WHO WE ARE
The time has come to consider new, bold ways to make our economy work again for all Americans.
We live in a time of historic economic uncertainty. The dramatic increase in unreliable work and the concentration of wealth in too few hands threatens to undermine the foundation of the modern social contract: the idea that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead in America.
The Economic Security Project challenges this status quo by catalyzing ideas that build economic power for all Americans. We serve as convener, strategist and funder. We disburse grants, identify gaps, develop communications research to inform the movements and coordinate events and convenings to encourage investment and action from others. We aim to support the emerging leaders in the economic justice field and ensure they have the networks, know-how, and money to succeed.
We’ve identified two fights we think we can win: a guaranteed income that would provide an income floor for all Americans and anti-monopoly action to rein in the unprecedented concentration of corporate power.
Economic Security Project Team
NATALIE FOSTER
Co-Chair
Natalie is the co-chair and co-founder of the Economic Security Project, a network to support exploration and experimentation of a guaranteed income, and a senior fellow at the The Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative....
In 2013, Natalie was founding CEO of Peers.org to support people who work in the gig economy. Prior, she was the CEO and co-founder of Rebuild the Dream, a platform for people–driven economic change, with Van Jones.
Previously, Natalie served as digital director for President Obama’s Organizing for America (OFA) and the Democratic National Committee. Natalie built the first digital department at the Sierra Club and served as the deputy organizing director for MoveOn.org.
She’s been awarded fellowships at Institute for the Future, Rockwood Leadership Institute and New America California, and is a board member of the California Budget and Policy Center, the Change.org global foundation, and Liberation in a Generation, a project to close the racial wealth gap.
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CHRIS HUGHES
Co-Chair
Chris Hughes is a Senior Fellow at the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at The New School and the co-founder and co-chair of the Economic Security Project. His work focuses on contemporary issues in progressive political economy, including the history of central banking
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antitrust policy, guaranteed income studies, and tax policy. A senior advisor to the Macroeconomic Analysis team at the Roosevelt Institute, Hughes is currently writing a book chronicling the post-Bretton Woods political transformation of central banking in the United States. His first book, Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn, was published by St Martin’s Press in 2018.
Hughes has a masters in Economics from The New School of Social Research and graduated from Harvard magna cum laude with a bachelors in History and Literature. He was a co-founder of Facebook. A former member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Hughes now serves on the boards of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Washington Square Park Conservancy. He lives in New York’s Greenwich Village with his husband and their two children.
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DORIAN WARREN
Co-Chair
Dorian T. Warren is President of Community Change and Vice-President of Community Change Action. He is also Co-Chair of the Economic Security Project and a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. A progressive scholar, organizer and media personality, Warren has worked to advance ... racial, economic and social justice for over two decades. He previously taught for over a decade at the University of Chicago and Columbia University, where he was Co-Director of the Columbia University Program on Labor Law and Policy. After growing up on the Southside of Chicago, Warren received his B.A. from the University of Illinois and his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Yale University.
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TAYLOR JO ISENBERG
Executive Director
Taylor Jo Isenberg is the Executive Director of the Economic Security Project. She was previously the Senior Advisor to the CEO & President and Vice President of the National Network at the Roosevelt Institute, an organization working to redefine the ... rules that guide our social and economic realities. She serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for Scalawag Magazine, a publication advancing social justice through the South’s diverse thinkers, writers and activists. She was a Forbes 30 under 30 for Law and Policy in 2015 and Fusion 30 under 30 Women Shaping Politics in 2016. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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LEYDY ABREU
Director of People and Operations
Leydy leads the organizational and programmatic operations at the Economic Security Project. Leydy’s identity as a black Latina immigrant from a low-income neighborhood in New York City ... fuels her passion for working towards equity and justice for communities that have historically experienced marginalization and oppression in the United States and around the world. She has spent the last decade in the nonprofit education sector, and most recently worked at Teach For All, where she supported social entrepreneurs in Latin America to launch and scale high impact organizations in order to catalyze systemic change in their local contexts. Leydy holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in international development.
