BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STEPHANIE JOSON - Chair of the Board of Directors

The chair of the board since December 2010, Stephanie Joson began her work with RightRides in 2006 as a volunteer in event planning and the flagship ride-home program.  She received the Distinguished Defender Award from RRWS for her volunteer work and joined the board as Board Secretary in 2008.  She is currently a Program Associate at Council of State Governments Justice Center.

Stephanie studied Visual Arts and Communications and Media Studies at Fordham University and received a master’s degree in Public Administration at the School of Public Affairs at CUNY–Baruch College.

ORAIA REID – Founder, Executive Director
see below

ANDREA DAVILA - Member

Andrea Davila is the Special Strategic Projects Manager at New York City Housing Authority.  She volunteers teaching financial education workshops around New York City and writes about finance at online teen magazine Sadie.

Andrea received her MBA from Columbia Business School in 2011.

AQUILA HAYNES - Member

As the Director of School Development & Partnerships for Victory Education Partners, Aquila is responsible for business development and community relations. Previously, she worked for NYC Department of Education supporting both district and charter schools in various capacities. Formerly a board member of a high-performing elementary charter school located in her childhood community, Ms. Haynes has committed her professional and personal lives to civic service. Prior to her tenure with NYCDOE, she managed information technology and communications initiatives targeting underserved communities for a local government agency and worked as the Spokeswoman for the NYC Special Commissioner of Investigation.

Ms. Haynes received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Syracuse University and a Master in Public Administration degree from Long Island University.  She is a member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women and a 2010 Coro Leadership New York Fellow.

JACLYN LEADER - Secretary

Jaclyn Leader is an attorney at Torys LLP, where she practices general commercial litigation.  Jaclyn’s extensive pro bono work has focused on representing undocumented victims of domestic violence in immigration and family law proceedings.

Jaclyn received her J.D. from U.C. Berkeley (Boalt Hall), where she was a member of the California Law Review and served as a board member of Law Students for Choice (now Law Students for Reproductive Justice).  She received her B.A. from Vassar College with General Honors and Departmental Honors in Political Science.

LEAH PRYOR-LEASE – Treasurer

Leah has worked in the public and nonprofit sector for 15 years, creating model programs in urban schools and training youth service professionals nationwide.  She is currently serving as the Institutional Relations Officer for the Gill Foundation. Leah has also held positions at Peace First, NYC Department of Education, as a trainer and staff developer for organizations such as the Hetrick-Martin Institute, Project Reach Youth and Harvard University’s Program in Afterschool Education and Research.She is also on the advisory board of Bent On Learning.

Leah received a B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in Health Policy from Brandeis University.

FARAH TANIS - Member

Farah has been creating change as a social justice advocate for Haitian-American and Black-American women for over 10 years. She is the co-founder of Black Women’s Blueprint is a national organization exposing, defending and protecting the civil and human rights of Black American women.  Previously, Farah co-founded of a women’s human rights organization operating in the Afro-Caribbean community, called Dwa Fanm and was its Executive Director for eight years.

She received her Bachelor of Science from New York University; her Master of Social Work from Fordham University; and completed a Post-Graduate Certificate in Family and Couple’s Therapy from Hunter College.

 

STAFF

ORAIA REID – Founder, Executive Director

With over a decade of grassroots organizing experience, Oraia is committed to empowering communities on behalf of LGBTQ, socio/political justice, and women’s rights issues with a focus on ending sexual assault.

Serving as the Executive Director of RightRides For Women’s Safety (RRWS), Oraia has been instrumental in launching the organization from vision to operations and significant growth, by overseeing strategic and programmatic development, public relations, fund development, along with community and sponsorship relations.

Under her direction, RRWS has received awards, community recognition and press coverage. She is also sought for speaking engagements at conferences about her experiences as an activist, community leader and social entrepreneur.

Oraia received Executive Education certificates from Harvard Business School in Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations, and from Columbia Business School’s Institute for Not-For-Profit Management, certificate of Middle Management and a certificate in Personal Leadership. She is also a Junior Fellow at the Nonprofit Leadership Development Institute at the United Way of New York City.

Oraia’s recent honors include being named a Local Hero by Bank of America, a 2010 Women of Excellence for Service to New York City by the National Association of Female Executives; a 2010 21 Leaders for the 21st Century from Women’s eNews; recognized as one of Brooklyn’s Extraordinary Women 2010 by the Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes and more.

 

KIMMIE DAVID - Program Director, RightRides

A life-long New Yorker (Hi, Queens!), Kimmie joined the RightRides staff in 2009 as Volunteer Coordinator. Now the Program Director, she works to ensure the RightRides program runs as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

Kimmie is a collective member at Bluestockings, New York City’s only collectively-owned feminist bookstore, cafe, and events & community space. She is also a founding member of FiRE NYC (Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment). Her many other hats include: artist, writer, tattooed lady, informal tech support go-to gal, burlesque enthusiast, bookkeeper, voracious reader, and safe driver.

Kimmie holds a B.A. in Women and Gender Studies and English from the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Hunter.

 

JAN BINDAS-TENNEY, Director of Community Organizing, NYFST

Jan joins the RRWS team after 6 years of running service worker organizing campaigns with the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ in New York City.  She calls Brooklyn home, but was a paralegal in Philadelphia with Community Legal Services, spent several years in Allentown, PA organizing food service workers, went to college in Poughkeepsie, NY, lived in South America and grew up in a northern New Hampshire mill town.

Jan has a deep commitment to ending gender based violence and building strong leadership to take action and make change in NYC mass transit.  She loves organizing and is excited to work with the New Yorkers for Safe Transit Coalition.

Jan holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Vassar College and is fluent in Spanish.

MOLLIE DEMEIO – Volunteer Coordinator, RightRides

After about a year of volunteering as a navigator and dispatcher, Mollie enthusiastically joined the RightRides staff in 2012.  As Volunteer Coordinator, Mollie manages and trains the RightRides volunteers and helps ensure that service runs smoothly every weekend.
Mollie hails from the small city of Newburgh, NY in the Hudson Valley and has been in New York (go Harlem!) since 2009. Aside from being the RightRides Volunteer Coordinator, Mollie is a radical law- and New York City history- geek, babysitter extraordinaire, twin, swimmer, and a front-row student.

Mollie is currently pursuing a B.A. in Political Science and a Certificate in Dispute Resolution from CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice.