Megan Moskop is a middle school special education teacher in Washington Heights, NYC. She is also the High School Admissions Coordinator, 7th grade team leader, and faculty delegate to the United Federation of Teachers. Altaf Rahamatulla is a Program Analyst at the Ford Foundation focusing on criminal justice reform, immigrant and migrant rights, and racial justice. Ashley Emerole is a research associate for the Citizens Budget Commission and previously worked for NYC's Office of Management and Budget.

1. NYC
NEW LEADERS
COUNCIL

2. Megan Moskop teaches middle school
special education at M.S. 324 – Patria
Mirabal in Washington Heights. She also
serves as the High School Admissions
Coordinator, 7th grade team leader, and
faculty-elected delegate to the United
Federation of Teachers (UFT).
Megan is an active member of the
Movement of Rank and File Educators, the
social justice caucus of the UFT, and
Director of ManhattanYoung Democrats’
new Learning Labs program. Prior to
beginning her teaching career in NewYork,
Megan served for a year as a Fulbright
English Teaching Assistant in Malta. She grew
up in Greenville, North Carolina, and
attended Duke University, where she
received a B.A. in International
Comparative Studies. She also holds an M.S.
in Special Education from Hunter College.
MEGANSPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER
M.S. 324 Patria Mirabal

3. Altaf Rahamatulla is a Program Analyst at the Ford
Foundation, where he focuses on criminal justice
reform, immigrant and migrant rights, and racial
justice. In this role, he performs extensive research
and analysis and supports the Foundation’s
knowledge management function. Previously, he was
a Policy Analyst with the Innocence Project, a
national litigation and policy firm that seeks to
overturn wrongful convictions using DNA testing.
He analyzed and researched criminal justice reform
bills in states across the country and produced
testimony, policy briefs, and other advocacy
materials. Altaf received his Master’s degree from
the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at
Rutgers University, where he led the Black Student
Organization for Planning and Policy. He earned his
Bachelor’s in Political Science and Spanish at
Amherst College. Raised in New Jersey, Altaf
currently resides in New York City.
ALTAF
Program Analyst, Ford Foundation

4. Ashley Emerole is research associate for the
Citizens Budget Commission.A career
public servant who has worked for various
government agencies since graduating with a
Masters in Urban Planning from Hunter, she
also worked as a Recovery & Resiliency
Fellow for MTA NYCT, where her work
focused on assessing the damage to the
subway system from Hurricane Sandy while
working on ways to mitigate future natural
disasters. Before that,Ashley worked for the
NYC’s Office of Management and Budget as
a Senior Budget Analyst in the
Administration of Justice Taskforce. Ashley
is the president of the ManhattanYoung
Democrats (MYD).
ASHLEY
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE,
CITIZENS BUDGET
COMMISSION

5. DARRYN
Darryn Lee is an Associate at BlackRock within the Institutional Client Business,
focusing on the Defined Contribution space, as well as Chair of NewYork Campus
Recruiting and theVice-Chair of External Partnerships for the MultiCultural
Network, an internal affinity network that strives to promote the firm’s diverse
talent through networking opportunities and professional development. Prior to this,
Darryn was an Analyst in the Portfolio Analytics Group at BlackRock. Darryn is
actively involved with non-profit work in NewYork City. He serves as the Co-Chair
of the Mentor Leadership Council (MLC) within NewYork NeedsYou, which
provides professional development assistance to first-generation college students,
and sits on the Junior Board of Brooklyn-based Children of Promise NYC, which
provides a multitude of services to children of incarcerated parents.
Originally from Compton, CA, Darryn earned his B.B.A. at Temple University, with
Honors Scholar distinction, majoring in International Business and Finance.
Associate, BlackRock

7. SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
including
ARLENE HEYMAN M.D.,
progressive psychiatrist/
psychotherapist

