OUR TEAM
VIRIDIANA CARRIZALES
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer
VANESSA LUNA
Co-Founder & Chief Program Officer
LORENA TULE-ROMAIN
Co-Founder, Chief Strategy Officer
Emilia Fiallo
NYC pROGRAM MANAGER
Kimberly Valle
NJ pROGRAM MANAGER
Karina ALvarez Guillen
SOUTH CENTRAL TX pROGRAM MANAGER
Maria Rocha
NYC Program Specialist
Brenda Gonzalez
DFW Program Manager
Jessica Sanchez
Program Facilitator
Ana Vaca
Program Facilitator
Christina rivera
Director of Finance &. Operations
Vindhyaa Pasupuleti
Development Specialist
Emmanuel Ogunkoya
DATA & RESEARCH COORDINATOR
Astou Thiane
Director of Policy and Advocacy
VIRIDIANA CARRIZALES‍
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CO-FOUNDER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER & BOARD PRESIDENT
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Viridiana was born in Michoacán, Mexico and immigrated with her family to the United States when she was 11 years old. She began her journey as an immigrant activist in 2004 by co-founding a grassroots organization dedicated to organizing and informing undocumented students of their rights and access to higher education. Viridiana holds bachelor degree in Spanish Literature and Communications from the University of Texas at Austin. For five years, she led Teach For America’s efforts to recruit and place teachers with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in classrooms throughout the country. Through her leadership, the program recruited over 240 DACAmented educators who are teaching in 22 cities across 11 states. Viridiana has been recognized by the League of United American Citizens (LULAC) and the Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for her leadership and dedication to the immigration community. After 14 years, she became a US citizen in 2016 and currently resides in San Antonio, TX.
VANESSA LUNA‍
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CO-FOUNDER, CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER
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Vanessa immigrated to the U.S. at the age of ten from Lima, Peru and grew up undocumented in NY. She was the first one in her family to graduate from college and her undocumented experience deeply impacted her choice for a career in Education. In 2014, she joined Teach For America and taught in Los Angeles and NYC, where she witnessed  the need to provide greater support for the immigrant community within our schools. Vanessa holds a BA from Binghamton University and an MA in Urban Education and Policy from Loyola Marymount University. She was awarded the 2016 Urban Education Student Researcher of the Year Award for her research on the threat of deportation and its impact on middle school students. She has served as a founding member of Teach For America DACA Advisory board, was a Camelback Ventures Fellow and a Roddenberry Foundation Fellow. In 2019, she was selected as Forbes 30 under 30 in Education and an inaugural TIME 100 Next listmaker for her work and leadership in developing inclusive schools for immigrant families. Vanessa is a nationally recognized leader in the intersection of immigration and education, and has been featured in The New York Times, ABC Nightline, Forbes, TIME and Ed Week. Vanessa is inspired by her parents and the immigrant community to fight for educational equity and immigrant justice. She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. 

