Ashley has spent over 15 years launching community oriented startups and grassroots organizations. Before making the move to the nonprofit sector, she worked in partnership with numerous causes in support of kids. Driven to affect change on a larger scale, she   obtained her MBA from the University of Central Florida in order to better advise mission-driven organizations for success. She has previously worked with Educated Choices Program   and Animal Recovery Mission, and is currently advising communications and development for OneProtest as a board member. She spends her spare time managing her rabbit rescue,  Space Coast Bunnies and serving as a mentor to teens. Her ultimate goal is to reduce inequity and suffering of all of our planet’s inhabitants by inspiring others to take action.

Carter, author of Justice as a Fair Start in Life, began his career as an Honors Program appointee to the U.S. Department of Justice. He later served as a legal adviser to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in the national security law division. He wrote his thesis reformulating the right to have children under Jeremy Waldron, his extensive academic work on family planning has been published by Yale, Duke, and Northwestern Universities, as well as in peer-reviewed pieces, and he has served on the Steering Committee of the Population Ethics and Policy Research Project and was a Visiting Scholar at the Uehiro Center, both at the University of Oxford. He has taught at several law schools in the U.S., served as a peer reviewer for the journal Bioethics, and most recently managed an animal protection strategic impact litigation program, with annual resources in excess of five million dollars. 

Catharina has spent over ten years working with children, from educational settings to child welfare. After six years of clinical work with a non-profit, she pursued her MSW from the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work to address the inequities of the foster care system from a macro perspective. Since then, she has utilized evidence-based practices to create and evaluate curriculums and interventions that positively affect children’s emotional, academic, and biophysical health. Kat is currently working as a research associate at the Burnes Center on Poverty and Homelessness. Creating equity and compassion for the human experience is the highlight of her research. Kat is passionate about social justice, diversity, and ensuring that innovative design is central to the narrative for positive change.

Terra Walters is a writer, editor, and activist passionate about equality, equity and universal human rights. Her background in journalism has led to a colorful career, from her position as editor at a conservative geopolitical think tank to a volunteer writing copy for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Today, she is active in supporting many causes,  including Planned Parenthood and the Beto O’Rourke campaign for governor. She works from home in North Texas with careful oversight from her dog, Bear. 

Maureen Cohen Harrington is Vice President of the Congressional Vegetarian Staff Association, a member of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, and on the boards of Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts and Washington Area Roadskaters. As Special Projects Manager at Fair Start Movement, she is organizing a forum at George Washington University, “Tackling the Population Taboo: Creating a Sustainable Future for Children” (April 9, 2019). In her day job, she is Senior Counsel at the Library of Congress Office of the General Counsel. She shares a home with two feline Louisiana flood refugees.

Brooke Morales is beginning her second year at Virginia Tech where she studies Environmental Policy and Planning and Philosophy. She has a strong interest in helping animals and the environment through the legal system. This interest emerged when she came across various films and literature that exposed animal rights issues such as factory farming and cosmetic testing. She continues to explore this interest by competing with her Mock Trial team and volunteering with a local animal shelter. She hopes to attend law school in Washington, D.C. 

 Dr. Betty Martin-Finneran completed her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies at The Union Institute & University Graduate College in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her area of concentration was Transformative Learning with a strong Jungian transpersonal psychology emphasis—sacred psychology. She completed her Master of Science Degree in Information Management Technology at Grantham University in Kansas City, Missouri. Currently, Dr. Martin-Finneran works as an Instructional Associate at Berryessa Union School District in San Jose, California. In addition, she is an online and face-to-face ESL instructor at Techworld Language Solutions of Troy, Michigan.