We're happy to announce our latest Making Policy Public jury! This year we are joined by Broobs!, Kassandra Frederique, Lorena Kourousias, and Kelly Walters (clockwise, from top left).
Broobs! (Ruby Marquez) is a San Francisco based collage artist living and studying in San Francisco for the last decade. Growing up in East LA inspires their work to be a colorful melding of Nature and culture. Broobs exhibits an interest in bringing visibility to queer artists and queer activists and uses their platform to educate and illuminate champions of the queer community.
Kassandra Frederique is the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), a national nonprofit that works to end the war on drugs—which has disproportionately harmed Black, Latinx, Indigenous, immigrant, and LGBTQ communities—and build alternatives grounded in science, compassion, health, and human rights.
During her time at DPA, Frederique has built and led innovative campaigns around policing, the overdose crisis, and marijuana legalization—each with a consistent racial justice focus. Her advocacy, and all of the Drug Policy Alliance’s work, lies at the intersection of health, equity, autonomy, and justice.
Lorena Kourousias (she/her/ella) is the Executive Director of Mixteca, an immigrant-women led organization. She has devoted her work to build a social movement that moves away from mainstream systems and methods. She believes in the power of women and communities and is committed to challenge oppressive systems with non-conventional approaches. Lorena has received multiple awards and recognitions for her outstanding work with the Latinx community. The last one was the prestigious Zaragoza award in May 2021.
Kelly Walters is a designer, educator and founder of the multidisciplinary design studio Bright Polka Dot. In her ongoing design research, she interrogates the complexities of identity formation, systems of value, and the shared vernacular in and around Black visual culture. She is the author of Black, Brown + Latinx Design Educators: Conversations on Design and Race (2021) and co-author of The Black Experience in Design (forthcoming February 2022). Kelly is currently an Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the BFA Communication Design Program at Parsons School of Design at The New School.