Staff

He traveled the US and Chile as part of a Baha’i performing arts group, lived on a Lakota reservation in South Dakota after high school, went to school to become a teacher in central Illinois, worked with incarcerated youth, then moved into the nonprofit world. He attributes everything he knows about what a more just and equitable world looks like from the Black, Brown and Indigenous women he’s had the honor of knowing.

Husayn’s Causes: education, decolonization, racial justice, LGBTQ advocacy

Inspired by by the women who raised her, she strives to take part in work that cultivates community healing/love and social equity/peace. As an individual passionate about dismantling systems of oppression while holding the communities that make her who she is close, she leans into the dedication and faith that those before her have instilled into her. She enjoys creating and exploring through the Arts and hands-on experience. Throughout her educational career, she has taken on leadership roles and has been in communities with various identity-based groups. She has also worked and participated in fields dedicated to social justice like the ACLU, the Superior Court of Washington DC, and the National Association of Independent School Student Diversity Leadership Conference. Julia deeply cares about racial healing and eradicating racism nationally and internationally. She has a personal investment in destigmatizing mental health in all sectors through cultivating peace, love, and understanding. In her free time, you’ll find Julia dancing through the thorns of life, writing her way into worlds she hopes to make reality, and finding new ways to make the people she loves smile.

Julia’s causes: Eradicating Racial Inequity Across All Sectors, Liberating Communities of Color Around the World from Colonial Power, Destigmatizing Mental Health, Community Healing 

She joined the Wayfarer Foundation in 2021 as the Grant Operations Coordinator. Before joining the team, Jennifer spent over 12 years working for the FCAN program first as the Program Coordinator and then as the Office and Logistics Manager, providing direct service, education, and advocacy for HIV-affected families in Illinois. Jennifer also spent seven years working for an association management company as the Office and Senior Manager of multiple non-profit accounts. She started her career working at a religious institution assisting in fundraising. Jennifer enjoys working for non-profits and helping make a difference in people’s lives and communities.

Jennifer’s causes: child welfare, animal welfare, and equal rights for everyone.

Prior to joining the Wayfarer Foundation, Annie held roles at the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Newberry Library, and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. She lives in Chicago with her partner and their three cats. 

Anne’s causes: antiracism, artistic vitality, economic justice, intersectional feminism and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights.

Prior to moving to Chicago, he served as a Graduate Scholar for the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements and as a Public Theology and Racial Justice Fellow at Vanderbilt University. Jordan’s passion for justice stems from his desire to aid in building a beloved community that is rooted in love. Jordan enjoys traveling, reading, eating good food, and hanging out with friends and family.  Fun Fact: Jordan has previously lived in three state capitol cities (Tallahassee, FL, Atlanta, GA, and Nashville, TN).

Jordan’s causes: racial justice, gender equity, religious harmony

Before WF, he spent 6 years starting and leading the Inclusive Collective, a diverse spiritual community for college-aged young adults in Chicago. Rich calls the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago home, needs multiple cups of good (or bad) coffee every day, and believes that we all have the capacity to co-create a better world.

Causes: LGBTQ inclusion and racial justice

She moved to the Midwest to serve as National Development Director for the US National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is more than a decade ago. She fell in love with the area, so she continued serving nonprofits in the Chicago area. Born into the Baha’i Faith, she’s carried out her love for humanity throughout her nonprofit career, including at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, Dallas Symphony, and American Red Cross. Laura enjoys time with family, volunteering with her Baha’i community, PTA board, Destination Imagination, and playing Star Realms or Settlers of Catan.

Laura’s Causes: children, arts, race unity, gender equality, the oneness of humankind.

Caine’s ultimate passion is the true redress of harm, viewing reparations as a process rather than any particular endpoint. He likes to spread the word about reparations and to encourage racial-justice-focused organizations to apply it as a framework, bringing about healing and reconciliation.

Caine’s Causes: Racial Justice and Economic Justice.

He came to the US US in the late winter, or early spring of 1998 (he was greeted by an intense blizzard). Luthando has 16 years of experience as a communications storyteller, graphic designer, and illustrator. He served in the Fund Development side of the Office of the Treasurer, at the Bahá’í National Organisation. For as long as he can remember, he’s always been one of the “Artists” within his family or among his friends. Art is, and has always been, an integral part of his life.
Having been born into the Bahá’í Faith, Art/creativity has become the tool he uses to navigate and understand the world. It has become the lens through which he deeply appreciates his connection to the rest of humanity and the need to serve others.