8. OUR HONOREES
Alexis McGill Johnson Robert Reffkin Anna Holmes

9. NYC
NEW LEADERS
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10. ANNIECommunity Engagement Specialist
Tumblr
Annie Werner is a Community Engagement
Specialist at Tumblr and the digital director
for the New Kings Democrats in Brooklyn.
She was Tumblr’s first hired intern and
subsequently spent two years as the
company’s Arts Evangelist, building the arts
community on Tumblr from the ground up,
and co-organizing large-scale events such as
Moving The Still: A GIF Festival and Paddles
ON! The First Ever Digital Art Auction at
Phillips. She now serves on the Product team,
focusing on broader community engagement
and content management. Annie joined the
New Kings Democrats in the fall of 2012,
where she works with fellow progressive
Brooklynites to bring transparency,
accountability, and inclusionary democracy to
the Kings County Democratic Party. A Texan
transplant, she studied New Media and Public
Discourse at NYU’s Gallatin School of
Individualized Study.

11. As a political organizer, Joelle Gamble has
appeared in over 40 articles and television
segments, including the Los AngelesTimes, the
San Francisco Gate, Fox News, NBC,ABC and
CBS. Joelle also worked as a federal
employee for two years at the U.S.
Department of State in the Office of Foreign
Missions. Joelle cares deeply about issues of
economic justice and development, as well as
creating access to decision-making spaces for
underserved communities. She graduated
from UCLA in 2012 Phi Beta Kappa with a
B.A. in International Development Studies. She
is a StartingBloc Social Innovation Fellow and
a Democratic National Committee Hope
Fellow.
JOELLE
National Field Strategist, the Roosevelt
Institute Campus Network

12. JACOB Trial attorney, U.S.
Department of Labor
Jacob Heyman-Kantor recently joined the U.S.
Department of Labor, where he helps enforce
U.S. employment laws. Previously, Jacob was an
associate at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, and an
Assistant Counsel at the National Treasury
Employees Union. Jacob graduated with honors
from The George Washington University Law School. Before law
school, Jacob worked at the NewYork Musicians’ Union, where he
negotiated collective bargaining agreements on behalf of classical
orchestras. He graduated from Hamilton College in 2002, majoring in
Spanish and sociology. Jacob was born and raised in NewYork City.
He is participating as an NLC Fellow purely in his personal capacity.

13. Madeline Lagattuta works for the Council on
Foreign Relations, where she manages
committees of the Board of Directors and
writes institutional essays for publication.
She served as Co-Chair of the CASE
Committee of the Manhattan Young
Democrats, and prior to that, as a Field
Organizer on President Obama’s 2008
campaign, where she managed campaign
activities in 11 districts in southwestern
Pennsylvania and organized over 1,500 active
volunteers. Madeline graduated from the
University of Chicago, where she studied
International Relations with an emphasis on
human rights. Her thesis focused on
transitional justice efforts following crimes
against humanity. She was born and raised in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and moved to New
York after college.
SPECIAL ASSISTANT,
COUNCIL ON
FOREIGN RELATIONS
MADDIE

14. EMPLOYMENT & CIVIL RIGHTS LITIGATION IMMIGRATION ESTATE PLANNING
SECOND PARENT ADOPTION FAMILY LAW LANDLORD / TENANT
kurlandgroup.com
Call 212 253 6911 today for a consultation
VOTED “BEST ATTORNEY” BY
champions for
the underrepresented
SPECIAL
THANKS TO
OUR
SPONSORS

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16. Before his current position at Hunter, Charlie
worked for over 6 years as an aviation
maintenance technician for companies such as
Virgin Atlantic Airways, Jetblue Airways and
Liberty Helicopters. In addition to his
professional work, in the last few years Charlie
has worked tirelessly for his community in a
variety of roles: as a member of the local
community board, chair of a neighborhood
advisory board, and intern for the Bronx
Borough President. Charlie has also been
extensively involved with helping the next
generation of leaders develop.Through his role
as a facilitator for the CUNY Model State Senate
program he trains undergraduate students in the
legislative process, improved decision-making
abilities and public speaking skills. He also serves
as a mentor in NewYork NeedsYou. Charlie was
born and raised in the Bronx, and obtained both
his B.A. in Political Science and M.S. in Urban
Affairs from Hunter College in 2010 and 2012,
respectively.
.
CHARLIEASSISTANT TO THE
COO
HUNTER COLLEGE