LORENA TULE -ROMAIN
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CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
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Lorena Tule-Romain immigrated to the U.S. at nine from Michoacan, Mexico, and grew up undocumented in Dallas, Texas. Mrs. Tule-Romain started her journey as an undocumented student activist back in 2006. She attended the University of Texas at Austin and received her Master’s in Higher Education from SMU. Mrs. Tule-Romain’s passion for education equity and liberation comes from her personal experience. She has served as a City of Dallas Park and Recreation Board Member, North Texas Dream Team Board Member, President of the LULAC council, and was a 2021 Dallas Public Voices Fellow from OpEd Project. Currently, she is pursuing her Doctorate in Education Leadership at SMU.
EMMANUEL OGUNKOYA
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DATA & RESEARCH COORDINATOR
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Emmanuel Ogunkoya is the ambitious technology consultant who is currently pursuing a degree in computer science at the University of Houston-Downtown. As a recipient of the DACA program, Emmanuel has been on the receiving end of immigration law and procedures, which led him to be an advocate in the matter. He has a background in object-oriented programming, as well as creative technology services such as website or content creation. He is driven, hungry, and willing to do what it takes to get out there and go out with a bang.
Megumi Cramer
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DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS & PARTNERSHIPS
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Megumi Cramer (she/her) was born in Tokyo, Japan, and immigrated to Los Angeles, CA at age eight where she grew up undocumented. Megumi was a DACAmented teacher who taught Special Education in South Los Angeles and served as School Leader launching the Special Education Support Services at her school in Las Vegas. She is looking forward to collaborating with educators and community leaders to provide safe and inclusive schools for our undocumented and mixed- status students and families.
PAULA DEROSENEY
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IMSCHOOLS FELLOW
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Paula is the proud daughter of two Haitan immigrants and she is passionate about justice. After earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on African-American education from Emory University, she moved to Camden, NJ to enter into the non profit world to explore her interest in educational equity and community development in low-income communities of color. While working with the city’s youth and families, she often found herself wanting to do more. She wondered who sat in positions of power and were making the decisions that affected the experiences and outcome of the children and youth that she worked with. She wondered how resources were being allocated between schools and communities. She wondered how power can be shifted back to the hands of the people. All of these questions led her to pursue a Ed.M. in Education Policy and Management at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. 

Her goal and mission is to disrupt the current power structures at play within low-income communities of color that seek to silence their voices and strip them of their own agency and self-determination. By utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data, Paula is devoted to uplifting the experiences of youth and families of color in order to advocate for equitable policies that improve their experiences within the various institutions they encounter.

ROSARIO QUIROZ VILLAREAL
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PROGRAM FACILITATOR IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NEXT100
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Rosario Quiroz Villarreal is a policy entrepreneur at Next100 and an advocate for immigration and education who is committed to increasing educational equity for children of immigrant backgrounds and increasing protections for immigrant families. Growing up as an undocumented immigrant, Rosario understood that the sacrifices her parents made in moving to a new country were centered around securing better opportunities for the future, and that education could provide a pathway toward a choice-filled life. However, as she got older, she recognized that certain populations were constantly excluded from opportunity. 

Rosario has worked on social justice issues and with youth throughout her career. She has spent the past five years as a bilingual educator, teaching in public and charter school settings in Texas and New York. She was recognized as a Champion of Change by the Obama administration for her work with immigrant English learner students. Rosario holds a BA in sociology from Columbia University and is currently pursuing her MA in international educational development from the Teachers College at Columbia University. She is originally from Lerdo, Durango, Mexico and grew up in western North Carolina. She lives in Inwood, NY.

KAREN CRUZ
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CAMDEN NEW JERSEY PROGRAM FACILITATOR
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Karen Cruz is a former educator and currently works at the Princeton University Art Museum. Born and raised in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, Karen moved to the United States with her family when she was eight years old. After completing her primary and secondary education in Dallas, she pursued higher education in the East Coast with the generous financial support of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. Karen holds a B.A. from Yale University in History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health and a master’s in Education from Harvard University. She has worked as a science teacher in both public and private schools in Dallas and is passionate about educational equity and racial justice.

AMAIRANI GOMEZ
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PROGRAM FACILITATOR
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Amairani was born in Acapulco, Guerrero in Mexico. However, she was raised in Dallas, Texas from the age of two. She graduated from Irma L. Rangel, the first public all-girls school in Texas, in 2013 and in 2016, she graduated from the University of North Texas with a B.A.

Having been an undocumented student herself, she aspires to help other undocumented students attain a higher education and to help provide undocumented families the resources and tools they need to succeed. Amairani is a former College and Career Readiness Educator at a West Dallas community-based non-profit. She now works as an Employment Coach who seeks to help individuals find a career they enjoy and that will provide financial stability for them and their family. Along with a passionate and dedicated team whose focus is to serve the undocumented community, Amairani serves as a Program Facilitator for the Dallas-Fort Worth branch of ImmSchools.