Luthando’s Causes: The Oneness of Mankind, Equality, Child Education, The Arts.

For her, family and a few solid friendships are her bedrock. She’s a lover of food and culture, and understands the importance of dreams, goals and perseverance. Her work has always been people-centered in management across various sectors including government, education and hospitality. She strives on leaving everywhere she toils, better than how she found it, and knows that in order to attain global peace and love, we must see ourselves in each other.

Audrey’s Causes: eradicating constructs and systems of oppression, healing racism

A transplant to the Midwest for college, he has enjoyed calling Chicago home for the last 3 years. He loves to spend his time surrounded by friends and family, enjoying the outdoors, and working to help foster a more equitable world for those around him.

Alex’s Causes: LGBTQ+ advocacy and racial justice

She played a pivotal role in establishing the House of Peace Domestic Violence Shelter while serving as the Social Concerns Director for Most Blessed Trinity Parish. Carmen’s Promotoras De La Biblioteca model at the Waukegan Public Library led to the development of effective culturally sensitive programs that transformed the lives of many community members. As the Chief Development Officer for A Safe Place, she increased the organization’s annual budget from $2.1M to $4.1M in under two years, enabling the implementation of the Safe Youth Safer Lake County program. Under Carmen’s leadership as Executive Director of the Highwood Library & Community Center, the library experienced significant growth in programming for both adults and children, increased visitors, and Carmen also worked to successfully raise over $4.4M for the library’s capital campaign, earning the library its first National Medal from the Institute of Museums and Library Services (2021). Carmen’s personal experience as a formerly undocumented individual fuels her commitment to serving vulnerable community members.

Carmen’s causes: Racial Justice, Violence Against Women, and Immigrant Rights.

He has worked in Mergers and Acquisitions at JP Morgan, in Structured Derivatives at Enron, and as a principal advisor and investor in multifamily real estate. As a passionate advocate for justice and equality, he most recently served as the Executive Director of Partners In Racial Justice, a non-profit dedicated to engaging in creative ways and means of bringing all people together in the pursuit of racial justice, healing, and unity. He also serves on the board, and as the director of curriculum, for Youth About Business (YAB), a non-profit focused on leveling the playing field through financial literacy and entrepreneurial training for youth in underserved communities between the ages of 12 and 21. Dwayne and his wonderful wife Zia homeschool their two daughters and their two sons, and together with their three dogs, and two cats, enjoy a house full of love, laughter, and life. Dwayne loves jazz, blues, spoken word, and playing the keyboard.

Dwayne’s causes: social justice, equal opportunity, economic empowerment.

She joined Wayfarer because of her dedication to creating a career path of being in service to others. “As a people, I believe it is our duty to come together and approach solutions for dismantling societal injustices and promoting empowerment.” Yolanda has traveled all over the United States and Japan. She loves going to different restaurants and trying foods from all over the world. 

She is a national 2018 SXSW Community Service Award honoree, bringing to her role deep experience as a celebrated non-profit and community leader, arts administrator, individual artist, and activist as co-founder and prior chief executive officer of 1Hood Media, whose mission is to build liberated communities through art, education, and social justice.

Celeste’s Causes: Racial justice, art, education

She moved to Chicago 8 years ago to explore city-planning and ended up returning to her passion for community engagement and youth development work. With racial justice activism rooted in her family, she has been involved in racial and social justice work as a community member and activist. She has partnered with leading nonprofits and city institutions to facilitate spaces for community engagement. Jasmine loves fostering connections with those she engages with because she sees building relationships as the leading force behind healing and unifying our communities.

Jasmine’s Causes: racial justice, youth, social justice, education, race unity and racial healing, gender equality

Kevin joined Wayfarer because “I’m attracted to the organization’s focus on unity and its belief that authentic, lasting change must be accompanied by individual spiritual enlightenment.” Kevin is excited to contribute as part of a team committed to facilitating human transformation in local communities across the country. He is an avid long-distance runner, with more than 20 marathons under his belt.

Kevin’s causes: youth education, leadership development, economic justice.