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GABRIELA CAMARGO MARTINS
Communications Director
Gabriela Camargo Martins is the Communications Director at Economic Security Project. She comes to ESP with more than a decade of experience leading campaign communications for a variety of community-driven advocacy organizations — from trade unions, to public interest ... groups, and international human rights networks. Prior to joining ESP, Gabriela was Vice President at 617MediaGroup, a full-service strategic communications firm working with labor unions and workers' rights causes. She has served as the Communications Advisor and Press Secretary at NYC Census 2020, a first-of-its-kind organizing initiative established by the City of New York. Previously, at the International Network for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, she coordinated communications between various civil society organizations and social movements across 75 countries, focusing on human-rights focused corporate accountability campaigns. Gabriela began her career in advocacy communications in Massachusetts, working with Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, writing for The Public Interest Network, and serving as the Deputy Communications Director at SEIU Local 509 — The Massachusetts Union for Human Service Workers and Educators. She is a graduate of Brown University and is currently based in New York City.
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BECKY CHAO
Director of Antimonopoly
Becky Chao is the Director of Antimonopoly at the Economic Security Project. As a policy expert and strategist, she works across the policy, movement, and academic spheres to advance a more fair, democratic, and egalitarian economy by redistributing power from corporate monopolies to ... working people, small businesses, and communities. She was previously a fellow and policy analyst at New America's Open Technology Institute, where her research and advocacy focused on antitrust and tech/telecom issues, privacy, and broadband competition. Prior to joining New America, she worked on antitrust cases and merger review across a variety of sectors as an honors paralegal at the Federal Trade Commission. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in public policy and linguistics from Duke University. Originally from New York City, she is currently based in Washington, D.C.
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MICHAEL CONTI
Project Manager
Michael Conti is a photographer and digital artist creating online media and communications strategies at the Economic Security Project. Previously, he used advanced meme technology to improve the public dialogue around issues of immigration and American identity at Define American ... . Michael is based in the Austin, TX area, and has a passion for finding new ways to explain how the economy works.
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CARA ROSE DEFABIO
Special Initiatives Director
Cara Rose DeFabio is a writer, artist and producer working at the intersection of culture and technology, who believes that the future should not be a privilege, but a universal right. Her tech-integrated theater shows have garnered critical acclaim in ... the Bay Area, examining such issues as mourning on Facebook, and AI and intimacy. Working at Fusion Media she brought her love of live events to journalism, creating the Real Future Fair, a conference focused on technology and social justice. Cara lives and works in her hometown of San Francisco and is thrilled to bring her storytelling skills to the fight for economic equality.
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ANDREA DIAZ
Operations and GICP Assistant
Andrea is the Operations and Guaranteed Income Community of Practice Assistant. Her past experiences are rooted in her interest to help others. She has worked alongside student ... communities, grassroots organizations, and nonprofits to provide resources and services to aid in people’s everyday lives. Her commitment for positive community action is coupled with a love for big-picture planning, daily operational management, and creative work. Andrea is enthusiastic about growing, gaining new skills, and helping make strides in economic justice.
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GUEN HAN
Director of Resources and Evaluation
Guen Han is the Director of Resources and Evaluation at the Economic Security Project. Previously, she served as the Director of Development at Welcoming America, where she led the organization’s fundraising efforts and played a key role in its communications ... activities. Prior to Welcoming America, Guen worked at Amnesty International USA, where she supported Amnesty’s community organizing efforts in the South and Midwest on issues such as death penalty abolition, immigrants’ rights, prisoners of conscience, and women’s rights. Guen is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Public Management from Johns Hopkins University, and she also holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Comparative Studies and a Certificate in Policy Journalism and Media Studies from Duke University. She is based in the metro Atlanta area.
