We collaborate closely to bring a wide range of perspectives, skills and knowledge to our work. When assigning a facilitation team team, we consider not only the facilitators’ expertise but also their lived experiences, training styles, personalities, and cofacilitation relationship.
Chelsey Branham
Malú Machuca-Rose
Nick Thuot
Tobias K. Davis
Davey Shlasko
Davey Shlasko (all pronouns) is the founder and director of Think Again Training & Consulting. For over two decades, Davey has cultivated a practice of facilitating adult learning that supports organizational and systemic change for social justice. Davey’s work has supported schools, universities, healthcare and human service providers, advocacy organizations, and businesses to integrate principles and practices of social justice into their planning and everyday action. Davey has an M.Ed. in Social Justice Education from UMass-Amherst, and teaches as an Adjunct Associate Professor in social theory and trans studies at Smith College School for Social Work.
Author/editor of:- Trans Allyship Workbook
- Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, 4th edition with Maurianne Adams, Lee Anne Bell, Diane Goodman, Rachel Briggs and Romina Pacheco
- Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, 3rd edition with Adams, Blumenfeld, Catalano, DeJong, Hackman, Hopkins, Love, Peters, and Zúñiga
Felicia Lundquist
Felicia Lundquist (she/her) draws on her lifelong commitment to social change leadership to bring people together, build trust, and develop shared understanding across differences. Prior to joining Think Again Training And Consulting as the Training Manager she was the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and an adjunct faculty member at Springfield College. She has co-created programs and initiatives such as the Hip Hop Leadership Summit, A SEAT (Social justice, Equity, Accountability, Transformation) At The Table, and numerous other academic and social support programs for first-generation students and students of color. Through her learning and teaching, Felicia has learned the power of a social justice analysis, grounded in Black feminist thought, for helping people let go of internalized shame and guilt and become ready to make change. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and Spanish an M.Ed from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and serves as a cochair of the Community Engagement Committee of the Board of Directors for the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce.
Author of “Give and Take, the Love and Hate Relationship: Black Identity, Plantation Politics, and Leadership” in Black Women Navigating Historically White Higher Education Institutions and the Journey Toward Liberation
Amanda Sandoval
Amanda Sandoval (she/hers/ella) is an accomplished Latinx organizer and community leader hailing from Oklahoma. With her dedication to grassroots activism and advocating for marginalized groups, Amanda’s background is firmly rooted in the realm of public service, local government and community organizing. Amanda spearheads Think Again’s social media and other outreach endeavors to connect with diverse communities and organizations, and coordinates internal and external communications. Armed with a BA in Political Science and a Master’s in Public Administration, Amanda brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to drive positive change.
Facilitators
Annie DelBusto Cohen
Annie DelBusto Cohen (she/her) has a passion for creating a more just world by developing leaders, educating for social justice and engaging in conversations that center the heart. She brings over a decade of experience in higher education including in social justice leadership education and residential life. Annie is a trained Social Justice Mediator and Intergroup Dialogue facilitator, and has developed tools for making social justice conversations more accessible through the use of art and creativity. Her personal experiences as a queer, first generation Cuban American have given her particular insight and skill for facilitating conversations that explore the ambiguity and complexity of multiracial/biracial identities, and the intersectionality of race, culture, gender and sexual orientation. Annie holds a B.A.in Psychology and Women’s Studies from Wells College and an M.S. in College Student Personnel Administration from Canisius College.
Ayden Prehara
Ayden Prehara (he/they) has over 8 years experience in health education, for youth and young adult community members as well as healthcare providers. In their current role, Ayden develops and presents curriculum on consent and sexual violence prevention for middle school and high school students. He earned his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Gender & Women’s Studies with concentrations in nonprofit management and youth/adult partnerships in nonprofit settings, along with a certificate in LGBT Studies.
Chelsey Branham
Chelsey Branham (Chickasaw| Cherokee| Pawnee) (she/they) specializes in transformational equity in public administration, public policy, and economic development and has over 15 years of experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. As a master’s graduate in international studies and as a Chickasaw citizen, she has always sought out diverse and global perspectives to find equitable and innovative solutions to economic, policy, and management issues. Transforming systems through policy improvement and development have been a huge priority in Chelsey’s career, as both a former State Representative and consultant. Chelsey earned their B.A. in Psychology and Religious Studies, and their M.A. in International Economics & Development from the University of Oklahoma.
