Growing & glowing
Stonewall’s team is growing and glowing! This winter has surely been a season of transformation for Stonewall, and we’re thrilled to be strengthening our Board of Directors with six new members. We are proud to welcome Devin-Norelle, Alexis Diaz, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Sandy Fernandez, Keesha Gaskins-Nathan, and Tabytha Gonzalez to the Board. One of the largest slates of new members in Stonewall history!
These new additions to our Board bring with them valuable lived experience, deep passion for the LGBTQ+ community, and unique experience in diverse fields such as media, mental health, art, advocacy, and more. We look forward to putting their incredible expertise to good use for the LGBTQ+ community we serve. Check out their bios below!
Devin-Norelle
Devin-Norelle (ze/zim/zis) is a professional model, award winning trans advocate, media figure, and currently hosts PBS’s Brave Spaces. Ze is a public speaker and opinion writer, with published work in GQ, Teen Vogue, Allure, them, and Out Magazine, among others. Ze has walked in New York Fashion Week shows for Chromat and dapperQ, and was featured in the 2019 Stonewall 50 Pride Campaign for New York City Pride. Devin-Norelle facilities D&I Gender Expansive training. As a former member of NYC Pride's Community Council, ze has helped guide Heritage of Pride towards reducing police presence for future Pride marches and events.
Alexis Diaz
Alexis (they/them) is a licensed clinical social worker in New York state and has been working with youth, families, and communities in NY since 2011. They're particularly passionate about working within communities of color and queer communities to elevate our voices, make visible our strengths, and celebrate our beauty and complexity. Alexis is a graduate of Columbia University School of Social Work and the Ackerman Institute for the Family. They hold a small private practice and are an adjunct lecturer at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. Alexis has presented at the 2023 National Sex Ed Conference in NJ, the National Association of Social Workers 2023 conference in Florida, as well as the 2020 Creating Change conference in Texas. Alexis's hobbies and interests include young adult literature, home fermentation, riding bicycles, cooking for community, and hiking.
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh (she/her) is a Brooklyn based interdisciplinary artist working primarily in painting, public art, and multimedia installation. She is from Oklahoma City, born to a Black mother and Iranian father. Tatyana, whose social practice is rooted in Black feminist praxis, considers image-making as a site of protest, contestation, affirmation and possibility. She is the creator of Stop Telling Women to Smile, an international street art series that tackles gender-based street harassment. Tatyana has lectured about her work at institutions such as The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Brooklyn Museum, as well as several schools including Brown, Pratt, Stanford, and The New School. Fazlalizadeh has been profiled by the New York Times, NPR, the New Yorker, and Time Magazine. Her work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the California African American Museum. She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 lister, a University of Michigan Mellon Foundation Fellow, and in 2018 she became the inaugural Public Artist in Residence for the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
Sandy Fernandez
Sandy (he/him) serves as Vice President of Social Impact at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, where he leads the development and execution of the Center's strategy and programs across North America. Throughout his career, he has dedicated himself to enabling equity and opportunity for underserved communities with a focus on innovative, sustainable, and scalable impact. Before his tenure at Mastercard, Sandy held senior positions at Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase & Co. In these roles, he created national community and economic development programs and spearheaded coalition efforts with civil rights, policy, and advocacy groups to address economic disparities across a range of communities including low-income, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ, and people with disabilities. He began his career in the community health field, where he worked directly with low-income immigrant communities, conducting outreach, performing research, and providing education on diabetes and cardiovascular health. Sandy also contributes his expertise and leadership to the boards of the Community Reinvestment Fund, Enterprising Ventures of Color, and is an Eisenhower Fellow. Sandy lives in New York City with his husband and holds a B.A. from Boston University and an MPA from New York University.
Keesha Gaskins-Nathan
Keesha (she/her) is the director for the Democratic Practice–United States program and the Racial Justice Initiative at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Ms. Gaskins-Nathan is dedicated to advancing measures and ideas that improve democratic systems and engage democratic culture in the US to support full and fair democratic and economic opportunity for all. Keesha has worked as an organizer, lobbyist, and trial attorney. Ms. Gaskins-Nathan is a frequent lecturer and writer on issues related to gender equity and politics, movement building, and democratic transformation.
In her early career, Keesha served as executive director for the League of Women Voters Minnesota and the executive director for the Minnesota Women’s Political Caucus. She worked for several years as a civil trial attorney and served as a special assistant appellate public defender for the State of Minnesota. Currently, she is a Commissioner for the New York State Public Finance Board. She also served as the 2021-2022 Daynard Public Interest Fellow at Northeastern University School of Law, a 2019 Aspen Ideas Scholar, and a 2008 Feminist Leadership Fellow with the University of Minnesota, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs – Center on Women and Public Policy. Keesha is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs teaching courses on Democracy, Movements, and Public Policy. She is the board chair for The Workers' Lab, and serves on the advisory board for The Partnership Funds, Trusted Elections Fund, and the Center for Information & Research on Civic Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.
Tabytha Gonzalez
Tabytha (she/her) is a Human Rights Specialist for the NYC Commission on Human Rights, providing expert TGNB cultural competency education to community and intergroup relations to enforce human rights laws. A founding member of the National Trans Visibility March and Trans Equity Coalition NYC, she has received a Proclamation from New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Citation of Merit from Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson for her years of work in the non-profit sector. Tabytha is also active in the Ballroom scene as a leader in the Haus of Maison Margiela and Lead Advisor of the Margiela Matters Initiative, a group of house members with a community organizing mission, addressing social issues specific to the Black and Latino LGBTQIA+ House and Ballroom community. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tabytha created innovative virtual outreach strategies to engage and meet the needs of NYC’s most vulnerable populations, providing access to essential resources for individuals with dual diagnoses of substance use and mental health. She is committed to ensuring that LBGTQIA+ communities have access to health and wellness with dignity and respect.