Vivette Jeffries-Logan, Michelle Johnson, and Tema Okun
at the Holding Contradictions workshop

Cecelia Alvarado's higher education work includes 27 years as professor of early childhood education at Santa Barbara City College, Wheelock College Institute for Leadership and Career Initiatives, Pacific Oaks College, UC Santa Barbara and currently at George Mason University.  Her independent consulting work incorporates dismantling racism work with servant leadership principles, accountability to communities and culturally appropriate program development in organizations such as the National Black Child Development Institute, Teaching for Change and the National Council of La Raza.  Cecelia has combined teaching of adults and children, organizing in communities of color and technical assistance with local, state and national organizations and boards, non-profit groups and schools with a variety of critical issues and areas of need such as: leadership development, anti-bias curriculum development, bilingual education, faculty development, organizational development and ensuring community self-determination.


Bree Carlson is a lead trainer with more than 10 years of organizing experience in community, labor, and electoral projects. Working extensively throughout the United States and abroad, Bree has provided training and facilitation to groups ranging from grassroots community organizations and state-wide coalitions to regional intermediaries and national organizations. Bree has assisted in the creation and implementation of the Dismantling Racism curriculum and has trained hundreds of organizations in the DR process, board development, strategic planning, and fundraising.


M. E. Dueker is a lead trainer who most recently served as executive director of Project Underground, a human-rights and environmental organization in Berkeley, CA. Dueker brings 12 years of organizing experience in various contexts, including campuses, small communities, membership organizations, national organizations, international solidarity work and electoral efforts. Dueker has gained a broad practical knowledge in the non-profit sector through experience in administrative, fundraising, management, board of directors, lead organizer and consultant roles in non-profits across the United States. Dueker has conducted dismantling racism and organizational development trainings for social change organizations nationwide for the past 7 years.


Delmarie Hines has worked in administration in social change organizations for over15 years. Her work has involved building organizations with equitable human resources practices and work cultures that foster a productive, pro-active, empowered workforce focused on fulfilling the organizations mission while treating colleagues and the community with dignity. Delmarie currently works at the Environmental Support Center in Washington, DC which builds the capacity of grassroots environmental activists and environmental justice organizations. 

Vivette Jeffries-Logan (Kanahabnen Tabunitckia translation Morning Star) is a member of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation (OBSN); the Indigenous people of Orange and Alamance Counties in North Carolina. She is an elected member of the Tribal Council. She is Co-Founder and Director of the OBSN Tribal Health Circle, a Committee responsible for all aspects of Community Health. The Health Circle honors the Indigenous belief that health is a balance of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of one’s being and one’s community. She is also the Diversity and Inclusion Consultant at North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCCADV) where she incorporates dismantling racism work with servant leadership principles, restorative justice, accountability to communities and culturally appropriate program development. Vivette brings a wealth of experience, theoretical knowledge and passion for inclusion, equity and dismantling oppressive systems. She understands the connectedness between domestic violence and all societal oppressions. “To understand the whole we must understand the parts. To understand the parts we must understand the whole.” Vivette earned a B.A. in Psychology and Community Studies from Guilford College.


Michelle Johnson has worked for 7 years with communities and organizations through her work with dRWorks.  She has learned invaluable lessons from working with institutions on developing an analysis of institutional and cultural racism.  Michelle received her undergraduate degree in Psychology with a minor in Art from the College of William and Mary.  In 1998 Michelle graduated from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a Masters in Social Work.   Michelle is a licensed clinical social worker with a private practice in Chapel Hill, NC where she specializes in working with survivors of sexual violence, people who have experienced trauma, and people who have eating disorders. Michelle most recently left the Orange County Rape Crisis Center where she was the Associate Director. In her role at the Rape Crisis Center she supervised client and community education programs, and coordinated a short-term therapy program.  After ten years of non-profit work in many settings including a rape crisis center, a University, and a high school, she has left full time non-profit work to engage in projects that feed her soul, speak truth to justice, and serve the community.  She works as a community organizer, bringing all of herself to her work, organizations, and her community.  She is currently working in a part-time role as the director of the Heirs Project, whose mission is to strengthen and broaden the base of the North Carolina social justice organizers who have the skills, passion and capacity to work collectively for fundamental social transformation.  In addition, Michelle works part-time at the Mental Health Association in Orange County to develop a Pro Bono Counseling Network for people who are underinsured or uninsured.


Tema Okun has spent many years working for and in the social justice community. For over 10 of those years she worked in partnership with the late and beloved Kenneth Jones as part of the ChangeWork training group and now facilitates long-term anti-racism, anti-oppression work as a member of the DRworks collaborative. She is a skilled and experienced facilitator, bringing both an anti-racist lens and commitment to supporting personal growth and development within the context of institutional and community mission. She holds a BA from Oberlin College, a Masters in Adult Education from N.C. State University, a doctorate from UNC-Greensboro and is on the faculty of the Educational Leadership Department at National Louis University in Chicago. She is active in Middle East peace and justice work with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions-USA.


Suzanne Plihcik is a community organizer and facilitator for the Partnership Project, a collaboration working to strengthen neighborhood and institutional relationships through an increased understanding of systemic racism. She and her partners conduct anti-racism workshops and teach the skills of anti-racist community organizing. Additionally, she conducts organizational development workshops and provides meeting facilitation. She is past director of Project Greensboro, a community building organization working with Greensboro neighborhoods and the agencies that serve them.

Before joining Project Greensboro, she was executive director of the National Alliance for Non-Violent Programming, a coalition of national organizations seeking to reduce violence in entertainment through media-literacy. Her community and civic experience includes extensive work with public schools and service on the Merger Task Force and the Commission on the Needs of Children. She is a founding member of the Greensboro Public School Fund, Dance on Tour, and Friends of Public Education.