17. Kacie Lyn Kocher moved back to the US after completing an MSc. in International
Development and Economic History at the London School of Economics. As of January
2014, she is the Operations Manager of PublicStuff, a technology startup that uses
web and mobile solutions to connect people with their local government..
Before completing her Master’s degree in 2013, she founded Canimiz Sokakta, which is a
Turkish NGO that uses crowdsourcing techniques and digital and social media to
combat street harassment and other forms of gender-based violence and
discrimination. Working in Istanbul for two years at TTNET (Turkey’s leading ISP), she
was able to utilize her market research on internet use and behavior in Turkey to
create digital approaches and programs at local universities. She has also forged
partnerships with the U.S. Consulate, technology developers and consultancies, PR
firms, other NGOs, and local leaders. Her work has been documented in radio,
newspapers, TV, and online in five languages. In April 2013, Kacie gave a TEDx talk
titled “Silence is a Choice”. Kacie continues to work with Canimiz Sokakta remotely,
focusing on bringing self-defense courses to Turkey.
Kacie grew up in Austin, Texas and enjoys live music, letter writing, and cooking from
scratch. She is passionate about public policy, the potential of new technologies for
social and economic change, food politics, and financial literacy. She has worked in
the US, Morocco, Turkey, India, and the UK, and holds an honors B.A. in Political
Science and a B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from Wellesley College.
KACIE

18. ALEXANDRA
Alexandra St. Charles is the Development & Government
Outreach Coordinator at The Bronx Defenders, a public
defender office in the South Bronx. Since joining The
Bronx Defenders in 2010, Alexandra has worked to
increase support for the organization’s innovative holistic
model of legal representation from foundations,
government sources and private donors. In addition to
traditional development work, she also manages The
Bronx Defenders website, new media and other
communications. Before coming to The Bronx Defenders,
Alexandra worked as a Political Organizer for the
Working Families Party, where she coordinated electoral
and issues campaigns.Alexandra also managed fundraising
for State Senator Daniel Squadron.Alexandra grew up in
California and moved to New York City in 2005 to study
Economics and Latin American Studies at New York
University. In her free time, she enjoys volunteering for
Big Brothers Big Sisters NYC and raising her French
Bulldog puppy, Ultimo.
DEVELOPMENT & GOVERNMENT
OUTREACH COORDINATOR,
THE BRONX DEFENDERS

19. AMANDA Associate Producer, NBC News
Amanda Pisetzner is an Associate Producer with Peacock
Productions, a division of NBC News. Prior to entering
television, she focused primarily on issues surrounding
incarceration and prison reform, including developing
Northampton County’s first rehabilitative reentry program for
women and worked with a government-sponsored inmate
advocacy group in the Netherlands to ensure equal program
opportunities for male and female inmates. Amanda was awarded
the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Project for Peace Grant to work
with inmates in Santa Cruz County, California.As a capstone to her prison work,
Amanda wrote and produced a play “Voices Behind Bars,” which integrated writings
from incarcerated women into a monologue-format theater piece. Her work and
related studies have been published in the US, Canada, and Holland.Amanda’s other
interests include advocating for the LGBT community, practicing sign language,
performing with her juggling sticks, and making people laugh. She was born and
raised in Puyallup,Washington and graduated magna cum laude from Lafayette
College with a degree in English and Equality & Social Justice.

