Pictured above, top row (left to right): New York State Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, New York City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, Dara Frank, Maggie Barrows, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer; bottom row (left to right): Nia Colon, Tricia Shimamura, Julie Jursik, Hannah Stewart.
She Will Rise Leadership
Chair: Hannah Stewart
Hannah (she/her) became involved with SWR at its inception. She loves participating in NYC activism and meeting like-minded people who are committed to making the city a great place to live for all residents. She has a background in international education and non-profit administration, with a MA in Slavic and East European Studies. Hobbies include reading, crafting, cooking, and all things dog related!
Vice Chair: Tricia Shimamura
Tricia Shimamura is a passionate feminist, avid park lover, and an unapologetic nerd on all things related to local politics, cats, and Game of Thrones. She holds an MSW and is an active member of her Community Board and in her Democratic club. Tricia works in Government Relations at Columbia University and previously served as Congresswoman Maloney's Deputy Chief of Staff. She loves being involved with SWR (of course), coffee, and hanging out in the City.
Treasurer: Elizabeth McLees
Elizabeth McLees (she/her) has been a member of She Will Rise since she moved to New York City in 2018. She became a board member in 2019 and loves being involved and helping others grow and develop. Being a part of She Will Rise is important to Elizabeth because she wants to become a better community member and citizen of NYC while helping others do the same. When not working as a Training Program Manager, she spends her time reading and crafting. She has way too many craft supplies but is always on the lookout for a new skill to pick up.
Secretary: Molly Kraus
Molly Kraus is an experienced campaign manager and organizer. Her motto is that democracy is not a noun, it's a verb. Over the last three years, Molly has lived and worked across six different states. She is a graduate of Columbia University and currently works at a New York City-based law firm. In her free time, Molly enjoys cross country road trips, reading science fiction, and playing the New York Times Spelling Bee.
Communications Chair: Hannah Spierer
Hannah Spierer has lived in New York City for nine years. After spending 18 years growing up in rural New England, it was time for a change and Hannah made the big move to attend school in NYC at Barnard College. After graduating, Hannah fell into a career in public transit infrastructure development in the NY metro area and has developed a love for all things trains and buses. Outside work, Hannah loves taking long walks in Central Park and is consistently on the hunt for NYC's best bagel.
Events Chair: Mari Novotny
Mari Novotny is a Minnesota native who recently moved to NYC after some stints in Boston and San Francisco along the way. Mari's experience working in the tech industry has taught her how necessary it is for women to advocate for one another, especially in male-dominated spaces. A lover of bagels, coffee, and books (not necessarily in that order), you can usually find her walking around the city with at least one or all of these in hand at any given time.
Board Member: Bronte Kastenberg
Bronte is a public health professional with strong programmatic and implementation experience honed in seven years of public health work in low-resource settings domestically and abroad. She recently graduated from Columbia University's School of Public Health, with a master's degree in population and family and a certification in humanitarian action. During her graduate career, she served as a Health Program Coordinator for Partners for World Health in Uganda, providing maternal and reproductive health education and supplies to clinics and patients. She also worked at Care and Protection of Children Learning Network, coordinating and collaborating with senior leadership at multiple international development agencies to assist with ending violence against children worldwide. Prior to Columbia, Bronte was a Program Manager at Bronx Partners for Healthy Communities, where she designed, implemented and evaluated diabetes, asthma and cardiovascular disease programs that sought to improve health outcomes for low-resource, marginalized populations.
Board Member: Maggie Giordano
Maggie Giordano (she/her) recently became a board member in December of 2022. She previously worked in the fashion industry in New York City for four years, and is now in the process of completing her Master's degree in Public Policy at Duke University. She hopes to move back to the city after graduation and use her degree to work on housing policy and prison reform. She is a lover of all things coffee, books, and Law and Order: SVU, and will discuss Rachel Maddow at length with you at any given time.