Hillary Montague-Asp
Hillary Montague-Asp (she/her) is a social justice educator and DEI practitioner focusing on self-reflection and implicit bias, fat justice, LGBTQ+ justice, racial justice and disability justice. She is PhD candidate in Social Justice Education at UMass Amherst, where she has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses on social justice in the US education system, ableism & disability justice, and intergroup dialogue. Hillary has worked at the UMass Stonewall Center for the past 10 years, where she supports student-led programs and events, facilitates support groups, oversees the Gender & Sexuality training programs, and provides support and advocacy to individual queer and trans students. Hillary has earned her B.A. in Women and Gender Studies and Sociology from the University of Colorado and her M.Ed. from UMass Amherst.
Author of “Ableism and Disability Justice” in Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, 4th edition
Janae Peters
Janae Peters (she/her) has worked in high school teaching, advising, and administration for over a decade. She also teaches and serves as an internal consultant at Smith College School for Social Work. Janae integrates her clinical social work experience with a social justice analysis to facilitate relational processes of discovery and transformation for organizational change. [She currently serves as Dean of Students on a team that has created and opened a school in Cleveland, Ohio that works hard to transform education as we know it and the lives of people in the educational environment.] Janae earned her B.A. in English with concentrations African Diaspora Studies and Victorian Poetry from Kenyon College and her M.S.W. in Clinical Social Work with a focus on Adolescents and Education.
Jay Botsford
Jay Botsford (ze/zir or they/them) has been advocating with LGBTQ+ communities since 2002, providing equity and justice-focused training and consulting to service providers and institutions, supporting the leadership of students and youth to make change in their communities, and organizing for racial, gender, health, and disability justice. Ze has worked extensively in both higher education and the nonprofit sector in many roles, including as a sexuality educator, youth organizer, health advocate, and social justice educator/consultant. Jay is passionate about community care, mutual aid, building accomplices (not just allies), and centering health, healing, and pleasure in justice work.
Kendra Colburn
Kendra Colburn (she/her) provides equity and social justice consulting and training to organizations, businesses, and institutions. From 2016-2020, she was a co-owner and team member of Equity Solutions, a consulting cooperative focusing on racial and economic equity in Vermont. Born in a family rich with the history of both New England’s white working poor and, more distantly, its WASP elite, Kendra brings an intersectional class lens to her work and life. She co-facilitates community-based Cross Class Dialogue Circles, has worked in blue-, pink-, and white-collar trades, and has been part of community organizing around environmental, food, socioeconomic, and racial justice issues since 1997. Kendra has a BA in American Studies from Smith College, where she was an Ada Comstock Scholar and advocated for low-income peers.
Malú Machuca-Rose
Malú Machuca Rose (they/elle) is a transfeminist and anti-colonial scholar, organizer and cultural worker from Lima, Perú. They bring activism and teaching together with caring facilitation and a fierce, intersectional feminist pedagogy. Malú is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Performance Studies and a Mellon Cluster Fellow in Gender and Sexuality Studies at Northwestern University. Their research focuses on Latin American arts and performance, feminist and sexually dissident forms of activism, and queer and trans of color critique. Malú earned their BA in Sociology from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and their MA in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Malú is currently conducting fieldwork for their dissertation with the support of the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and the Sexualities Project at Northwestern University.
Author of:
Estado de Violencia (2014)
Nuestra Voz Persiste (2016)
Meiver De la Cruz
Meiver De la Cruz (she/they) is a scholar, artist, and activist. Meiver brings in over 8 years of experience working in International Regulatory Affairs in the biopharmaceutical industry working with genetic diseases and orphan drugs, and over 20 years involved in community non-profit work, activism and engagement with social justice causes including housing advocacy, youth engagement through the arts, and organizing with immigrant and women of color groups. They hold a BA degree in Economics and Business Management from the University of Massachusetts Boston, Master’s Degrees from Simmons College in Gender and Cultural Studies, and from Northwestern in Performance Studies. Currently Meiver is a doctoral candidate in Performance Studies at Northwestern University. Meiver has served as faculty at Oberlin College, Scripps College, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Smith College, Eastern Michigan University, and the University of California at Santa Barbara, teaching critical theory, ethnographic methods, dance studies, queer, feminist and performance theory, and Arab dance technique. She writes about diasporic movement practices as well as performance epistemologies in a global context. She has toured internationally with several dance companies and performs as a solo artist. As an artist, she creates works addressing the intersections of diaspora politics, racialization, and gendered sexual violence.