Catherin Gallegos
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Catherin Gallegos is from Ecuador and moved to the US six years ago. She is currently a student at Lafayette College and is double majoring in Anthropology & Sociology, and Psychology, and minoring in Women and Gender Studies. She enjoys creating any form of art, learning new languages, reading or walking with my cat. She decided to join the ImmSchools team because she is a passionate advocate for the undocumented community, and specifically assisting youth in their education, because she has navigated the education system being an undocumented student. She hopes to use her experience to create valuable resources for her community and to learn more about ways in which she can help them.
Phillip Nguyen
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NEW JERSEY IMPACT LEAD
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Phil Nguyen is the Founder, and Executive Managing Partner of EdChiefs - a strategic consulting firm that provides education and social impact organizations with remote Chief Level Support. In addition to EdChiefs, Phil also serves as the National Partnerships Manager for K12 Inc, is the Founder and Chief Program Officer of the New Jersey Charter School Launch Program – Executive Director Fellowship, and the Founding President of NAAAP NJ (National Association of Asian American Professionals - New Jersey Chapter). He also sits on a few Boards, serving as the Founding Alumni Board Chair for Teach for America New Jersey, and the Founding Board Advisor for the National Virtual GSA.

In his early career, Phil served as an educator, campus administrator and district leader.He is a Teach for America Alum, and is a proud first-generation college student. Mr.Nguyen received his Bachelor’s from Washington State University, Master of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University, and is currently pursuing his second Masters in School Leadership/ School Development at Harvard University.
MARIA ROCHA
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PROGRAM FACILITATOR
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Originally from Torreón, Coahuila, México, María migrated to the Unites States at the age of three and has been living in Texas for the past 28 years. She received a Bachelor Degree of Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2012; however, due to her immigration status, her dream of becoming an educator seemed close to impossible. Upon her 25th birthday on June 15, 2012, DACA was announced and provided María the opportunity to obtain her teaching credentials allowing her to secure a position as an educator. As a 2015 Teach for America alumni, María is in her 5th year as an educator in San Antonio, TX and recently received her M.Ed. in Educational Leadership at UTSA in December 2018. María is a strong advocate of early childhood education, dual-language programs, and providing equitable educational opportunities for all students regardless of their immigration status. She knows first-hand the importance of providing a safe space for our immigrant community. She is currently using her platform as an educator to ensure students embrace their cultural background thus continuing to instill and carry their familial values. 

BRENDA GONZALEZ
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PROGRAM FACILITATOR
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Brenda was born in Cusco, Peru and immigrated to the United States at the age of 12. As an undocumented student throughout middle school she  had to advocate for herself and seek how to further her education. Brenda attend Baruch College and graduated with a BS in Public Affairs. While searching for a career she was passionate about, she joined Teach For America and found her calling as a teacher and was able to pursue teaching with DACA. She moved to Fort Worth, Texas in 2014 and has been a bilingual teacher since then. She recently obtained an M.Ed in Bilingual Education and hopes to continue to advocate for immigrant students, parents and families who need guidance and support. She wants her personal experience as an undocumented student and a DACA teacher to impact the lives and future of immigrant families in the community she serves. 


JAIME BALLESTEROS
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PROGRAM FACILITATOR
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As someone who has navigated the public school system as an undocumented immigrant from the Philippines, Jaime Ballesteros is keenly aware of the incredible challenges that many undocumented face inside and outside of the classroom. His experiences facing these inequities have shaped the trajectory of his career and has led him to use his education to improve the outcomes and amplify the voices of individuals who share his background and story.  Jaime started his career in 2014 as a Teach For America corps member in Los Angeles, where he taught 11th grade chemistry, served as Science Department Chair, and led staff professional development as a member of his school's Instructional Leadership Team. During his tenure at Teach For America, Jaime also served on the organization's DACA Advisory Board and worked to inspire and enlist the next generation of corps members as a Recruitment Manager. Currently, Jaime works at Jopwell, a startup that aims to move the needle on corporate diversity by unlocking opportunities for Black, Latinx, and Native students and professionals.  Jaime resides in Brooklyn, NY.


