survivor defense fellows
jenani “jen” srijeyanthan (they/she/them) currently serves as tdc’s Pre-Trial Survivor Defense Fellow. jenani is a tamil queer femme disabled organizer residing on Mvskoke land (Atlanta, GA), originally by ways of Lenape territory (South Brunswick, NJ). Within tdc, they co-lead the Survivor Defense Project and is a steering member of the Healing Justice Lab. Their organizing interests include: survivor defense, transformative justice, education, and dreaming of a world where healthy relationships and love reign supreme. jenani has a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology from Emory University, and has utilized an intersectional & interdisciplinary lens in a variety of research, nonprofit, and grassroots settings related to trauma, addiction, and survivorship. By day, jenani is a staff member with Just Beginnings Collaborative. They love architecture, art, reading theory, cooking, hiking, and farming. They fully and unapologetically embody their “scorpio sun, aries moon, libra rising” energy- in short, they’re one moody they/she, but it’s casual.
andrew kornfeld (he/him) currently serves as tdc’s Post-Conviction Survivor Defense Fellow. Andrew is an abolitionist, writer, and current undergraduate student at Yale University pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in American Studies. Within tdc, he co-leads the Survivor Defense Project. He is interested in freedom campaign work and building up power and support for people currently in prison. At Yale, Andrew serves as a Communication and Consent Educator, engaging in targeted interventions to create a more healthy sexual climate on campus. He has previously worked with Mourning Our Losses, a volunteer organization that formed out of the COVID-19 pandemic and memorializes those who die in jails, prisons, and detention centers and advocates for mass releases across the country. He was also previously on the board and the advocacy team of the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project. Andrew loves creative writing, running, reading fiction, and making playlists.
priyanka jain (she/her) currently serves tdc’s Storytelling & Internal Communications Survivor Defense Fellow. Within tdc, she coordinates inside/outside communications and utilizes storytelling as a method to engage survivors on their healing and liberatory journeys. She also writes and sends out the Survivor Advisory Board Newsletter every few weeks. Priyanka has previously worked on the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project’s board and head of the Police Brutality group. She is currently studying public health at school, and hopes to go into fields of healthcare or public health. In her free time, she really enjoys biking and hiking, and even teaches spin classes a few days a week!
coumbah (they/them) currently serves as tdc’s Survivor Defense Fellow. Coumbah Sidibe is a first-generation nonbinary curator born in Ivory Coast. They currently reside in Atlanta, GA. They graduated from Georgia State with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and are enrolled in a Masters of Sociology program at the New School. They are inspired by the work of Audre Lorde specifically “Uses of the Erotic” which contextualizes their curatorial lens. Their work centers on the exploration of shared spaces as well as the liberation of people who navigate multiple oppressions of gender, race, and accessibility putting them at constant threat of not being able to survive due to binary systems within our society. They love to read poems, and narratives as well as realistic fiction sharing and listening to stories is a way they seek growth and perspectives.
rukmini (she/her) currently serves as tdc’s Survivor Defense Fellow. Rukmini is a South Asian organizer who grew up in Houston, TX, and currently lives in Atlanta, GA. She is invested in legacies of garden, growth, and rebuilding in the American South, which centers her dreams. In her free time, she tends her curry leaf plant, builds her record collection, and reads poetry. She is a graduate of Emory University, with a degree in economics and creative writing. Currently, she works as a community organizer with Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta.
milkay (she/her) currently serves as tdc’s Survivor Defense Fellow. Milkay was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. Within TDC, she is a survivor defense fellow. Her advocacy work began in high school with her city’s chapter of CAIC (Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement). She also worked as a canvasser and project organizer for VOICE Buffalo, which is dedicated to building voter equity amongst the black population in Buffalo. Currently, Milkay is pursuing a major in Anthropology with a certificate in Arabic from Yale University. At college, she has been involved with the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project and Mourning Our Losses, an organization that memorializes people who lost their lives in prison. Milkay loves biking, film photography, storytelling, music, and her Taurus sun (and refuses to admit her Gemini stellium has any influence on her life).
dkéama alexis (she/they/he) currently serves as tdc’s Survivor Defense Fellow. Dkéama is a Black trans— person currently residing on Mvskoke and Tsalaguwetiyi land (metro Atlanta). in 2017, they co-founded Black Queer & Intersectional Collective (BQIC) on Shawnee, Wyandotte, and Miami land (Central Ohio), an abolitionist grassroots collective working towards the liberation of Black LGBTQI+ people through community organizing, education, direct action, and creating spaces. currently, Dkéama works as an independent/freelance consultant who specializes in facilitation and political education. in her free time, Dkéama enjoys writing, sitting at her altar, roller skating, reading tarot with a praxis that prioritizes multiply-marginalized Black people, and dreaming towards a world without police, prisons, or borders.