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SHAFEKA HASHASH
Program Manager, Guaranteed Income Community of Practice
Shafeka Hashash is the Guaranteed Income Community of Practice program manager. As a community organizer, she has led campaigns ranging from closing a Fair Labor Standards Act loophole that allowed disabled employees to be paid subminimum wages, ... an anchor team member and mayoral appointee of the Atlanta Communities Over Cages alliance to close and repurpose the Atlanta City Detention Center, and strong advocate for the rights of Palestinians, including political prisoners. She formerly was the senior coordinator at New American Pathways, leading a team supporting immigrants and refugees facing family violence, and then directed the economic programs at the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence where she began the first ever direct cash program through the Google Impact Challenge fund. She holds a bachelors/masters in political economy from NYU, and spends her time away from community organizing tandem cycling.
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LINDSEY HALLINGQUEST
Development Manager
Lindsey Hallingquest is the Development Manager at the Economic Security Project. Previously, he served as a Development Research Analyst in the Office of University Development at Duke University ... A native of Barnwell, SC, Lindsey graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in political science in 2017. An advocate for radical inclusion, Lindsey has dedicated much of his work and volunteer experience advocating on behalf of those who are not often invited to the table.
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SERGE HYACINTHE
Director of Finance and Administration
Serge is the Director of Finance and Administration at the Economic Security Project. He is an activist and social entrepreneur who’s passionate about economic justice and racial equality. He serves on the boards of the Quixote Center... and MOMIES TLC and has over a decade experience in financial management. Prior to joining ESP, he led the financial and fiscal operations for PFLAG Nationals. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Howard University and a JD from the David Clarke School of Law. He is currently based in Washington, DC and enjoys reading, traveling, cooking and tennis.
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MARTA KUERSTEN WOLAVER
Development Manager
Marta Kuersten Wolaver has had a diverse career (co-founding an NYC theatre company, working for Major League Baseball, starting a website for unique food experiences called Fork Monkey) that has found its natural culmination in... activism, advocacy and politics. She ran the fundraising arm (FundHer) of a grassroots political organization dedicated to electing progressive womxn at the state and local level in New York. Most recently she worked on campaigns for the Michigan State House of Representatives and the NYC City Council. She is excited to be working for an organization that names and addresses so many issues she cares deeply about: racial justice, the future of work and the care economy. She's firmly in the camp of New York or nowhere.
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KYUNGSUN LEE
Guaranteed Income Program Manager
KyungSun Lee is the Guaranteed Income Program Manager at the Economic Security Project. As an activist, she values advancing equity, liberation, and justice through campaigns and policies that put people and the planet over profit. ... She previously supported efforts to advocate for and implement cash assistance programs with the Mayor of Ferguson and the Mayor's Office of St. Louis. She received her Master's of Social Work with a concentration in Social and Economic Development and Policy Specialization at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University of St. Louis. She is currently based in St. Louis.
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MADELINE NEIGHLY
Director of Guaranteed Income
Madeline Neighly is the Director of Guaranteed Income at the Economic Security Project and Co-Chair of the Guaranteed Income Community of Practice. Prior to joining ESP, she was a Director of Advocacy and Policy at the Roosevelt Institute where she focused on ... corporate power issues. Madeline previously served as a Senior Policy Advisor on criminal records at the Council of State Governments Justice Center, where she developed the Clean Slate Clearinghouse, as an attorney at Columbia Legal Services representing prisoners, and as a staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project working to expand fair employment opportunities for people with criminal records. Madeline has a JD from the University of California, Berkeley Law.
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CHRISTIAAN PEREZ
Media Strategy Manager
Christiaan Perez is the Media Strategy Manager at the Economic Security Project. He joins the team with more than a decade of experience working closely with community based organizations and grassroots leaders as a communications strategist. ... Most recently, he has worked with The Opportunity Agenda and the LatinoJustice PRLDEF — elevating prominent litigation to ensure Puerto Ricans could access critical resources after Hurricane Maria, building awareness around Spanish-language access issues surrounding Latinos’ right to vote, and shining a light on the problems caused by “stop-and-frisk” policies in New York City, and more. Christiaan entered the communications advocacy world as a former radio reporter, producer and podcast editor, largely focused on labor struggles in the New York metropolitan area with a brief placement with a radio station based in Hermosillo, Mexico.
