Staff and Volunteers
Emily May, co-founder and Executive Director
Named one of twelve women to watch in 2012 by the Daily Muse, Emily is an international leader in the anti-street-harassment movement. In 2005, at the age of 24, she co-founded Hollaback! (iHollaback.org) in New York City, and in 2010 she became the first full-time executive director. Hollaback!’s mission is to give women and LGBTQ folks an empowered response to street harassment, and ultimately, to end it.
Emily brings a fresh perspective to social action in the digital age. She argues that the internet has provided new opportunities to tackle discrimination, by transforming discrimination from a lonely experience into a piece of a larger, public movement. Her project Hollaback! gives women, girls, and LGBTQ individuals an empowered, real-time response to street harassment that will build public awareness on why street harassment matters, and how it hurts. Emily, who hold a Master’s Degree from the London School of Economics in Social Policy, argues that a crowd-sourced movement is the key to changing policy and minds, and ultimately, creating a world where everyone has the right to feel safe and confident.
Prior to running Hollaback!, Emily worked in the anti-poverty world as a case manager, political action coordinator, director of development, and most recently, a one-woman research and development team. She has also worked on four political campaigns.
When feminist icon Gloria Steinem was asked “What women today inspire you and make you feel that the movement continues?” Her response was, “Emily May of Hollaback! who has empowered women in the street, literally.” And when nationally renowned activist and author, Gloria Feldt featured Emily May in her column “She’s Doing It: Emily May of Hollaback!” Feldt says, “I couldn’t be prouder of Emily May, co-founder and Executive Director of Hollaback! as someone who has taken the global problem of street harassment and embraced Power tool #7: Create a movement with both arms and mobile technology!” In 2008, Emily won the Stonewall Women’s Award, in 2010 the Women’s Media Center selected her as one of thirty “Women Making History” along with Rachel Maddow, and in 2011 she was selected as one of “21 leaders for the 21st century” by Women’s E-news, won the “40 under 40″ award from the New Leadership Council, and was named an Ashoka “ChangemakHER.” In 2012 she was named one of 20 women “leading the way” by the Huffington Post, a prestigious list that includes Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Diane Sawyer, and Sonia Sotomeyor.
Veronica Pinto, International Movement Coordinator
Veronica Pinto has worked as a community organizer for over 13 years, and joined the Hollaback! team in June 2011 as the organization’s second staff member. In her role as International Movement Coordinator, Veronica provides hands-on assistance and training to activists around the world who are interested in bringing the movement to end street harassment home.
Raised in Ecuador, Veronica grew up surrounded by protests, tear gas, and bomb threats. The experience taught her about the fragility of humanity, but it also taught her how effectively banning together could change the world. Inspired by the “pack of community-organizing women” that raised her, Veronica’s organizing experiences spans across issues and includes organizing youth, working with the homeless, advocating for animals, spearheading fundraisers to help build schools for girls in Central Asia, and promoting equality for the LGBTQ community. Prior to Hollaback! she worked as a development associate at Legal Services NYC and a Special Events Intern at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies.
She is a firm believer that everyone has the right to feel safe and confident without being harassed or objectified, and hopes to inspire the next generation of leaders in the movement to end street harassment.
Our Blogger Team
Victoria Travers, Chief Writer and Editor. Victoria is a writer and freelance journalist hailing from South Wales in the United Kingdom. She joined Hollaback! in October 2011 to head up the blogging team as chief writer and editor. Victoria also volunteers as a writer and a development assistant at New York City based online news organization Women’s eNews.
After gaining an honors degree in English Literature at the University of Reading, Victoria trained to become a secondary school English teacher. She taught for 2 years in South Wales before deciding to pursue a career in writing. Moving to London, she gained her journalism post-grad while working as a supply teacher in Walthamstow, East London. She moved to New York City in August of 2011 for love.
Victoria is proud to be a part of the new feminist movement that aims to shed the stigma of the Femi-Nazi. She believes in equality and mutual respect for all people. She is super-psyched to be a part of the Hollaback! movement, to not just be making noise but to be inspiring change.
