Fellow Bios

Lillian Hanan Al-Bilali has committed her career to supporting communities of color through arts, education, and mentorship. Lillian Al-Bilali is currently a Senior Program Manager for Children’s Arts and Science Workshops Inc. a mid-size non-profit agency in New York City. Lillian received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan where she studied Social Policy and Evaluation. For her field placement, she was a policy intern for the Institute for Social Research where she studied the overcriminalization of foster care youth in the juvenile justice system in Wayne County, Michigan. This specialization has allowed her to focus on strengthening services offered through the nonprofit sector at the local level. Upon graduation, she worked as a Mentor for adjudicated youth and later became a Columbia University - Beyond the Bars Fellow. As Senior Program Manager, Lillian oversees a portfolio of five contracts that provide post-secondary, educational, and recreational opportunities to over three thousand families annually. Leveraging her experience and education, She was able to support Children’s Arts and Science Workshops Inc. in establishing programming at two new community centers in the South Bronx and Upper Manhattan. Once the leadership teams were established, she was able to assist the staff in expanding their college readiness and mentoring capacity. She is inspired to deepen her understanding of how diverse communities can become more interconnected and, particularly, how visual and performance art can create space for dialogue. She has explored the role of arts and community with institutions such as No Longer Empty, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. She continues to make people her priority as a collaborator with organizations and initiatives that support underrepresented communities.

Madeline (Maddie) Beecher is a political organizer, trainer and engagement strategist who has spent her career as an advocate for progressive social movements. She spent the past year on Senator Elizabeth Warren's campaign for president, first in Polk County, Iowa, and then in San Antonio, Texas. On the Warren campaign, Maddie trained, managed, and developed over 40 volunteer leaders and interns to work on behalf of Sen. Warren's vision for the United States. 

Before joining the Warren campaign, Maddie worked for nearly three years as an associate at 270 Strategies, a progressive political engagement firm in Washington, D.C. She specialized in supporting both online and offline organizing programs that built community and moved people to action. She organized a national day of action against crisis pregnancy centers, led a strategic planning process for a Jewish advocacy organization, managed a pro-environment field program in seven targeted congressional districts across the country, helped launch political campaigns and trained candidates, and built an online training program for advocates to use digital organizing to mobilize their communities to complete the Census. 

 Maddie is a graduate of the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, where she earned a B.A. in International Affairs and Political Science. A New England native, she is very invested New Haven pizza and the Red Sox.

Jared Blackburn has dedicated his professional aspirations to serving his community and their families through public policy and governance. He earned a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Political Science (Cum Laude) and a double minor in Public Leadership and Leadership Development from the University of Florida. He has also completed a Business Certificate from the University of Virginia’s, McIntire School of Commerce and a Grief Support Specialist Certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the past, Jared has held internships in the Office of Senator Marco Rubio, where he covered Social Issues, National Defense and Constituent Correspondence. He has also interned at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs as well as in the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada for the Political Section, and for the U.S. Department of Education’s virtual internship program. His work portfolio for the Embassy internship consisted of analyzing Canadian Indigenous Affairs and assisting with development of a multi agency strategic plan of action to handle potential issues arising from the legalization of marijuana in Canada. He recently completed his two year commitment with Teach For America, where he was a 2018 corps member who taught both 5 th and 6 th grade English Language Arts (ELA) at Valverda Elementary School in Maringouin, Louisiana. As an educator, Jared sought to develop his students’ academic, social and emotional skills to become better equipped in facing future problems within their community. Currently, Jared is pursuing a dual JD/D.C.L/MPA degree at Louisiana State University, where he wants to acquire the necessary skills to become an attorney that practices either administrative, criminal and or education law. In his free time, Jared is the Chapter Advisor for the Sigma Nu Fraternity: Phi Chapter at Louisiana State University, where he ensures a proper direction for the chapter while continuing to stay in compliance with the university’s regulations. Additionally, he is training this year to compete in an Ironman 70.3 competition. He hopes to someday have the opportunity to run a successful campaign to be an elected official for his community in Louisiana. 

