Our team.
Rjaa Ahmed (she/them), Philly Program Coordinator
Originally from Pakistan, Rjaa graduated from Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication in May 2021. While at college, she served as the president of the Temple chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association. She was also a managing editor of The Temple News from 2019-2020. Alongside her work with Just Media, she is currently a communications specialist at The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice. She has also worked with the Pennsylvania Capital-Star in the past and Resolve Philadelphia.
Clarissa Brooks (she/her), Program Director
Clarissa is an alum of Spelman College, a journalist, and a community organizer. Her writing can be found at the Guardian, Teen Vogue, Vice, Bustle, and elsewhere. She's currently a Freedomways Fellow with Press On, a journalism collective supporting women and nonbinary writers of color. Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Clarissa works to blend her love of community, ethical journalism, and scholarship. She has also been an HBCU Fellow with the Online News Association and an organizer with Knox Your IX.
James Cersonsky (he/him), Director of Development & Partnerships
James is an organizer and communicator based in Philly. In 2022, he served as Organizing Director for Summer Lee's historic Congressional primary victory. He then served as a statehouse Campaign Manager in the Philly suburbs, helping flip the PA House from red to blue. Previously, he edited the Nation’s Student Dispatch feature from 2013-2016 and served as the Pennsylvania Correspondent for the Nation/Colorlines’ Voting Rights Watch Project. He has also led union and youth organizing campaigns at Yale, Duke, and schools across PA.
Luis Feliz Leon (he/him), Editor
Luis is a journalist and organizer. His writing has been featured in The Nation, The New Republic, Jacobin magazine, and elsewhere. He currently works as a communications professional in New York City. Hailing from the sun-drenched, cerulean shores of the Caribbean, the birthplace of the modern world by some accounts, he brings a strong sense of place and history to journalism and organizing.
Tatyana Monnay (she/her), Program Manager
Tatyana is a DC-based multimedia journalist. Born and raised in South Florida, Tatyana grew up fascinated by the world of journalism. As the daughter of a journalist, she grew up in the newsroom. Since then, she's been building hard skills in research, audience engagement, and multimedia producing and editing. She received her bachelor's degree in journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism and a master's degree in journalism at the Howard Center for Investigative Reporting at the University of Maryland.
Alejandro Guerrero (he/him), Community Editor
Alejandro is a storyteller by training and a campaign strategist by practice. Born in Hidalgo, Mexico, and raised in North Carolina, he developed his passion for community engagement and advocacy by serving as the student body president of Pomona College. He has supported local and national social, racial, and economic justice campaigns with the Center for Popular Democracy and Forward Justice and Southern Vision Alliance. Alejandro is the Digital Strategist for Mobilization and Engagement at Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.
Irene Franco Rubio (she/her), Development Coordinator
Irene Franco Rubio is an abolitionist, activist, scholar and community organizer from Phoenix, AZ. A young Latina of Guatemalan and Mexican descent, Irene is rooted in community and devoted to movements for justice for historically oppressed communities with multifaceted experience as an intersectional movement builder. A writer and public thought leader, Franco Rubio is a media professional at the intersection of community and journalism. She has been recognized as a Marguerite Casey Foundation’s Equal Voice News Scholar, International Center for Journalists Fellow, ProPublica Diversity Scholar, Facebook Journalism Project Scholar, among others. Throughout her career, Irene has centered her activism at the intersection of activism, academia, and justice as a global citizen & catalyst for change.