, poetry, bread, chips, platanos and interacting with non-human beings.
What outrages you?
Blatant acts of violence whether they are physical, emotional or spiritual which leaves souls feeling hopeless and alone.
Andrea Marcos
Communications Coordinator
Location: Seattle, WA
Email: marcos@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Movements for collective & intergenerational liberation, radical imagination, transformative justice, queer femme resiliency, good storytellers, and dorky puns -- to name a few.
What outrages you?
The prison industrial complex, ICE & immigration detention, capitalism, colonialism, white supremacy, ableism, transphobia, and so much more!
Gavrielle De Leon Thompson
DOPE Logistics Associate
Location: San Francisco, CA
Email: thompson@harmreduction.org
What inspires you?
Resilience of my communities and my ancestors, communities uplifting each other, self love, people of color exploring the outdoors, lifelong learning, kindness, mundane moments that make you really appreciate the present, and activists.
What outrages you?
Gentrification, abuse of power, racism, ableism, transphobia, destruction of nature, and mosquitoes.
Our Board of Directors
Susan Sherman, MPH, PhD (she/her)
President
Location: Baltimore, MD
Email: ssherman@jhsph.edu
Current Position/Organization: Professor - Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
What inspires you?
Social justice, harm reduction, humanity
What outrages you?
Social injustice, racism, antisemitism, narrow mindedness
Alex H. Kral, PhD (he/him)
Vice-Chair
Location: San Francisco, CA
Email: akral@ti.org
Current Position/Organization: Director - Urban Health Program, Research Triangle Institute International
What inspires you?
People fighting for justice and equality for all
What outrages you?
Disregard for people
Marcia S. McIntosh (she/her)
Treasurer
Location: New York, NY
Email: msmcintosh@hotmail.com
Current Position/Organization: Controller, Portfolio Reporting, The YMCA Retirement Fund
What inspires you?
Humanity
What outrages you?
The lack of kindness and disregard for the truth.
Nandini Pillai (she/her)
Board Member
Location: Washington, DC
Email: nandini.pillai@gmail.com
Current Position/Organization: Project Manager, RTI International
What inspires you?
Strong communities; creative advocacy; a new generation of women in leadership roles
What outrages you?
Inequity
Tino Fuentes (he/him)
Board Member
Location: New York, NY
Email: faustinofuentes.ff@gmail.com
Current Position/Organization: Harm Reduction Consultant
What inspires you?
People inspire me and wanting to help
What outrages you?
Government, racism, and people that can help but choose not to.
Corinne Green (she/her)
Board Member
Location: New Orleans, LA
Email: corinne.p.green@gmail.com
Current Position/Organization: Advocate - Louisiana Trans Advocates
What inspires you?
The way the harm reduction community functions in solidarity with the larger movement gives me hope that tomorrow can and will be better than today. I came to harm reduction through queer policy work, and it's inspiring to see so many people from so many issue areas bringing their experience to bear to support and uplift people who use drugs.
What outrages you?
While I'm proud that harm reductionists manage to do so much with so little, the fact that we have to is maddening. The systems that create and perpetuate the injustices we seek to address are entrenched and well-funded.
Mark Kinzly
Board Member
Location: Austin, TX
Email: markkinzly022@gmail.com
Current Position/Organization: Co-founder - Texas Overdose Naloxone Initiative (TONI), Patient Navigator Hep C Project, Austin Harm Reduction Coalition
What inspires you?
Selflessness
What outrages you?
Selfishness
Dakarai Larriett (he/him)
Board Member
Location: New York, NY
Email: dakarail@gmail.com
Current Position/Organization: Director Supply Chain and S&OP, Whirlpool Corporation
What inspires you?
Travel
What outrages you?
The current state of politics in the USA.
William (Billy) O. Pick, MSW, JD (he/him)
Board Member
Location: Washington, DC
Email: billypick@aol.com
Current Position/Organization: Senior Technical Advisor/Office of HIV/AIDS United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
What inspires you?
My family, especially my 3 year old grandniece and grand nephew
What outrages you?
Injustice and entitled bicyclists
Lisa Ramirez (she/her)
Board Member
Location: Austin, TX
Email: l.ram.atx@gmail.com
Current Position/Organization: Project Director - Texas Targeted Opioid Response, Substance Use Disorder Unit
What inspires you?
Resilience
What outrages you?
Injustice
Carlos Roig (he/him)
Board Member
Location: San Francisco, CA
Email: roig@teamsubjectmatter.com
Current Position/Organization: Chief Strategy Officer - Subject Matter
What inspires you?
Family, friends, community and nature.
What outrages you?
Ignorance, insincerity, selfishness and cruelty.
Julie Stampler (she/her)
Board Member
Location: New York, NY
Email: julie@juliestampler.com
Current Position/Organization: Mother, Activist, Actor, Business Owner
What inspires you?
The Harm Reduction movement and the people in it inspires me.
What outrages you?
That people continue to die unnecessarily from overdose.
Hansel Tookes (he/him)
Board Member
Location: Miami, FL
Email: hanseltookes@gmail.com
Current Position/Organization: Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine - Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Miami