Cassandra Buer is an education and youth advocate with a strong personal and career commitment to her community’s young people. Cassandra received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy and a double minor in English and Political Science from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA. She spent a semester studying in Rome, Italy and is an alumna of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. Her thesis research focused on philosophy of religion and human consciousness theory. Cassandra is a Teach for America-South Louisiana alumna, and spent two years teaching middle school English and U.S. History in Baton Rouge, LA. As an educator, she coached track and field and founded a grant-funded scholarship program that has sent 10 students to STEM summer camp in Florida.

Cassandra is currently a JD/D.C.L candidate at Louisiana State University, where she serves as the Education and Youth Outreach Chair for the Public Interest Law Society and as a columnist for LSU Law Center’s publication, The Civilian. She is also pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Urban and Community Education. In her free time, Cassandra enjoys traveling to new places, reading autobiographies and historical fiction, and fostering dogs for an animal rescue group.

Monica Davis is a high school teacher and Teach for America 2018 corps member dedicated to promoting educational equity through innovative classroom practices and community engagement. She currently teaches world history at Sugar Creek Charter School with previous experience in Spanish levels 1, 2 and 3. Monica is currently in the process of receiving her high school history teaching license that will be completed at the end of the 2021 academic year. As a teacher, Monica created unique curriculum for world history and Spanish levels 1, 2 and 3 that emphasized community engagement and real-life opportunities to learn with a focus on soft-skilldevelopment. 100% of her Spanish 1, 2 and 3 students grew at least one proficiency level and passed their final exam while 95% of her world history students met growth with 88% exceeding growth. Outside of the c lassroom, Monica coaches varsity volleyball, varsity girls track and advises the school’s Interact Club. In Teach for America, she facilitated the professional learning community for middle and high school history as well as presented sustainable data collection methods for the Charlotte-Piedmont Triad corps region. Prior to joining Teach for America, Monica attended and worked as a residential program facilitator at the University of Michigan. She taught two sections of the ALA 171: Making the Most of Michigan course to first-generation college students weekly and facilitated the Change it Up! seminar to the 2017 freshman class. Her duties included preparing weekly lesson plans to ease first-generation students’ transition to college, leading training sessions for her fellow facilitators and providing the 2017 Michigan class with the necessary skills to create an inclusive and safe college campus. Monica also worked as a residential advisor and community organizer for both Clean Water Action and Donna Lasinski’s state representative campaign. She plans to attend law school with a focus on education in fall 2021 to pursue educational equity at the institutional level.

Ella Geismar is a native New Yorker who has spent her professional career working to reimagine higher education access for underrepresented populations in both the United States and abroad. After graduating with a degree in English Literature from Wesleyan University in 2016, Ella began working for Bard College’s network of public early college high schools, dually- accredited institutions providing tuition-free college credits to high schoolers in cities across America (including New Orleans!). During her two years at the Bard Early Colleges, Ella helped develop multiple network-wide initiatives, including both internal programs for faculty and students as well as national advocacy efforts. In 2018, Ella was offered the position of Programs Director at Parami Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a Bard partner program in Yangon, Myanmar. After visiting the program, Ella moved to Myanmar with two suitcases, a year’s supply of antimalarial drugs, and a borrowed copy of “Burmese for Beginners.” In the two years since, she has had the privilege of working with students from across Myanmar’s immensely diverse ethno-linguistic spectrum, designing educational programs and helping to lead Parami’s research and advocacy efforts to bring updated and globally-minded higher education opportunities to a country overcoming half a century of military dictatorship. Since 2019, she has also served as a consultant to the newly-opened Fulbright University Vietnam, helping guide internal policy development and efforts at American accreditation. Through her work in Asia, Ella has had the chance to explore both national and international models of higher education, and the challenges that students face in accessing these opportunities. She hopes to continue to work at the intersection of on-the-ground work and structural policy in organizations dealing with higher education and cultural issues. To that end, Ella will be starting at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy in the fall, pursuing a Master’s in Public Policy.