Alex Alston is a 21 year old senior at Duke University from Wilson, NC studying African-American studies and English. He spent this past summer interning with Hollaback! 5 days a week, and enjoyed his time there so much he decided to continue working with the team throughout the academic year. His immediate post-undergraduate plans are to continue academic work in the fields of race, class, and gender with a focus on the intersectionality of systems of opression. Alex is a poet, plays several instruments, and is really interested in film. Funny enough, these days his claim to fame has become the fact that he and Executive Director, Emily May, were born in the same hospital.
Annie Boggs is an inspiring writer and activist who attends the University of Florida, where she studies journalism and women’s studies. Along with volunteering for Hollaback!, she has interned for the Women’s Media Center, serves as Director for her school’s Women’s Student Association and pens a feminist blog for the school paper. Particularly interested in the relationship between social activism and new media, she is very excited to be part of the awesome Hollaback! blogger team
Sara Sugar graduated from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies. She works at a nonprofit during the day and at night pursues her dream of someday being paid to write. She has previously interned at GO! Magazine, KIWI Magazine and The Feminist Press. She is thrilled to be part of the Hollaback blogging team!
Our site leaders
UNITED STATES
Hollaback! Atlanta
Jill Dimond, Co-Director. Jill is the lead technical developer for Hollaback. She maintains the website and phone apps, developed the android app, launched the new site, and organizes techie volunteers. She is also a PhD student at Georgia Tech and is researching digital activism and sexual violence & ICTs. After researching how technology can be an extension of abuse for survivors of intimate partner violence, she is stoked to build technology that actually helps to combat sexual violence and to do action research with Hollaback.
Daphne Larose, Co-Director. Daphne is an Atlanta transplant by way of New York City. After bouncing up and down the east coast, she has landed in Atlanta to study computer science in grad school. She first became interested in Hollaback after helping Jill with her research and is now super excited about getting involved with the other ATL Hollabackers! When she’s not studying, she spends her time reading, watching lots of tv and looking for fun things to do around the city.
Crystal Rodgers, Co-Director. Crystal began calling herself a feminist in the 5th grade. She remains a feminist to this day and is almost finished with her undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies. Her research interests include rape prevention, affect studies, menstruation, and girlhood. She became involved in Hollaback! when a friend sent her a link to the website and discovered that Atlanta was not among the U.S. cities participating. Serendipitously, several other Atlantans were making the same discovery! Now, Crystal and her fellow ATL teammates are excited to become a local part of a global movement towards ending street harassment! She is also gluten intolerant, loves coffee, looks like a librarian, and has an affinity for 90s chic rock.
Lauren Zink, Co-Director. Lauren is a twentysomething activist and Atlanta transplant, originally hailing from Wisconsin. She was inspired to found HollabackAtlanta after an unfortunate run-in with a pants-down creeper in Midtown. Disappointed that there were few ways she could fight back, Lauren took to Facebook to voice her experience. A friend posted on her wall about the awesome Hollaback! website in D.C. and how it was revolutionizing the way women reacted to street harassment, like the brand Lauren had encountered in Atlanta. Lauren reached out to D.C.’s director, and the rest is harassment-kicking history. When she’s not being a Holla badass with the rest of the crew, you can find her browsing in book stores, practicing yoga, or watching old Audrey Hepburn movies.
Hollaback! Baltimore
Shawna Potter, Director. Shawna is the only child of a single mother, therefore, a feminist. She has been living in Baltimore since 2002 but has experienced harassment in countless cities while on tour with various musical projects. She currently screams for War On Women, is ordained to perform wedding ceremonies and runs Big Crunch Amp & Guitar Repair with her partner in life and crime. A current member of the Transgender Response Team, she encourages anyone interested in the well-being of our local transgender community to join.
