Presenters

A natural speaker and audience favorite, Neema has spent much of his career on stage. Audiences worldwide are drawn to his inspirational story and message of hope. Neema’s love of speaking was instilled when he was just a teenager. Asked to host a local stage show in Daytona Beach, Florida, Neema had so much fun, he was truly amazed when the show manager paid him $20 at the end of the night. He enjoyed the work so much, that when the manager asked him to continued hosting the show each weekend, he jumped at the chance.

Being on stage came naturally to Neema. With his engaging style and quick wit, Neema began to develop a following. As he became more widely known, he started landing bigger gigs and making more money. He knew he had found his calling.

Neema quickly realized that while it was all fun (and profitable!), he could use the stage to promote his message of hope and perseverance with others. He began hosting PRIDE events, then judging pageants. Organizations and event producers were hiring him in other cities around Florida and his career path was set. He readily tells audiences it is all because someone gave him a chance to work when he was a teenager.

Panelists

Anooj Bhandari is a Community Builder and Artist, working and creating at the intersection of queerness and diaspora, and the investment in possibility and cultivation in the face of community voids. He is a graduate of Tisch School of the Arts (MA’17 Arts Politics) and has worked with Youth Organizing in various capacities around the world. He currently works on the Youth Power Project team at Make the Road NY as a Restorative Justice Coordinator and on the education team at The Moth, where he teachers storytelling.

Eliel Cruz is an activist, speaker and writer on religion, LGBT issues, and culture. Cruz has spoken across the country on the issues pertaining to the bisexual community, media representation and storytelling, as well as faith and sexuality at universities and conferences alike. His work has been published in Teen Vogue, Washington Post, GQ, Rolling Stone, The New York Times and many other outlets. Cruz is also the creator of #FaithfullyLGBT, a hashtag, photo series, and organization promoting the stories of LGBT people of faith. The #FaithfullyLGBT photo series was featured in Huffington Post, NewNowNext, Queerty, Sojourners, and Buzzfeed. From #FaithfullyLGBT, Cruz launched #TitheTrans a fundraising campaign encouraging people from faith traditions that tithe to donate their tithe money towards gender affirming surgeries for trans people. In addition, Cruz is the former Executive Director of Faith In America, an organization dedicated to ending religious based bigotry towards LGBT people. He currently serves on the Human Rights Campaign Religion & Faith Council and has done faith organizing work for six years. Cruz currently serves as the Director of Communications for the Anti-Violence Project, an organization dedicated to ending all forms of violence against LGBT people and HIV-affected communities. He is a graduate of Andrews University.

Jamila Humphrie is a researcher, producer, and administrator. She is a co-creator of How We GLOW, a piece of interview theatre that explores lgbtq+ youth identity, which has performed at more than 30 schools and community spaces. Her work is driven by a social justice framework to work towards equity in schools for all students. In 2016, Jamila served in the final class of interns with the Obama Administration in the Office of the First Lady, Michelle Obama. Jamila is also a Fulbright Scholar and is a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Leadership at NYU. She currently serves on the Educator Advisory Committee for GLSEN. In her free time, Jamila works full-time at NYU School of Law as an Assistant Director of Alumni Relations.

Harper Keenan is a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Teacher Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. A former New York City elementary school teacher, Harper is interested in how adults think about the nature of childhood as it relates to education. He is currently engaged in two major projects: one explores critical trans pedagogy and how schools give meaning to gender, and the other examines how young children are introduced to violent and conflicted histories at school. He is also the lead organizer of the Transgender Educators Network, a national grassroots organization of trans and non-binary educators in PK-12 schools. Harper's work has been published in several edited books, the Harvard Educational Review, Slate, The Huffington Post, and the Feminist Wire.

Kristen Krause, MPH, received her Master’s degree from New York University in 2015 with a concentration in community and international health and she has been working at CHIBS since 2014. During her tenure at NYU, Kristen has worked with the CGPH Office of Student Affairs in planning the MPH and PhD orientations for the last three years, co-chaired the Young Adult Advisory Committee of the New York State Ending the Epidemic task force, and she is the immediate past President of the NYU CGPH Student Governing Council. Kristen’s doctoral work examines resilience as it relates to biological, psychological, and social health states among older gay HIV+ men. She received her BA in Anthropology with Honors from the University of Michigan in 2011.