Nick Thuot
Nick Thuot is a White, trans, and non-binary educator and activist committed to dismantling systems of oppression and helping others find ways to enact liberation every day. Nick worked in university residence life programs for five years, where they strived to create a home for marginalized students within higher education despite higher education not being created with them in mind. Nick values the explicit articulation of self-care/self-love as a way to normalize the ways that justice seekers can remain sustainably engaged in fighting for liberation. (Home base: Madison, WI)
Romina Pacheco
Romina Pacheco (she/ella) is the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at the Windward School. She is an educator who facilitates learning on issues of equity and social justice with professionals, students, and community members of all ages. She brings decades of experience in educational leadership including serving as an internal and external DEIB expert in K-12, higher ed and nonprofit settings. In her consulting work, Romina brings her personal experiences as an Afro-Latina immigrant, a parent, and a community organizer to help diverse teams build trust, belonging, and equity. Romina has a Ph.D. from New Mexico State University in Curriculum & Instruction and Women’s Studies, and an M.Ed. in Social Justice Education from UMass-Amherst.
Editor of- Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, 4th edition with Maurianne Adams, Lee Anne Bell, Diane Goodman, Davey Shlasko and Rachel Briggs
- Colonized Schooling Exposed, with Pierre Orelus and Curry Malott
Saer Smith
Saer Smith (they/he) is a clinical social worker focusing on low-income and homeless youth, identity development, and building accessible and intersectional treatment for eating disorders. They are passionate about addressing the ways that class, race, gender, and ability are experienced in our bodies, and creating space for individuals and communities to challenge those beliefs. Saer provides consulting and training around racial justice, trans inclusion, body image/fatphobia, mental health, gender and sexual identity in the non-profit, education, and healthcare fields.
Stefanie Davis
Stefanie “Steffi” Davis (she/her) has been a Social Justice Educator for the past 15 years. She is currently a doctoral student in the Children, Families and Schools program at UMASS-Amherst where she works as a program supervisor and mentor for Early Childhood Licensure students. Steffi is an MA ECC certified teacher. Her special interest is gender justice and gender education at the early childhood level. Steffi has created and facilitated workshops for educators, parents and staff working with students of all ages. She holds a M.Ed in Social Justice Education from UMASS and a B.A. from Occidental College.
T.J. Jourian
T.J. Jourian (he/him) is an independent scholar, educator, consultant, and trainer with 10 years experience in student affairs. His consulting work has included assessment and strategic planning with professional associations, nonprofits and more. Centering trans and queer people of color’s experiences and epistemologies, his research examines race, gender, and sexuality in higher education, with particular attention to masculinity and trans masculine students, and campus gender and sexuality centers and practitioners. T.J. earned his Master’s in student affairs administration (with a multicultural education cognate) at Michigan State University and his Ph.D. in higher education at Loyola University Chicago.
Author of
- “Fun and carefree like my polka dot bowtie”: Disidentifications of trans masculine students of color, in Queer People of Color in Higher Education
- Engaging transgender students in higher education, with Chase Catalano and Z Nicolazzo, in Student Engagement in Higher Education
- Centering trans/nonbinary people of color: Health disparities, resiliency, and opportunities for affirmative clinical practice, with D. L. Whitfield & K. T. Claybren in Social Work and Health Care with Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals and Communities
Tobias K. Davis
Tobias K. Davis (he/him) is a facilitator with over 15 years experience in social justice education, and Inclusion Education Trainer in the Smith College Office for Equity and Inclusion. He integrates his passion for theater into his work for social change, and has organized several social justice theater projects along with other community organizing over the past two decades. Tobias earned a Masters in Social Justice Education with a focus on Intergroup Dialogue from UMass-Amherst and is a certified Calling In Facilitator and Social Justice Mediator.