Hollaback! Chicago
Katie Davis, Co-Director. Katie is one of the founding site leaders from Hollaback Chicago. She has been living in Chicago since coming to study art & design at Columbia College in 2008. She is now a freelance graphic designer who is obsessed with letterpress, guerrilla marketing, and bodoni lower case italic. She comes from the smallest town in Central Illinois where she dreamed of doing big things in big cities and being a bad-ass woman. In her free time—besides ending street harassment— she enjoys painting, cooking, growing things, and playing with her lovely dog Eddie.
Nicolette Fendon, Co-Director. Hollaback! is the first project that has allowed Nicolette to gratefully put her activism where her mouth is. She is a passionate advocate for women and LGBTQ rights and is doubly passionate about Hollaback. A long time feminist in the face of small town Michigan mentality, and now in the face of the brutal Chicago winds, she’s always argued for the freedom and right to walk down the street un-accosted, often arguing her beliefs with her harassers.Nicolette is an artist and musician living on the cusp of Chicago’s city limits. An avid reader (though she wishes she were a more avid baker) she collects ancient cameras, guitars and odd percussion instruments. She lives with her “pardner” and their many books and plants.
Hannah Sanders, Co-Director. Hannah is originally from southeastern Louisiana, and moved to Chicago a long time ago to go to art school and live in Pilsen with her parrots. Hollaback isn’t really about politics, it’s about ending gender based violence! Are you down? Beware: she fiercely represents Hollaback up and down the street!
Hollaback! Des Moines
Becca Lee, Co-Director. Becca is a born-feminist and Des Moines transplant, hailing from the Kansas City suburbs. She became interested in the Hollaback! movement during her senior year at Drake University, when a creep on 25th Street literally brought harassment to her doorstep. Now a graduate student at Iowa State University, Becca is interested in how people experience and express gender through personal narrative, cultural representations, and media practices. She formerly interned with the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and is a self-identified Vagina Warrior and slut for justice. When not leading the revolution, she teaches college composition; you can often find her blogging, under the guise of grading papers, throughout DSM coffee shops.
Erin Meek, Co-Director. Erin is a reformed Texan, dedicated to battling discrimination and gender binaries within and outside the confines of the system. As a student, Erin worked with Drake University students and administrators to battle gender-based discrimination and violence on campus, in addition to working toward a more inclusive environment for GLBT youth. She is currently serving a year as an Americorps VISTA with The Chrysalis Foundation, providing technical and operating assistance to several after-school programs for girls in the Des Moines area. You’re likely to run into her walking about at the farmer’s market, people-watching at a music venue, or playing old school video games in her living room.
KellyMarie Zieman, Co-Director. KellyMarie identifies as a sexual assault prevention activist, a dancer, a lesbian, a feminist, and an animal-lover. She is obsessed with cupcakes, healthy sexuality, lip gloss, oxford commas, and social justice, and she believes in dismantling stereotypes based on gender, race, class, size, ability, orientation, sexual behavior, language, or any other characteristic. She is tired of discussing what is bad and wrong with our communities, and is interested in working to articulate our shared vision of the world we DO want to live in. If you’re looking for KellyMarie, you’ll most likely find her sandwiched on the couch between her Great Dane and two Boston terriers, watching Food Network or HGTV.
Hollaback! Houston
Meredith, Co-Director. Meredith edits and writes for this website, around the internet and in exchange for health insurance and financial security. In fact, when she’s done writing her “About” section, she’ll probably start writing somewhere else. She can be found on Twitter, Yelp and her as-yet-launched official blog, where she’ll probably just rant on about everything from feminism to the marginalization of the mentally ill to literature to geek culture to why pineapple is actually the Antichrist. If you want to add to her increasingly creaking inbox, you can e-mail her here, though she admittedly takes a while to reply.
Ricki Lee, Co-Director. Ricki Lee is a mystical tech-wizard that lives in a spire on a hilltop somewhere north of Houston. Other than that, she buries her nose in books studying English Lit and builds online courses for a state university. In her limited free time, she can be found HOLLAing, supporting the Houston arts scene, talking passionately and endlessly about feminist and social issues, and wearing lots of black.
