Monica Simpson, Executive Director
She/Her

Monica Raye Simpson, a queer, black, NC native, has organized extensively against human rights abuse, the prison industry, racism, and systemic violence against Southern black women and LBGTQ people. A proud graduate of the historically black Johnson C. Smith University, she earned a bachelor’s in Communications and organized for LGBTQ rights on and off campus. She then became the Operations Director and the first person of color at the Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Community Center. Next, she trained black youth in activism, philanthropy, and fundraising as the Ujamaa Coordinator for Grassroots Leadership. In 2010, she moved to GA to be our Development Coordinator; she was promoted to Deputy Coordinator in 2011, Interim Executive Director in 2012, and Executive Director in 2013.

Monica is a nationally sought-after facilitator, speaker, and organizer, constantly called upon to travel the country for appearances. She is the only woman among the 4 founders of Charlotte, NC's Black Gay Pride Celebration, the first in the Bible Belt, which received awards from the National Black Justice Coalition and the Human Rights Coalition for its incredible launch with 7,000 participants. She has been featured in many publications for her activism, and has written many articles on LGBTQ issues, RJ, over-policing of black/brown communities, philanthropy, and Southern activism. In 2014 she was named a New Civil Rights Leader by Essence Magazine, and in 2015 was chosen as a panelist for the Women of the World Summit. Also a full circle doula certified through the International Center for Traditional Childbirth, she serves on the boards of the Fund for Southern Communities and the legendary Highlander Center.

A singer and spoken word artist who infuses art into her activism, Monica has appeared in theatrical productions such as For the Love of Harlem, Words the Isms, Walk Like a Man, The Vagina Monologues, and For Colored Girls. She released her first solo album, Revolutionary Love, in 2015, and she has performed at events across the country, including singing the National Anthem and the National Black Anthem for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. march and rally in Atlanta, GA. Monica created Artists United for Reproductive Justice as a project of SisterSong in order to create a platform for artists to collaborate on replicable artwork that furthers the Reproductive Justice movement. Monica is based in Atlanta.

Leah Jones, Deputy director
She/Her

Leah Jones, a born and raised Louisville, Kentucky native, is a proud Black Mama, an avid Maternal Health Advocate and Birth Justice Activist. Leah has dual roles within the organization, as Birth Justice and Internal Organizational Management are both her passion and strength. Leah came to SisterSong with six years’ previous experience in Wealth Management and Office Administration.  After receiving a certification in Nonprofit Human Resources Management from Emory University, Leah was promoted to Deputy Director in 2017. As Deputy Director, Leah manages the organization’s Legal Compliance, Finance, Human Resources, Operations and Birth Justice departments and works to facilitate a productive and cohesive environment for the staff, board members, interns and volunteers. Since 2018, she has led the Birth Justice programming, birthing the Birth Justice Care Fund and creating close partnerships that brought Mama Talk, Birth Justice Labor Intensives and Advanced Doula Trainings to our work. Leah is based in Atlanta.

BRITTANY SMITH, Program Director sHE/hER

Brittany was born and raised in Gainsville, Florida and began her work in reproductive health as a peer health educator at Florida State University. As the Program Director, she manages SisterSong’s State Coordinators and internal Programming in Georgia, North Carolina, and Kentucky. She also plays a key role in external programming with partners and stakeholders. She is often looking ahead to implementing new programs and fresh approaches to fighting for bodily autonomy, freedom, and reproductive justice. Her passion for maternal health led her to get a master’s degree in Maternal and Child Health at the University of South Florida and she is also a certified doula. Soon after graduating, she took on a leadership role with a local Planned Parenthood in North Florida. Her passion for sexual health education, Women’s Rights, Maternal and Child Health, and Reproductive Justice compliment her education, keen organization skills and management experience.  

Brittany served the communities of central and southwest Louisiana for six years as a Regional Prevention Coordinator for the Louisiana STD/HIV/Hepatitis Program, and then accepted a position as a Clinical Operations Manager with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.  In 2021, Brittany moved back to the East coast to focus her passions on serving Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. Brittany currently lives in Atlanta, and she likes learning new recipes, and is perfecting her Tikka Masala meatball recipes, watching Romantic Comedies, is a Womanist, and a dog mom to a rescue. Brittany is based in Atlanta.

Wula Dawson, Communications Director sHE/they

Wula Dawson is SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collectives first communications director and works to integrate and amplify our work with strategic communications while also supporting the team’s youth, training, and membership coordinators. Having worked as a fundraising event planner, development officer, community organizer, radio broadcaster, restaurant manager, and makeup artist, she has always been passionate about using her creativity to help center people of color in our authentic narratives and building community.