Dr. Kevin Kumashiro (https://www.kevinkumashiro.com) is an internationally recognized expert on educational policy, school reform, teacher preparation, and educational equity and social justice, with a wide-ranging list of accomplishments and awards as a scholar, educator, leader, and advocate. He is the former Dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco, and is the award-winning author or editor of ten books, including Troubling Education: Queer Activism and Antioppressive Pedagogy; Troubling Intersections of Race and Sexuality; and Bad Teacher!: How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture. His recent awards include the 2016 Social Justice in Education Award from the American Educational Research Association, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

Nina Mauceri is a doctoral candidate in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development in the Department of Teaching and Learning at New York University. Her dissertation examines the process by which urban schools work to become LGBTQ+-friendly and the intersections of race, class, gender and sexuality in the schooling of young people. In addition to her dissertation, Nina’s work has included an examination of Gay-Straight Alliances in New York and Boston and an analysis of LGBTQ+ YA literature. Prior to joining NYU, Nina spent thirteen years in the New York City Department of Education as a teacher and administrator.To pay the bills, Nina teaches and coaches high school Speech and Debate and serves as a consultant for various NYC schools developing best practices around literacy, diversity and inclusion, and college access. She also has a recurring role as an adjunct instructor with CUNY and NYU. Nina has a BA in English Literature from NYU, an MA in Early Childhood and Elementary Education and a certificate in Administration and Supervision from Bank Street College of Education.

Joseph Derrick Nelson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Educational Studies at Swarthmore College, and affiliated faculty with the Black Studies Program, and the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. His research to date has explored how race and gender stereotypes influence the identity development of low-income Black boys during childhood and early-adolescence. He is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Center for the Study of Boys' and Girls' Lives at the University of Pennsylvania. In this role, he facilitates Youth Participatory Action Research projects in K-12 schools that examine how gender norms and stereotypes shape everyday school life, particularly at the intersections of racial bias and class privilege. In his hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he taught first grade in a single-sex class of boys of color in the low-income neighborhood where he grew up.

Wazina Zondon is a queer Muslim Afghan raised in New York City. She is the co-writer and co-performer of Coming Out Muslim: Radical Acts of Love, a personal storytelling performance capturing the stories and experiences of being queer and Muslim. When she's not agitating and reclaiming a truly radical Islam, she teaches Sex Ed at an all-girl, high school in Brooklyn, NY. She also co-hosts Follow that Flannel, a silly yet informative sexuality podcast.

Adrian Zongrone has been engaged in LGBTQ community work, through various channels, since 2010, beginning as a volunteer in South Carolina. His professional career began in health education at a large children's museum, advocating for inclusive educational practices for LGBTQ youth and families, and eventually brought him to his current position at GLSEN, as a Research Associate examining school climate for LGBTQ K-12 students. His academic career has focused largely on identity development, sexual health, and substance use for LGBTQ youth. He has a Bachelor's degree in Physics from the University of South Carolina, and recently received his Master of Public Health degree from NYU's College of Global Public Health.

Moderators

Monroe France is the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Diversity Initiatives at New York University, serving as the most senior level university administrator responsible for advancing university wide diversity initiatives within student affairs at NYU’s NYC campus and its global academic centers. In this role, Monroe provides leadership to the NYU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Student Center and the NYU Center for Multicultural Education and Programs.

Monroe has more than 20 years of experience as an educator, professional trainer, consultant, strategist, and keynote presenter. He has taught courses; delivered lectures and keynote addresses on social justice and human rights here in the US and in the UAE, Shanghai, South Africa, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Australia, England, Czech Republic and many other countries.

Monroe is an adjunct professor for the NYU Silver School of Social Work and NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Communication, Higher Education and Student Affairs program. He is the founder and faculty for NYU's annual Roundtable on Diversity & Equity.

He has served as the Fiscal Officer & Treasurer for OutRight Action International board of trustees and is former chair of Diversity Abroad Network’s LGBTQI+ Task Force and faculty for their annual conference Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Institute. His expertise in anti-oppression and social justice work has led to his appearing on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry Show, regular radio interviews and presenting keynote addresses at national conferences and universities across the globe. Monroe is a facilitator for the Gay, Lesbian Straight Education Network and the Anti-Defamation League’s World of Difference Institute.

Monroe has received numerous honors and accolades, including New York University’s 2012 Distinguished Administrator of the Year Award; the 2014 Trailblazer Award from re:gender; 2016 National Association for Student Affairs Administrators’ (NASPA) Diversity Achievement Award; the 2016 NYU Academic Achievement Program Lifetime Achievement Award; and recipient of the 2018 The Ohio State University’s Dr. Maude Stewart Maude A. Stewart Award for exceptional leadership, service and innovation in the profession of Higher Education and Student Affairs.

Jamie Remmers graduated with her Master's in International Education from NYU Steinhardt in 2014 and since that time has been working in higher education. She is currently the Senior Academic Advisor of the Education Studies B.A. Program at Steinhardt, in the Department of Applied Statistics, Social Sciences, and Humanities. Her graduate studies focused on the intersection of international education and LGBTQ+ advocacy/education, specifically that in South Africa. She worked part-time for the Global Survey project under Dr. Oren Pizmony-Levy at Teacher's College, Columbia University, where they identified nearly 1,000 international NGOs working with LGBTI youth, and through surveys and qualitative interviews, sought to increase research and networking amongst the community.