Hollaback! Lawrence KS
Jaimie Oller, Director. Jaimie Oller is a young, queer fat feminist. She currently helps organize the Feminist Book Club in Lawrence, where she calls home. During the DNC in 2008 Ms. Oller was a Volunteer Street Medic in Denver, Colorado. There she was part of a team coordinating communication between police and protestors as well as a personal medic for IVAW (Iraq Vets Against War) during their march and letter delivery to President Obama. After the Louisiana Hurricanes of Sept 2008, she ran a medical clinic with two other volunteers in Dulac, Louisiana. While there she worked with indigenous populations, assisting them with navigating the Red Cross system to get medications refilled, finding counseling, and helping them connect to other local agencies for assistance with cleanup and property replacement. In 2006-2007 Ms. Oller spent time living and working in the West Bank of Palestine doing volunteer medical work, as well as human rights violation documentation. She worked in a free standing birth clinic, as well as the regional hospital in Jenin, where she volunteered in the high risk Labor and Delivery as well as the NICU. In Dec 2010 she traveled to Vietnam to provide massage therapy to Orphans and children with disabilities with the Liddle Kidz Foundation. This Winter, Jaimie will be moving to Portland, OR to pursue her life long dream of becoming a midwife and offering respectful healthcare to marginalized populations.
Huan Rui, Technical Consultant. Huan Rui is a science Ph.D. student in her mid-twenties. She came to the Unite States from China four years ago to pursue a doctoral degree. She identifies herself as a queer, a feminist, and a new generation Chinese. Huan is passionate in the well-beings of minority groups and more specifically, health-related issues for females. She is right now in collaboration with University of Chicago to study human receptors, finding new ways to fight against breast cancer. Besides her scientific interest, Huan is also fascinated by feminism and the riot grrrl movement. She is currently a member of the Feminist Book Club at the University of Kansas and is one of organizers of Hollaback Lawrence chapter. In her spare time, she enjoys biking, cooking, reading, and much more. In May 2012, she will graduate with her Ph. D. degree in Computational Biophysics.
Hollaback! New York City
Kalema Boateng, Hollaback!NYC Leader. A native Bronx, New Yorker. She is a graduate of Barnard College and a community organizer. She received her BA in psychology and education and served as a campus leader in the Columbia University community. Her commitment to event coordinating landed her a position as Black Heritage Month Fashion Showcase Coordinator in 2009 and Black Heritage Month Chair in 2011 of Columbia University.
She was a Bear Pin recipient at Barnard College, the most prestigious award in the college that showcased campus leadership and community organizing and was nominated by her peers as a Senior Marshal for Barnard College commencement .
Hollaback! PDX
Joe LeBlanc. Hollaback! PDX was started by Joe LeBlanc and Katie Carter. Joe was looking for a way to combat the various grey areas of street harassment leading up to hate violence and bias crimes that he was battling as the Coordinator for Q Patrol PDX, Portland’s first LGBTQ community driven foot patrol. Katie was trying to find an empowering way to respond productively to the street harassment that so many women, LGBTQ, and gender non-conforming folks face everyday. Together they have put on film screenings and supported other community partners in their efforts with SlutWalk PDX and Take/Bike Back the Night. They have collaborated with Bradley Angle, Portland’s only domestic violence center accepting victims of any gender, and also houses a specific LGBTQ program. This collaboration led to a film screening of “Where is Your Line?” discussing the topics of boundaries and consent. In the future the site will continue organizing at the grassroots level, collaborating with any Portland organizations battling street harassment and hate violence against women and LGBTQ identified individuals.
Hollaback! Philladelphia
Rochelle Keyhan, Director. Rochelle is a charter member of Hollaback!’s board of directors and has been involved with Hollaback! since April 2010 when she stepped in as pro bono legal advisor during her last year of law school. She went on to incorporate Hollaback! as a national 501(c)(3) non profit, and continues to advise on legal issues and conduct legal research on behalf of Hollaback!. She founded and currently directs HollabackPhilly, which officially launched in April of 2011.