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ESHE SHUKURA
Cultural Strategist
Eshe Shukura is the Cultural Strategist with the Economic Security Project. Eshe spent 5 years working in the field of Reproductive Justice furthering the vision of its Black Feminist foremothers. They most recently worked as the Georgia State Organizer with ... URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity. In this position, they managed 8 college and community URGE chapters. They were a lead organizer in the fight to end the Georgia Abortion Ban, advancing the fight through deep community building and creative activations. In 2019, they were awarded the Vanguard for Change Award from SPARK Reproductive Justice Now and Reproductive Justice Warrior Award at from SisterSong at their annual, Let’s Talk About Sex conference. Eshe has planned several cultural activations from coordinating the 2016 All Access: Abortion Rights concert in Atlanta to renting out Cascade Skating Rink for an Abortion Positive Party! They believe culture is the main connector of people, producing creative works, events, gathering, and building authentic relationships, starts to embody our visions for liberated futures. New to economic justice, Eshe is embracing their reality, learning new concepts and trusting the wisdom of their own economic experiences.
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SUZ WARSHELL
Manager, People and Operations
Suz Warshell is the Manager of People and Operations at Economic Security Project, where she assists with organizational and programmatic efforts. With experience working with public sector and non-profit clients, and on political campaigns, she is passionate about ... executing high-quality strategic, logistical, and fundraising work in support of progressive causes. Her commitment to economic justice is fueled by her experience fighting for abortion access as the Deputy Development Director of the DC Abortion Fund. Originally from the Chicagoland area, she received her B.A. in Public Policy from Brown University and now lives in Washington, DC.
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ADAM RUBEN
Campaigns Director
Adam Ruben has two decades of experience at the leading edge of online campaigning and fundraising, grassroots organizing, communications, and progressive political campaigns. He was the architect behind MoveOn’s successful campaigns to take over the House, Senate, and White House ... creating a tech-enabled model of scalable field organizing that has spread throughout the progressive movement. He spent more than four years growing the Fight for $15, melding traditional communications with digital strategy, and has consulted with organizations including NARAL Pro-Choice America, Working Families Party, Voter Participation Center, Run Warren Run, PCCC, and Global Zero.
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ANNA AURILIO
Federal Campaign Director
Anna Aurilio has fought for the public interest for nearly three decades. As the DC director for Environment America and, prior to that, as the Legislative Director for U.S. PIRG, Anna led a team of advocates and mobilized grassroots members ... and state networks to win policies to cut pollution, protect public lands, and boost renewable energy and auto fuel economy. She helped create the Climate Action Campaign, a coalition of national environmental groups working to win national climate action, and the Green Scissors campaign which recruited bi-partisan support to cut billions of dollars in government spending for wasteful, harmful programs. She has testified in Congress numerous times, been quoted in major news outlets, and was annually named a top grassroots lobbyist by The Hill for nearly a decade. Anna is on the board of directors of Voices for Progress and the National Environmental Law Center.
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REBECCA BAILIN
Deputy State Campaigns Director
Rebecca Bailin is the Deputy State Campaigns Director for the Economic Security Project. Her favorite thing in the world is to win campaigns that make a real impact on people's lives. She has over a decade of experience
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organizing communities and running strategic campaigns for progressive policies from taxing the rich to better public transit. Rebecca served as campaign manager for the state-wide Invest in Our New York Campaign which won billions of dollars for New York State by increasing taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers.
Rebecca spent over 8 years at the Riders Alliance managing the grassroots organizing, coalition, political and press strategy of many successful campaigns, including Fair Fares, New York City’s first program providing discount MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers. Just before working at ESP, she most recently served as an advisor for a New York State Senator. She holds an MA in Sociology from the New School for Social Research and a BA from the University of British Columbia.