20. OUR HONOREES
Alexis McGill Johnson Robert Reffkin Anna Holmes

21. NYC
NEW LEADERS
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22. NEIL
Policy Analyst, Citizens
Housing and Planning
Council
Prior to joining CHPC, Neil Reilly was a Research Assistant
at the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban
Policy. He also has experience in the federal government:
while working in the office of U.S. Senator Frank R.
Lautenberg, Neil crafted policy memos on high-speed rail
and the relationship of immigration to Social Security
solvency, as well as a white paper on gun control. He also
served as an intern at the U.S. Department of State, where
he drafted updated guides to the German-speaking
countries at the Foreign Service Institute. Neil also served
as a research analyst at Glass Lewis & Co., and in
community development and fundraising roles at
Forestdale, Inc., a social service agency in Queens, and the
NewYork Foundation for the Arts. Neil is active in the
Participatory Budgeting initiative of the NewYork City
Council in his home District 39. Neil holds a Master of
Public Administration degree from the Wagner School of
Public Service at NewYork University, where his thesis
examined the capital budgeting policy of the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority. He also holds a B.A. in
Government and Politics and a B.S. in International Business
from the University of Maryland.

23. TRISH
Patricia Ceccarelli grew up in Westchester, NewYork and
attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Patricia went on to be a Community Organizer with the
Harriet Tubman Center, doing youth organizing with a
high school student group calledYOUTHVOICE around
the issue of gang violence in the city of Detroit. After
graduating and moving back to NewYork, Patricia served
as an Organizing Fellow with Organizing for America in
NewYork City in 2011. Patricia went on to become
Organizing for America-NewYork’s Regional Field
Director for Brooklyn & Queens, supervising a staff of
six Field Organizers who were building local volunteer
teams to call into battleground states and travel to Ohio
and Pennsylvania for door-to-door canvassing to re-elect
President Obama.
Previously, she was Program Associate with Faith in New
York (formerly known as Queens Congregations United
for Action), which is an affiliate of the PICO National
Network—the largest faith-based community organizing
network in the United States.
COMMUNITY LIAISON,
MANHATTAN BOROUGH
PRESIDENT’S OFFICE

24. Emmanuel Paul Sterling builds and implements the
recruitment strategy for the education-based nonprofit
City Year as the organization’s northeast Regional
Recruitment Director. Emmanuel is also a proud
AmeriCorps-City Year alumnus, having spent a year
working full-time tutoring and mentoring students in the
Hunts Point community of the South Bronx, NY. Emmanuel
is a Louisiana native, who has continued to return to his
home state to engage local elected officials, provide
resources to students from his high school and to support
his siblings with instilling in his nieces and nephews strong
family values. After high school, Emmanuel moved to Ohio
to pursue his bachelor’s degree at The College of Wooster
where he studied Studio Art with a concentration on
Photography. Emmanuel fell in love with The College very
early on and has continued to give back, because of the
lessons learned inside and outside of the classroom.
Emmanuel was recently appointed to alumni board,
supporting and devising new alumni engagement
opportunities. When Emmanuel isn’t chasing students down
on high school and college campuses to educate them
about City Year, he can be found running or biking through
his neighborhood in East Harlem.
EMMANUELREGIONAL RECRUITMENT
DIRECTOR NORTHEAST
CITY YEAR

25. JANOS
Janos Dev Marton was Special Counsel to the Moreland Commission to
Investigate Public Corruption, a commission convened by Governor Cuomo
and Attorney General Schneiderman in response to recent political scandals in
NewYork. Born and raised in NewYork City, Janos attended Dartmouth
College, and afterwards worked on several political campaigns before joining
Hands on Disaster Relief. He attended Fordham Law School, where he
founded a legal workshop program for incarcerated youths on Rikers Island.
After graduation, Janos worked for the civil rights firm Siegel,Teitelbaum &
Evans, and the law firm Hogan Lovells, participating in major cases relating to
campaign finance and housing discrimination. Janos also supported the
Occupy Wall Street legal team.

26. SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
including
ARLENE HEYMAN M.D.,
progressive psychiatrist/
psychotherapist

27. EMPLOYMENT & CIVIL RIGHTS LITIGATION IMMIGRATION ESTATE PLANNING
SECOND PARENT ADOPTION FAMILY LAW LANDLORD / TENANT
kurlandgroup.com
Call 212 253 6911 today for a consultation
VOTED “BEST ATTORNEY” BY
champions for
the underrepresented
SPECIAL
THANKS TO
OUR
SPONSORS

28. NYC
NEW LEADERS
COUNCIL

29. Intergovernmental Relations Aide,
Suffolk County Executive Steve BelloneSTEVE
Steve is also theVolunteer Coordinator for the Town of Babylon
Democratic Committee – one of the largest active political committees in
Long Island. From 2008-2011, Steve was a public school teacher andTeach
for America corps member at PS 211, in the South Bronx, NY. He was
also a football and basketball coach, and founded the PS 211 Specialized High School
Enrichment Program. Steve previously served as an intern in the district office of former
NYS Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, and later as a body person in Schneiderman’s successful
campaign for NYS Attorney General. In 2012, he was a Michael Dukakis Public Policy Fellow
in the Executive Office of the Governor of Connecticut, Dan Malloy. He wrote speeches,
drafted policy memos and assisted the Governor’s Early Childhood Planning team with
implementing recent education reform legislation. Immediately preceding his current job
with the Suffolk County Executive, Steve was an organizer with MassEquality – focusing on
securing passage of anti-bullying legislation by the Massachusetts State Legislature. Steve
graduated from Boston College in 2008 with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and
Theology. He also earned a Master’s degree in Adolescent Social Studies Education at
Fordham University in 2010 and a Master’s degree in Public Policy at Harvard University’s
John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2013. He is currently pursuing his Juris Doctor
(J.D.) at Brooklyn Law School, where he is a Prince Scholar and EdwardV. Sparer Public
Interest Fellow.

30. Director of Communications
and Individual Giving, The
Center for Urban Community
Services
RON
Prior to CUCS, Ron Zacchi was the Coordinator of
Presidential Initiatives for the Center for Social
Inclusion’s campaigns and programs. He got his start
in the non-profit sector, serving as the Executive
Director at Marriage Equality NewYork, where he led
a successful grassroots campaign for equal marriage
rights in the state of NewYork. His organization was
one of five that were part of the coalition working
alongside Governor Cuomo on gaining support for
marriage equality in NewYork State. While serving as
Executive Director, he created a campaign called
Marriage Equality Day which brought constituents to
Albany to educate their legislators on why marriage
matters. He also started their District Community
Organizing program, which supported leadership in
each of the then-62 senate districts of NewYork
State. Before moving into the non-profit sector, Ron
worked in marketing with several agencies, and Ad
Sales teams at NBC and CNN. He has a Master’s in
Public Administration from Baruch and a Bachelor’s
degree in Communications from Hofstra University.

31. FRANKLIN
A locally recognized economic
development leader, Franklin Mora has worked over the last 7
years with entrepreneurs big and small alike.
Franklin’s work at QEDC includes overseeing program directors and business
advisers, creating new innovative and successful programming for immigrant
entrepreneurs and small business owners, and fundraising for QEDC among
many other tasks. Franklin is a 40 under 40 City and State Rising Star, a
certified Economic Development Finance Professional from the National
Development Council, and Minority Leaders for Tomorrow MBA Prep Fellow.
A born-and-raised NewYorker and son of immigrant Ecuadorian parents,
Franklin is keenly interested in helping scale and finance social enterprises as a
way to create sustainable business solutions to socio-economic challenges.
Franklin has a liberal arts degree from the University ofVermont.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR, QUEENS ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (QEDC)

32. SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
including
ARLENE HEYMAN M.D.,
progressive psychiatrist/
psychotherapist

33. OUR HONOREES
Alexis McGill Johnson Robert Reffkin Anna Holmes