Rochelle is bar certified to practice law in Pennsylvania, and is a practicing attorney in Philadelphia focusing on women’s issues and non profit legal assistance. A graduate of UCLA (with a dual major in English and Women’s Studies), Rochelle received her JD from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law. Rochelle has been actively and passionately involved in feminism since her first year in college when she was trained in feminist and gender theory for the debate team. At UCLA she was Editor in Chief of FEM: UCLA’s Feminist Newsmagazine and co-founder and captain of UCLA’s Debate team; both of which contributed to her outspoken approach to feminism and gender/LGBTQ rights.
Hollaback! Richmond
Jenny Walters, Co-Director. Jenny is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture and Art Education degree at VCU. For the past two years, she have been the President of the student organization SAVES, which is a peer-education group that spreads awareness and hosts informational events about healthy relationships, sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and stalking. She was a hospital advocate for the YWCA of Richmond in 2008, and a Victim Witness advocate for VCU in 2009. In her free time, she performs on the weekends at an improv Comedy Theater called ComedySportz- It’s hilarious! Most importantly, she gets the hiccups when she eats potatoes too quickly and she also has trouble playing the kazoo.
Hollaback! SoCal
Shira, Media Queen. My name is Shira. I’m an author and professor. The short version: I focus on gender and sexual politics. I want all of us to have more pleasure and less harm in our lives. Keeping sexual harassment off our streets is a damn good place to start! I’ve been described as an unconventional feminist redefining gender rights. You can read more here.
Audrey, Blog Queen. My name is Audrey. I’m a queer chicana feminist with chingona politics. As a fierce community organizer and activist I enjoy disrupting heteropatriarchy, sexism, and homophobia and hollaback gives me/us the opportunity to reclaim the streets by sharing our stories.
Ashleigh, Event Queen. My name is Ashleigh. I’m a sexual violence prevention educator by day and graduate student by night. I’m interested in rallying people around gender equity issues while also providing them with baked goods and cold beverages. I believe we have the power to create public spaces that feel safe for everyone. Giving voice to our stories is one way to get there!
Karensa, Twitter and Facebook Queen. My name is Kerensa. I’m a professional feminist. Fighting for gender equality and LGBTQ rights is really important to me. And one of those rights is having safe public spaces for all! Getting involved in Hollaback! is a way, I believe, to make this happen.
Hilda, Multilingual and Cultural Outreach Queen. Yo my name is Hilda and I grew up in the mean streets of Compton. As someone who identifies as a queer Chicana, I’ve experienced a fair share of homophobic/transphobic street harassment. Whether I’m working out, walking hand-in-hand with my girlfriend or just hanging out, I know the streets for me are not as safe as they should be. I became part of the SoCal Hollaback team because I want streets that are safe for ALL people.
Our International Site Leaders
INDIA
Hollaback! Chandigarh
Rubina Singh, Director. Street harassment has become an everyday affair in Chandigarh. Whenever Rubina would go out someone would stare. Someone would comment. Someone would unnecessarily escort her home. She decided to join Hollaback! because she wanted to do something about this. Tired of ignoring it and walking away every time someone decided to harass her. Hollaback! Chandigarh gives her and everyone around her the platform to address these issues and make sure they do something substantial about it. Hollaback! gives her the opportunity to be the change she wants to see in Chandigarh.
Hollaback! Delhi
Anandi Bandyopadhyay, Program Director. Anandi’s passion for the movement against street harassment is her belief that it implicates not only the victim(s) and the perp(s) but the society as a whole. What passes off under the guise of street harassment is actually a nicely packaged crash course in understanding the society’s role in the proliferation and abetment of the ‘rape culture’, gender politics, gender related prejudices and abuse. Silence becomes a part of our socialization and indirectly translates into complicity to such behaviour. In Hollaback I found a kindred spirit. Emily May said, “Leadership is tricky, because you have to be willing to do it alone. But if you’re doing it alone for long, you’re doing it all wrong. Building a movement requires creating real opportunities for people to lead.” It is Anandi’s hope that everyone will respond to this call for leadership that may help transform the multi-gendered space that is the society that we inhabit. Engagement with street harassment is constant and it is her belief that to rival it we must make constant noise against it instead of an intermittent shout! So Hollaback!