She was first introduced to feminism and Black Feminism when she began volunteering as a teenager at a shelter. Wula learned about Reproductive Justice at Atlanta based abortion clinic Feminist Women’s Health Center. The framework deepened and expanded her analysis and provided language for her life focus. As the organizations development and communications director from 2016 to 2021, she is proud of the abortion clinic’s transition to Black leadership in 2018.

As a young staff member for a statewide coalition of women of color anti-violence advocates in Oregon, she learned the value of coalition building with BIPOC women leaders. In 1995, she attended the United Nations conference for Women in Beijing, China, sparking a strong connection to Human Rights and East Asian Diasporas. She received a bachelors in humanities at Soka University where she initiated Queer student programing and founded a student publication, and spent a semester abroad at Nanjing University. In 2020, she co-founded her alma mater’s Black Alumni Association.

A lifelong practicing Buddhist, and busy soccer Auntie, Wula enjoys movies about space, running the Peachtree Road Race, and figure painting.

OREOLUWA (OREO) ADEGBOYEGA, OPERATIONS MANAGER HE/HIM

Oreo is a cisgender male, Brooklyn, NY native and Atlanta, GA transplant. Oreo graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelors in Finance and Hospitality. His exposure to the Reproductive Justice and Black Feminist movement made it easy to make the shift to SisterSong from corporate. In 2016, he began with SisterSong as a volunteer during our Trust Black Women Resource Days. His interest quickly grew, and he then joined SisterSong as an intern. In 2017, he became SisterSong’s Administrative Assistant and the first male to join our staff, in our 20 years of existence. His time in the RJ movement has inspired him to create the RJ For Black Men training under SisterSong’s Reproductive Justice training programming. He believes in bringing awareness to relevant issues such as racism and toxic masculinity within his community to aid breaking down barriers that deny human rights. Oreo is based in Atlanta.

AASHA JACKSON, GRANTS MANAGER SHE/HER

Aasha is originally from Long Island, New York, and came to SisterSong through an initial interest in global health and reproductive rights, which has since expanded to a passion for reproductive justice. As Grants Manager, she is responsible for managing SisterSong’s community-centered grants program. She graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies and went on to work in a policy and compliance role supporting U.S. funded family planning and reproductive health programs globally. In this role, she traveled to provide technical assistance across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

She was awarded a Marshall Scholarship in 2018 and completed her graduate studies in the UK. She has a Master’s in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Cambridge. Her graduate research focused on sexual and reproductive healthcare in prisons and jails in the US. She has experience organizing for healthcare access to support marginalized communities affected by COVID, and for sex worker protections. She will soon train to be a doula.

KENYETTA CHINWE, AMPLIFY PROJECT COORDINATOR THey/ SHE

Kenyetta Chinwe is a black queer woman of Caribbean heritage. She is a Florida native who has resided in Atlanta for the last 20 years. As the daughter, granddaughter, and niece of generations of Pentecostal Christian Ministers, she has been immersed in a faith community since birth. While a young artist singing and reciting in church, she was always interested in using her gifts to push the world in the direction of liberation, equity, equality, and harmony. Her desire to use both her art and faith as agents for change in the tradition of many African American artists before her, motivated her to attend Howard University, first as a classical voice major, then shifting majors to musical theater. She was herself ordained in the apostolic church in 1997 but has since separated from that denomination. Her quest to understand and fully embrace the spiritual aspects of life and service led her to explore the areas of faith-based leadership by engaging in two 9-month processes that conferred on her the titles of priestess and high priestess respectively. In the course of those processes she was also ordained as a minister in the Madonna Ministries under her Mentor and High Priestess Facilitator Lisa Michaels.

The last fifteen years she’s spent working in finance doing sales, marketing, and project management. She is now utilizing those skills she gained in Faith based leadership, Arts, and Management, to advance the work of Reproductive Justice as the SisterSong Amplify Project Coordinator. She is working to build a base of Faith leaders and people of faith to support the cause of Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Access.

She still pursues her love of the arts and you will see her performing from time to time in the Atlanta area. She released her Debut EP Seasons in 2015 and is currently working on a full-length recording project.

Maya Hart, North Carolina Coordinator

PRONOUNS: ALL

Maya is a Black, queer mama, organizer and birth worker based in Durham, North Carolina. They recently graduated with their Master’s in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a concentration in Community, Management, and Policy Practice. Prior to joining SisterSong, Maya was a volunteer doula at the YWCA of Greensboro, providing support for Black and brown birthing people and historically marginalized communities. An organizer with Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), they lead de-escalation trainings across North Carolina, providing alternatives to calling the police when instances of gender-based violence occur in our communities. She believes that we have the skills and knowledge to keep our communities safe and provide the support needed to care for our babies, children, and families. Maya currently serves on the Board of the Carolina Abortion Fund.