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SACHIN CHHEDA
Campaigns Advisor
Sachin Chheda has worked for more than 25 years as a grassroots advocate and campaign strategist, in the reproductive freedom, fair trade, international human rights, voting rights, and public education movements. He moves candidate, issue, and referendum campaigns from launch to ... victory, and as director of the Fair Elections Project, helped organize and launch the Whitford case to limit partisan gerrymandering, reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. Sachin now helps manage the Economic Security Project’s work in states across the country. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife and their four children, and currently serves on the board of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He previously served as national chairperson of NARAL Pro-Choice America. Contact info: 414-412-6099
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SHUA GOODWIN
Deputy Campaigns Director
Shua Goodwin is a corporate and political strategist. With a decade of experience, he ran and won multiple campaigns on the local, state, and federal levels, structured business development and crisis management plans for multi-billion
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dollar corporations, and is a former Senior Advisor and Director of Communications for a member of Congress. By executing market research analytics and understanding the unique vernacular from various industries, Goodwin brings marketing and political acumen on a national scale with a high-end focus on financial tax credits.
He is a recipient of the National Association of Asian Pacifics in Politics and Public Affairs’ 40 Under 40 List and the 2018 Ambassador Award for Sleep Tight Kids. Additionally, he is a board member for Stadia Maps, Victory Fund, and Chair of Membership for Capital Pride Alliance.
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ALEX HARMAN
Director of Government Affairs, Antimonopoly and Competition Policy
Alex Harman is the Director of Government Affairs, Antimonopoly and Competition Policy for Economic Security Project, where he works to address concentration and market power in key sectors of our economy, including in online commerce and communications
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in order to provide stronger antitrust protections for consumers and workers. Prior to coming to ESP, Alex advocated for stronger antitrust laws at Public Citizen, served as chief counsel to Senator Mazie Hirono on the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as other senior political and policy roles in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and in the Obama administration.
Alex received his J.D from George Washington University Law School and holds both a master’s degree in legislative affairs from George Washington University and a business degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
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PEDRO MORILLAS
State Campaigns Director
Pedro Morillas has spent the past 15 years directing issue advocacy campaigns at every level of government. From local ordinances on solar power, to national efforts focused on reducing gun violence, his experience spans a wide array of progressive issues, ... campaign strategies and tactics. He helped design and implement Everytown for Gun Safety’s state legislative advocacy program, which helped reshape the political landscape on what used to be considered a third rail political issue. Prior to that he directed the immigration reform efforts at Organizing for Action. Pedro got his start in state legislative advocacy in California as the legislative director of the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) where he spent five years in Sacramento working to advance consumer protection and good government reforms.
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TERI OLLE
California Campaign Director
Teri Olle is the California Campaign Director for Economic Security Project Action. Beginning her career as an attorney, Teri soon moved into policy and issue advocacy, working on state and local efforts to ban toxic chemicals and pesticides, decrease food ... insecurity and hunger, increase gender representation in politics. She is a founding member of a political action committee dedicated to inserting parent voice into local politics and served as the president of the board of Emerge California. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and two daughters.
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KELLI SMITH
Campaign Research Director
Kelli Smith is the Campaign Research Director for the Economic Security Project. Before joining the ESP team, she led efforts in Washington state to improve economic well-being through a more ... equitable tax code, spearheading the campaign to modernize the state Earned Income Tax Credit. Her research and policy expertise spans an array of issues affecting economic security, including progressive revenue, equitable state budgeting, economic mobility, and K-12 and higher education funding. Kelli started her career as an attorney and holds a J.D. from University of California, Davis School of Law.