Devika Parashar, Political Action Leader. Devika believes that Hollaback gives us an approachable platform to help us spread awareness about harassment in the most chic way possible because it doesn’t expect us to compromise our sexuality. Hollaback allows her to channel her interests and bring about change in Delhi one street at a time!
Lakshana Palat, Media and Strategy Coordinator. Lakshana joined Hollaback to understand the issues that occur on a daily basis, which are usually not given the adequate importance they deserve. Working with Hollaback has helped her understand that while culturally and linguistically we may all be different, it is possible to identify a universal framework for a solution and then to be brave and modify it to make the maximum return. Hollaback is a movement that aims to not only face up to street harassment but also attempts to foster change that would pre-empt such events from occurring at all.
Sneha Pathak, Social Outreach and Expansion Leader. Sneha believes that street harassment in its varied forms is one of the most ubiquitous forms of gender based violence, it is a global problem that is difficult to combat because it is least legislated against, it is taken to be something very ordinary, something that every woman has to experience even if it’s a part of her daily life. She believes that Hollaback gives us a platform to address these issues and make sure we do something substantial about it.
Hollaback! Mumbai
Aisha Zakira, Director. Aisha is a consultant for a human rights commission, a newspaper columnist on Indian affairs and Founder and Director of Hollaback!MUMBAI. She likes polka dots, punctuation and the beach. Like many other Mumbaikars, she has so much love for this crazy, wonderful city, and hopes that the Hollaback! initiative will empower women and re-educate men, on a grassroots and policy level, so that all people feel safe, respected and comfortable on the streets of Mumbai.
Hollaback! DF, Mexico
Gabriela Amancaya, Director. Gabriela was born in Mexico City and lived in BC, Canada for 4 years where she completed a double major in Women’s Studies and Environmental Studies.
During her stay in Canada, Gabriela also had the opportunity to participate in community based and grassroots projects for and by multiracial, indigenous and immigrant women and girls.
Upon her return to Mexico she became involved in work related to urban sustainability and climate change. She currently works as a consultant for Humane Society International’s Farm Animal Protection branch in Latin America.
Gabriela, 23 years old, is a vegetarian and enjoys writing and exploring Mexico in her spare time. She also plays the Jarana, a string instrument from the traditional Son Jarocho music from the state of Veracruz, Mexico.
Hollaback! Wellington, New Zealand.
Caitlin Dunham, Co-Director. Caitlin chose to be involved with Hollaback because it seemed to be exactly what Wellington needed. Caitlin is currently the National Women’s Rights Officer at the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations, and is working towards her Honours degree in Classical Studies. She is an admin of the Wellington Young Feminists Collective, a member of the Pay and Employment Equity Coalition and Rocky Horror fanatic.
Josephine Hall, Co-Director. Josephine was first drawn to the Hollaback movement because of its intersection between feminism and technology. Coming from a technical background she was interested in the application of blog and mobile technology to a worldwide problem such as street harassment and the real time response it could facilitate. Josephine has a BSc in Computer Science and currently works for a local technology company where she builds web based applications. She is also an admin member of the Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective, a seamstress with a passion for vintage fashion, an amateur runner and avid tea drinker.
Nicole Skews, Co-Director. Nicole wanted to launch Hollaback in Wellington as a way to combat feeling unsafe in a city she loves so much. She is also the founder and coordinator of the Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective, the social organisation supporting Hollaback Wellington. Nicole has a degree in Communications (specifically Expressive Arts and Journalism) and works in policy and project management. She is also a board member of Wellington Rape Crisis, a columnist when she feels like it, and an overly enthusiastic cat owner.
Tania Sawicki Mead, Co-Director. Tania is excited to be working to launch Hollaback in her home city in order to bring attention to the ongoing problem of street harassment, a pervasive and demoralising problem that has affected friends and family all over Wellington. Tania has an Honours degree in International Relations and currently works in the education sector with refugee background students. Tania has been involved with the Wellington Young Feminists’ Collective since its inception, and is also a member of the Freerange Collective, an occasional contemporary dancer and an amateur gourmet.