Amir Jones, Executive Assistant He/Him

Amir’s entrance to Reproductive Justice was at SPARK Reproductive Justice now! Volunteering at SPARK helped him see connections between bodily autonomy and his role in allyship to female bodied people and trans feminine folks. He especially appreciates being at SisterSong where he can bring his whole authentic self to work!

Amir proudly still reads a printed newspaper, cherishes nearly all things analog, is a cycling evangelist and enjoys thrifting, and collecting stationary. Amir has a background as a bookseller, staff at OutBack bikes, a licensed Affordable Care Act navigator, and barista. Originally from Southern California, Amir values offering great service and centers accessibility for queer and trans folks of color, in all he does. In his role, as Monica Simpson’s executive assistant, he manages her schedule and aims to help her thrive in her role as SisterSong’s executive director. Deeply intentional about all he does, and a person well suited behind-the-scenes, showing up fully present to make someone’s day better keeps him motivated. When you are in Atlanta you may see him with his tie and suspenders zipping around town on a fixie bicycle.

Amir serves as a deacon a Park Avenue Baptist church where he and his wife have attended since 2018. He is on the board of Georgians for a Healthy Future and a proud dog dad.  

DANIELLE RODRIGUEZ, gEORGIA cOORDINATOR THEY/THEM/she/her

Danielle Rodriguez is a queer mother, doula and RJ organizer whose work is focused on protecting the most marginalized communities in all aspects of reproductive justice. Danielle believes in the quote by Audre Lorde “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own” and Danielle strives to make sure their work reflects that daily.

Danielle is the Georgia State Coordinator at SisterSong, and their role is focused on coalition building and bringing awareness to the intersections between economic justice, environmental justice and the tenets of RJ.

As a doula, Danielle’s work started as a call to action after learning about the growing problem of maternal mortality and morbidity in the United States and how black pregnancies are disproportionately negatively affected. Danielle learned that when you empower Black people about their rights and how to advocate for themselves it creates the space of safety and oftentimes garners successful outcomes.

Danielle is based in Atlanta. 

Lori Rodiguez, Training Coordinator She/They

Lori is a queer Central American educator, writer, and artist. They’ve spent most of their professional life working in the reproductive rights movement, but they have also spent time in the LGBTQ and prison reentry space. They currently are involved in mutual aid efforts in NYC, and they also host an online radio show at Moon Glow radio. They believe we can collectively build the world we deserve. Reach out to Lori to learn more about our RJ 101 and RJ 102 trainings and ask them what they have been reading lately.

SHANTI MORE, Birth Justice COORDINATOR SHE/HER

Originally from Chicago, Shanti has been in the Atlanta Metro area for over 20 years and has been on our birth justice team at SisterSong since 2020. In her role as a birth justice consultant, she coordinates partnerships, creates community programing, and promotes our Birth Justice Care Fund. Shanti’s leadership helped to create the Labor Intensive Training, a free crash course for families who are preparing for the delivery of a child and don’t have access to a doula or midwife.

While she spent 13 years in mental health nursing, her passion for advocacy began to grow. Although, healing Black communities has always been Shanti’s purpose, after working as a Registered Nurse, and a licensed massage therapist, she finally surrendered to her mission to become a doula, and birth justice activist.

Having the skills and experience to do purposeful work directly improving birthing outcomes for Black people has been fulfilling and motivates Shanti to continue to build her skills and follow her path.    Currently as a student nurse midwife, Shanti combines her birth advocacy and activism to build upon her career in healing and wellness.

Shanti also uses her talents as a singer, an actress, a performance artist, to bring healing and storytelling to community transformation.  She has produced three independent albums and has acted in several award-winning independent films.

Simran Singh Jain, Membership COORDINATOR SHE/HER/Hers

Simran Singh Jain is a queer Desi activist and poet from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, currently setting down roots and building community in Durham, NC where she relocated in 2021. She graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans where she studied Political Science and Gender and Sexuality Studies and served as a sexual violence response team member and consent educator. Before joining Team SisterSong, she worked at the Center for Community Alternatives, an anti-incarceration non-profit based in Syracuse, NY, where she provided violence prevention education and after school programming for youth in the city. Today, Simran is the National Membership Coordinator with SisterSong and aims to expand and grow our Reproductive Justice community and network. Her journey with SisterSong began in 2019 as an intern through the Reproductive Rights Activist Service Corps and she is currently being trained as an abortion doula with Dopo. Simran believes deeply in the power of art to grow movements and uses poetry as a tool for her activism. Her work has been published by The Academy of American Poets’, BigCityLit, Nine Mile Literary Magazine, The South Asian Sexual and Mental Health Alliance, and you can see her online portfolio. Simran is also an aspiring reality television star and wants to leverage social media to draw attention to RJ and youth empowerment.