Annie Gergi is currently completing her second year as a Teach for America Corps Member in Miami-Dade, Florida. She teaches tenth grade English at Miami Northwestern Senior High School in Liberty City. As part of the Strengthening Schools Pilot Program through Teach for America, Annie helped facilitate the creation of her high school’s first digital student-run newspaper, which has provided a platform for students to discuss important issues within and outside of the school community. This initiative also enabled students to participate in important dialogues with the school’s administration. Prior to joining Teach for America, Annie earned a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern studies at the University of Manchester and then completed her master’s degree in gender studies and law at the University of London, with a special focus on the Middle East. As a Lebanese-American, Annie has always been interested in the profound and lasting impact of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East region. This led her to work as a policy intern at the United Nations Development Program, specifically, working on Sustainable Development Goal 16. Annie also worked on foreign policy issues related to the MENA region at the Arab-American Institute and the Truman National Security Project. Annie always tries to bring history and foreign policy into her classroom whenever possible.

Tania Isaac is a former Pew Fellow and McDowell fellow; a choreographer, dancer, writer and former university professor who has led international performances while creating models for thoughtful, audience-centered engagement. During that time, she also presented papers, publications and projects on creative process in the arts and its potential applications across multiple fields. As a current second year eMPA student at Fels Institute of the University of Pennsylvania, she is bridging her background in performance with growing experience in public policy. This has created a unique skill-set directly transferable to program design, program evaluation, strategic planning and human centered story-telling, with a focus on inclusivity. As a founder and director of own performance company with a focus on engagement, she has taken on rotating roles as director in grant-writing, grant reporting, program design, program evaluation and project management, all of which have been further enhanced though her Fels experience. Isaac looks at culture as an ecosystem built on the exchange between commerce and art, between creative thought and innovative action and in the mutual benefit of opportunities of interaction. Over the past few years, she created an accessible, and intimate, process-based inquiry called an “open notebook” that invites audiences to contribute their questions and perspectives to the posed cultural observations; looking at the ways in which our institutional decisions affect how people live, work and access quality of life. Her recent studies in Economics, Policy Research, Foundational Statistical Analysis and Organizational Dynamics focus on the capacity of extending these ideas through public service.

Caitlyn Passaretti recently graduated from Columbia University with a Master of Science of Social Work and a Master of Public Administration, specializing in program management and humanitarian policy. Her domestic work experience focus specifically on anti-violence and policy work with cisgender and transgender girls of color and gender non-conforming youth of color, issues of homelessness and housing reform, and criminal justice reform and police abolition. Internationally, she has worked on gender based violence analysis for UNICEF and with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Arab States Regional Office in Cairo, Egypt working on a region-wide youth forum, menstrual hygiene initiatives, and asset building programs for adolescent girls. A consistent theme through all this work has been the impact of education disparities and therefore she is excited to work with this ULF cohort in bridging local needs to a larger policy scale. Caitlyn’s goals are to change how policy work is done, encourage trauma-informed approaches to all initiatives, and support creating channels for power and wealth redistribution.

Staff Bios

Juan Serrano is an award-winning educator and advocate with over a decade of experience working at the intersection of education, policy, and social justice. He works from his home of New Orleans and centers social justice and community activism in all his endeavors there.

As the New Orleans Regional Director of the Urban Leaders Fellowship, he oversees policy development and provides training to early to mid career professionals in leadership and systemic impact. 

His passion for community organizing stems from his deep belief that a life lived in service of others is a life fulfilled. Juan began his work as a teacher with Teach For America, and spent the next eight years working as an educator both at home and abroad, developing curricula that engaged students in civic responsibility and connected them to their local legislators (learn more here).

In addition to his work with ULF, Juan is the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) Gulf and Delta Regional Manager at Race Forward, a non-profit organization whose mission is to advance racial justice. At Race Forward, he connects jurisdictions in the Gulf and Delta regions with equity resources, and designs workshops for local government leaders. He also hosts the GARE Network Arts and Culture Work Group, whose goal is to advance policy in Arts and Cultural Affairs offices in order to move cultural narratives in more racially equitable directions.

Juan holds a B.A. in Political Science from Dillard University and an M.S. in Educational Studies from Johns Hopkins University.