UNITED KINGDOM
Hollaback! Birmingham
Zoë Durnford, Co-Director. Zoë has lived in Birmingham for the last four years, both as a postgraduate student and a young professional. She has lived in the centre; student town Selly Oak; and now lives in south Birmingham with house-mate and co-site leader Natalie. Zoë currently volunteers as an intern for a small international development charity alongside her work for Hollaback!
Natalie Truswell, Co-Director. Natalie has lived in Birmingham for the last two years and currently works as Editor-in-Chief at a Publishing Company, which produces magazines about a range of subjects including festivals, travel, fashion and advice for students and graduates.
Hollaback! Manchester
Meg Venter, Co-Director. Meg is a final year undergraduate student at the University of Manchester, majoring in American Studies. When she’s not in a feminist rage about things, she enjoys Twin Peaks (a little bit too much) and interesting types of tea.
Kirsty Roberts, Co-Director. Kirsty is a first year LLB Law student at the University of Manchester. She’s new to the whole feminist thing, loves trash TV, art and reading The Sunday Times.
Greta Friedlander, Co-Director. Greta is a personal care assistant from Manchester. She loves campaigning on feminist and LGBTQ issues and throwing vegan dinner parties.
Our Freelance Badasses (or as some people may call them, volunteers)
in alphabetical order:
Meg Cannistra has been interning with Hollaback since the summer of 2010. Her main focus is reaching out to and engaging colleges. Though relatively new to Hollaback, Meg has a keen interest in the movement and has become increasingly aware of the need for Hollaback on college campuses while listening to others’ stories of harassment and being harassed on campus herself. Hollaback is a reminder that though there are scummy people in this world, there are also some really awesome ones who are fighting our the right to walk down the street without feeling ashamed. Meg sees Hollaback as a chance to give confidence to those who feel embarrassed by filthy remarks and innuendos.
Jill Dimond is the lead technical developer for Hollaback. She maintains the website and phone apps, developed the android app, launched the new site, and organizes techie volunteers. She is also a PhD student at Georgia Tech and is researching digital activism and sexual violence & ICTs. After researching how technology can be an extension of abuse for survivors of intimate partner violence, she is stoked to build technology that actually helps to combat sexual violence and to do action research with Hollaback.
Violet Kittappa has been shouting back since November 2009. As Director of Development and Associate Freelance Badass for Hollaback, much of her work includes engaging organizations and individuals in supporting the movement, developing thought leadership and anti-harassment awareness in the media through community outreach, and generally helping propel New York City into the 21st century through gender equality-building activities like demonstrations and city council hearings. If granted one street harassment wish only, she wishes she could personally dump a green bucket of slime on the head of every street toad in America (yes, she grew up in the 80s).
Kimberly May is a high school senior and will graduate this spring. She plays on the varsity volleyball and golf teams, is treasurer of her class, and president of the Beta Club. She plans to attend college next fall and major in biology. Kimberly is Emily’s younger sister and has been a supporter of Hollaback! since its beginning. She recently started volunteering for Hollaback! and is excited to be a part of this movement to end street harassment.
Kristen Meloche came from Arizona where it’s too hot to walk outside to NYC where she got her first taste of jerks on the street. She is proud to use her art direction skills to provide Hollaback-ers with every logo, button, and banner need. Hot pink is her favorite color and is happy to plaster it around the world for such an awesome movement.
Domenique Osborne honed her Hollaback-skills on the streets of Detroit, came to New York in 2005, and has been talking back ever since. As someone who had been an active and vocal member of the feminist community on her college campus, Domenique is excited to again be part of a group of likeminded individuals. She wanted to use her professional skills as an advertising copywriter for a higher purpose than just taglines and jingles and was thrilled to meet Emily and to do her part in helping to craft the voice of the Hollaback movement.