RAYMI ECHAVARRIA FERNANDEZ
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COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANTS
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Raymi immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic at the age of eight and grew up undocumented in New York City. The barriers she faced due to her immigration status inform her passion for political advocacy and public policy. She has previously supported college matriculation and retention for students in East New York, Brooklyn and most recently in her previous role in the Human Rights Program at Hunter College. In these roles, she has been committed to social justice education and increasing access to higher education for underrepresented communities. Currently, she is a board member at Un Local, a community education and legal immigration services organization. Raymi plans to pursue a career in public service in hopes of fundamentally changing inequitable and unjust social systems by ensuring that those who are most affected are driving solutions in the work towards racial, economic, immigration, and gender justice. Her work is driven and informed by the intersection of her identities. She holds a bachelor in sociology and public policy from Hunter College and currently a Master in Public Policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she is a U.S. Latinx Leadership Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership.

YLLKA SESORI
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BOARD MEMBER
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Yllka Seseri received her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2010. Immediately after graduation, she joined the law offices of Davidson and Schiller, LLC, where she practiced for over six years. In February 2017, she began her own immigration practice alongside Mark Davidson, a long-time mentor. She has extensive experience in areas including family-based immigration, removal defense, J-1 waivers of the INA 212(e) requirement, Religious Worker petitions, U visa requests and VAWA self-petitions, waivers of inadmissibility, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.In her free time, Yllka loves spending time with her husband and two daughters. Yllka is fluent in Albanian, Spanish, and understands Italian.

NANCY ADOSSI
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BOARD MEMBER
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Nancy Adossi is an educator and public speaker who speaks on topics such as education, immigration, and human rights. She received her Doctorate in 2017 from the University of Houston and has a Masters of Public Administration and a Bachelor’s of Science in Political Science. She is a professor at the University of Houston-Downtown. Dr. Adossi was born in Lome, Togo and moved to America at the age of 9 in 1998. Her parents are originally from Nigeria and Benin. She has four brothers. She is a human rights researcher and policy data analyst based in Houston, TX and New York City, NY.


IVY TENG LEI
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BOARD MEMBER
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Ivy Teng Lei is a native New Yorker from Chinatown, Manhattan and is a proud product of the NYC public school system, a DREAMer, and an immigrant and education advocate. She is an op-ed contributor in The Guardian and her advocacy has been covered by NBC, Fox, ABC, NY Times, NPR, BBC UK, and other major news platforms. She led the effort to create New York’s Asian American / Pacific Islander Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship and was elected as the Chair of Asian American Federation Professional Leadership Council, and most recently chaired a statewide campaign on college affordability. Ivy has over a decade of experience lobbying for both statewide and federal legislation and has fundraised tens of thousands of dollars for causes ranging from natural disasters to scholarships for students in need. Her professional career started at Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG) and worked with Fortune 500 companies in their marketing strategy. After IPG, she worked at The Gap in Global Marketing where she oversaw global on-product marketing from conception to execution. She entered into the tech space as the Account Strategy Director at Ladder.io and Director of Client Strategy at Thesis. She served as a board member of OCA- Asian American Advocate New York, an Independent Board of Directors at the Baruch College Association, a DREAM Fellow at the New York Immigration Coalition and an alumna of the CORO Leadership network. Ivy currently works at Exygy, a certified B-Corporation that creates digital solutions to human problems, as the Account Marketing Lead while continuing to uplift immigrants and under-served communities outside of her 9-to-5.
GREISA MARTINEZ ROSAS
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BOARD MEMBER
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Greisa Martinez Rosas is the Deputy Executive Director of United We Dream—the largest immigrant youth-led network in the country with more than 400,000 members. In this role, Greisa is a UWD strategist and also implements UWD’s vision as the organization continues to build power throughout the country.
In 2006, Greisa began organizing to help young Latinx register to vote in her hometown of Dallas, TX, and has since become a fearless defender of her undocumented community and a staunch advocate for the rights of women and queer people. Originally from Hidalgo, Mexico, Greisa migrated to the U.S. with her parents at a young age and grew up in Texas. While studying Biology at Texas A&M University, she co-founded the first undocumented youth-led organization in the conservative university’s more than 100 year history. Greisa is a leading voice in the progressive movement, and has been featured in CNN, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BBC, Telemundo, and Univision, among others.
Greisa is the living embodiment of the immigrant spirit -- transforming personal adversity into hope and personal power that has inspired thousands of others into action.

ASTOU THIANE‍
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Astou Thiane is a 2015 Teach for America alumna and DACAmented educator serving in New York City. Astou was born in Dakar, Senegal, immigrated to the United States at the age of seven and was raised in Harlem, New York. As a high school student, Astou learned of her immigration status and struggled to access higher education due to its limitations. In 2013, she received DACA status, which granted her the ability to work, allowing her to finance her education without any state, federal, or private aid. These experiences have fueled her unwavering commitment to serving low-income communities of color. By 2015, Astou graduated cum laude with a double major bachelor's degree in Political Science and Economics from Hunter College at the City University of New York. With a passion for empowerment through education, she joined Teach for America New York City and served in the corps in Harlem as an 8th grade English Language Arts teacher. In order to continue to advocate for equity and social justice, she joined the DACA Advisory Board In 2016. As a part of her work as a board member, she helped create and facilitated workshops for new teachers across the United States on supporting undocumented students in the classroom. In 2017, Astou earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from the Relay Graduate School of Education. She is currently an ELA Teacher at KIPP Academy Middle School in the Bronx, New York. Astou is looking forward to continuing her work of advocating for marginalized communities within the education space.
ERIC KWAK‍
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Eric Kwak is a Program Manager for the Oakland Public Education Fund overseeing a grant that promotes STEM education and engineering pathways for underrepresented students in the Oakland Unified School District. Prior to this position, Eric worked at the Alameda County Office of Education advocating for adequate public school funding in California and as a Head Start teacher in Chicago. Eric grew up in Koreatown, Los Angeles as a low-income undocumented student attending the schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Eric's first teacher in the United States was a Korean American second grade teacher who instilled a sense of identity and confidence in his background as a Korean-American. He believes that this experience was crucial to the trajectory of his career. He is excited to contribute his professional and lived experience in advocating for immigrant students and families. Eric holds a B.S. in business administration from UC Berkeley and a M.S.Ed. from Dominican University.
DR. GERMAN CADENAS ‍
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Dr. Germán Cadenas focuses his research on the psychology of undocumented immigrants and underrepresented minorities, particularly their critical consciousness development and its links to higher education outcomes, work and career development, and psychological wellbeing. His research also encompasses strategies for training educators and mental health providers with competencies in social justice and multiculturalism to serve undocumented immigrants. His work has received extramural funding and has been published in outlets such as Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Journal of Career Development, The Counseling Psychologist, and Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.  He leads the Liberation Psychology Lab at Lehigh University, where graduate students and community groups collaborate on participatory action research projects.
Dr. Germán Cadenas identifies as an immigrant himself and is formerly undocumented. He has a background in activism and community organizing. He was involved in creating programs and non-profit organizations to support advocacy for immigrant rights and the education of undocumented and DACA students. His opinion and personal story have been featured in popular media. He chairs the Immigration Working Group of the American Psychological Association's Peace Psychology Division, and serves on the Liberation Incubator of the Counseling Psychology Division. He completed his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Arizona State University, and his Doctoral Internship and Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California Berkeley.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Yllka Seseri
Board Secretary
Dr. Nancy Adossi
Board memBer
Greisa Martinez Rosas
BOARD MEMBER
Ivy Teng Lei
BOARD President
ADVISORY BOARD
Dr. Germán Cadenas
Eric Kwak
Kareli Lizzaraga
Phillip Nguyen
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