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Fellows
ANDY STERN
President Emeritus of SEIU
Andy Stern is the President Emeritus of the 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Stern has been featured on The Colbert Show, 60 Minutes, CNN, Charlie Rose, and on the covers of the New York Times Magazine, Fortune, and ... on the covers of the New York Times Magazine, Fortune, and BusinessWeek. Mr. Stern was a Presidential Appointee on the Simpson- Bowles Commission and is now a Senior Fellow at The Economic Security Project. His new book –Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Restore the American Dream calls for America to take bold action to prepare for the massive potential of job disruption.
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MIA BIRDSONG
Senior Fellow, Economic Security Project
Mia Birdsong is a family and community visionary who has spent more than 20 years fighting for the self-determination, and pointing out the brilliant adaptations, of everyday people. As Co-Director of Family Story, she is updating this nation’s outdated picture ... of the family in America (hint: rarely 2.5 kids and two heterosexual parents living behind a white picket fence). She is a Senior Fellow at the Economic Security Project, where she is expanding the current universal basic income movement to include perspectives and leadership from communities experiencing economic and racial injustice. Previously, Mia was the Vice President of the Family Independence Initiative, an organization that leverages the power of data and stories to illuminate and accelerate the initiative low-income families take to improve their lives. Mia’s 2015 TED talk, “The Story We Tell About Poverty Isn’t True,” has been viewed over 1.6 million times already. She publishes widely, including her occasional cult-favorite column #advicefromagrownandsexyblackwoman, and speaks at universities and conferences across the country. Mia is also a modern Renaissance woman. She has spent time organizing to abolish prisons, teaching teenagers about sex and drugs, interviewing literary luminaries like Edwidge Danticat, David Foster Wallace, and John Irving, and attending births as a midwifery apprentice. Mia is a graduate of Oberlin College, an inaugural Ascend Fellow of The Aspen Institute, and a New America California Fellow. She sits on the Board of Directors of Forward Together and the North Oakland Community Charter School. She lives and dreams big in Oakland, California.
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AMEYA PAWAR
Senior Fellow, Economic Security Project
Ameya Pawar is the former alderman of Chicago’s 47th Ward and the first Asian and Indian American elected to the Chicago City Council and major office in Illinois. While in office, Ameya focused legislative efforts around social justice, worker rights, ... and economic justice. To this end, Ameya led most all labor policy and worker rights legislation passed in Chicago over the last eight years, including raising the minimum wage to $13/hr, guaranteeing paid sick leave, combating wage theft, and preserving housing for Chicago’s most vulnerable. Ameya has a bachelor’s degree in religion and philosophy from Missouri Valley College, a master’s degree in public administration from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and is a two-time graduate from the University of Chicago with master’s degrees in threat and response management and social service administration. Ameya was a US State Department Critical Language Program alum, a 2012 University of Illinois Edgar Fellow, and was named to Crain’s Chicago 40 under 40 in 2011. Most recently, he was named a 2018 McCormick Foundation Executive Fellow. Prior to leaving office, Ameya chaired the Chicago Resilient Families Task Force. The task force made recommendations on a city-run basic income pilot, the expansion and modernization of the EITC, and the need for narrative change public policy.
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JACQUI GERMAIN
Senior Fellow, Economic Security Project
Jacqui Germain is the inaugural Economic Security Project Journalism Fellow at Teen Vogue. Germain is a poet and journalist based in St. Louis, Missouri with a background in student, community and labor organizing. Her reporting focuses on the coronavirus’s economic fallout, along with stories centered at the intersection of economic, racial and gender justice. Her feature profiles, ... reported articles and political and cultural commentary have been published in or are forthcoming from The Nation, The Guardian, The Atlantic, ELLE, Artsy, VICE, The New Inquiry, The Establishment and more. She is also a recipient of fellowships from the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission, Jack Jones Literary Arts, Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and the Poetry Foundation’s Emerging Poets Incubator. Germain also contributed to grassroots organizing and strategy work during the Ferguson Uprising, coordinating a range of resistance efforts in the community and on her campus. Most recently, she was a writer on Mic’s politics team, providing commentary, analysis and original reporting.
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