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Meet Our Team

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Amina

Pronouns
Position
Prison Correspondent
Image of Amina, a light-skinned Black person with shoulder-length brown locs and a gold septum piercing, smiling while sitting outside in front of a transparent igloo tent. Amina is wearing a black coat with a white t-shirt underneath and is holding a cup of hot chocolate.
Image of Amina, a light-skinned Black person with shoulder-length brown locs and a gold septum piercing, smiling while sitting outside in front of a transparent igloo tent. Amina is wearing a black coat with a white t-shirt underneath and is holding a cup of hot chocolate.

Amina is an advocate, researcher, and organizer from Maryland. As Prison Correspondent for HEARD, Amina supports currently incarcerated deaf/disabled community members by sharing resources and tools for self-advocacy.

Amina has a graduate degree in social work from Gallaudet University and undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and African & African American Studies from the University of Rochester. Outside of school and work, Amina is a cat parent, avid reader, and aspiring green thumb!

Esperanza

Pronouns
she/her
Position
Reentry Program Director
An image of Esperanza standing in front of a tan wall. She has tanned white skin, long brown hair pulled over her shoulder, and wears a grey t-shirt.
An image of Esperanza standing in front of a tan wall. She has tanned white skin, long brown hair pulled over her shoulder, and wears a grey t-shirt.

Esperanza (she/her), is a Latinx deaf social worker and abolitionist mama.

I live in the Bay Area, California on the original homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. I work as the Reentry Program Director at HEARD. I specialize in supporting currently and formerly incarcerated deaf/disabled people and their loved ones. I am dedicated to confronting and challenging issues in legal and prison systems that impact deaf/disabled folks and support them to navigate those systems. My approach is guided by the transformative justice, disability justice, healing, abolition, and harm reduction principles with the goal of supporting people to live their lives free from all forms of policing and incarceration.

Outside of HEARD work, I enjoy doing crafts, outdoor activities, reading books and spending time with my precious little ones.

Kaj

Pronouns
he/him
Position
Operations Director
Kaj, a white man with a beard, smiles while standing in front of a tan wall. He has short dark red hair and is wearing a black crew neck.

Kaj is a deaf linguist, researcher, educator, and advocate. As staff he supports HEARD’s operations, development, and research efforts. He holds a PhD in Linguistics from Gallaudet University. Outside of work, you can find Kaj biking, reading, and spending time with his greyhound.

Roxanne

Pronouns
Position
Incarcerated Advocacy Program Director
Image of a laughing Roxanne with tanned white skin, a big smile, round tortoise glasses, and short hair, wearing dangly earrings of multiple interlocking circles and white overalls. Roxanne’s clasped hands are visible at the bottom of the image and the Brooklyn Bridge and East River are visible in the background.
Image of a laughing Roxanne with tanned white skin, a big smile, round tortoise glasses, and short hair, wearing dangly earrings of multiple interlocking circles and white overalls. Roxanne’s clasped hands are visible at the bottom of the image and the Brooklyn Bridge and East River are visible in the background.

Roxanne Zech is an organizer, facilitator, and community lawyer based in upstate New York, with roots in the Gulf Coast. For the past decade, Roxanne has lived, worked, and organized within cooperative, disability justice, and abolitionist movements.

Roxanne currently serves as HEARD’s Incarcerated Advocacy Program Director where they fight for the release of deafdisabled incarcerated elders, advocate to improve conditions for our communities inside, educate and train attorneys, and coordinate HEARD’s commissary program. Roxanne received a J.D. from CUNY School of Law. Outside of working at HEARD, you can find Roxanne tending to their house plants, spending time in nature, and cooking for others.