healing justice fellows
lucky “lux” ho (they/she/he) currently serves as tdc’s Healing Justice Fellow. lucky is a queer non-binary Việt organizer born and raised on Mvskoke land. Within tdc, they co-lead the Healing Justice Lab. They graduated from the University of Georgia in 2018 after studying Women’s Studies and Public Health. lux is passionate about birth work, community care, and heritage farming. lux loves the work of weaving the wisdom of children and elders into our movement and doing multigenerational cultural organizing. As a survivor of gender-based violence, they are dedicated to organizing around healing and transformative justice with marginalized communities and survivors in the South. By day, lux is on staff at Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta, building power and organizing with AAPI communities in Metro Atlanta. Things they are constantly daydreaming about: abolition, ripe persimmons from their ông nội’s house, and one day having their own farm. They’re an ENFP, a type 8, AND to top it all off, they have an Aries stellium. In short, lux is a gleeful troublemaker committed to mischief, joy, and conspiring against the state so that one day soon, we are able to create a more vibrant and just world for all of us.
iman abdulkadir said currently serves as tdc’s Healing Justice & Community Health Fellow. Iman was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, on Piscataway land, and moved to the South for graduate school. Iman is a 5th-year Ph.D. candidate seeking a degree in counseling psychology. A large part of Iman’s goals is the continued exploration of the possibilities for different healing and wellness approaches through community and individual-level initiatives. Iman’s research interests are manifested through an intervention dissertation to positively shift attitudes toward non-carceral conflict approaches, with clinical interests in embodied healing and working with multiple marginalized communities (e.g., Queer and Trans communities of color). You can sometimes find Iman attempting to learn more about planting, foraging, and other survival skills OR more commonly watching low-quality tv shows. Within tdc, they are a steering member of the Healing Justice Lab, and provide in-house expertise on intersections between mental health, counseling, and survivorship.
e lim (they/them) currently serves as tdc’s Programs & Admin Fellow. Born and raised in Atlanta, e began organizing in Atlanta’s AAPI communities in 2015 during an internship with Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. They continued to organize around housing and racial justice on campus before graduating from New York University with a B.A. in Systems of Power and Inequality in the United States. Afterward, they worked on electoral and issue campaigns in New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Boston, and Muncie before returning to Georgia in 2017 to build power with the immigrant communities that raised them. They now primarily focus on cultural and political organizing as well as transformative and healing justice in QTBIPOC communities in and around Atlanta. Within tdc, they are a steering member of the Survivor Defense Project, co-lead on the Healing Justice Lab, and provide tdc with capacity-building coaching as a staff member with Demo Lab South.
cultural and poli ed fellows
ali ture (ali/ture/they/she) currently serves as tdc’s Membership & Political Education (MPE) Fellow. Ali has 5+ years experience in community organizing. Ali founded the Black queer feminist student organization, Panthers For Black Feminism, on Georgia State’s Campus centering BIPOC queer & trans students with a focus on advocating at the intersection of student and Atlanta issues. Ali later went on to serve as lead community organizer for Spark Reproductive Justice NOW! where work was centered around Black womxn, trans & nonbinary people ages 18-35 with an emphasis on building and leveraging the power of our base to lobby, provide community for our base, political education for our base and the Atlanta community. Ali later worked at Asain Americans Advancing Justice as the queer community organizer where Ali built a base of QTBIPOC ages 18-35. Ali currently serves as the membership coordinator for Housing Justice League, a non profit organization dedicated to advocating for low income Black & brown tenants and leveraging tenant power through tenant associations to see material conditions and power shift. Within tdc, they provide oversight on all membership organizing and collaborate with the COPE Fellow on leading political education efforts.
ting tran (they/them) currently serves as tdc’s Cultural Organizing & Political Education (COPE) Fellow. ting is a self-taught artist situated on Mvskoke land. their art is inspired by their experiences navigating the world as a Teochew, trans-nonbinary femme living in the southeast of the so-called united states. they dream of realities where creativity is no longer a commodity, and seek to cultivate practices that prioritize community, autonomy, safety, healing, and joy.
survivor advisory board
tbd
aunties
fiscal sponsor: Asian Americans Advancing Justice- Atlanta (AAAJ-ATL)
- Mission: “to envision a social movement in which communities of color are fully empowered, active in civic life, and working together to promote equity, fair treatment, and self determination for all.”
subject matter sponsor: Raksha, Inc.
- Mission: “to promote a stronger and healthier South Asian community through confidential support services, education and advocacy” by working towards healing, empowerment, and justice for South Asian survivors of violence.”
incubation home: demo lab south (DLS)
- Mission: “The Democracy Lab South, or demo lab south, is an incubation hub for innovative, POC-led, community-centered projects in the South. We also build power in partnership with key AA/PI communities in the region by developing leaders, building movement infrastructure, and supporting and facilitating collective strategies, campaigns, and actions.”