We’re happy to announce our latest Public Access Design Jury! This year we are joined by Quadira Coles, Zelene Suchilt, Chloe Chang, and Gabrielle Widjaja.
Seher Khawaja is the Senior Attorney for Economic Empowerment at Legal Momentum, where she leads the Women Valued Initiative. Seher engages in litigation, policy advocacy, and educational outreach to advance economic security and workplace equality for women, with a focus on assisting women in low-wage work. Seher has a background in economic justice and human rights. She previously worked as a policy and legislative attorney for the New York City Housing Authority and has worked internationally with organizations in Burma, Haiti, Iraq, Israel, South Africa, and the United States on issues including housing rights, gender-based violence, minority rights, and economic security. Before law school, Seher consulted with the Democratic Governance Group at the United Nations Development Programme and worked for the International Democratic Governance practice for the World-Federalist Movement—Institute for Global Policy. She received her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, where she was a Sparer Public Interest Fellow. She also holds degrees in International Relations from the London School of Economics (M.Sc.) and the Johns Hopkins University (B.A.).
Gica Tam is an illustrator and printmaker based in New York City. They graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Information Design, and was honored with the Loyola Schools Awards for the Arts, excellence in Visual Arts: Illustration. In 2016, they completed a residency in Illustration and Visual Storytelling at the School of Visual Arts. They were a 2021 Public Access Design Fellow at the Center for Urban Pedagogy and an Artist-in-Residence at Bad Student. They are currently a Visual Designer at Google (via ASG). Their vibrant work is both ornate and minimalist which explores themes of food, folktales and identity. They create site-specific, community-based, and socially-engaged projects, and have exhibited and collaborated with numerous brands locally and internationally.
asad pervaiz is an independent creative director with interest and experience in the cultural sector and arts education. he has worked for mgmt. design, pentagram, omfgco, work-order and media arts lab where he specialized in editorial, exhibition, brand and interactive design. his work has contributed to exhibitions and programs at major museums and cultural festivals, including the national building museum and world pride 2019. asad has taught and lectured at yale, rutgers, and alfred universities on topics that include inclusivity in design and queer communication. as a member of the queering space artists collective, he works to promote visibility and encourage creativity for marginalized artists through exhibitions, workshops and programming. current and forthcoming projects include radical affirmation, a summer camp for queer youth in utrecht, netherlands, as well as an archival excavation, symposium and exhibition of materials held by the schwules museum, berlin, whose extensive archives document lgbtq life and history. asad received his bfa from the rhode island school of design and holds an mfa from the yale school of art.
Annie Carforo is the Climate Justice Organizer at WE ACT for Environmental Justice. She is responsible for engaging WE ACT members and residents of Northern Manhattan in the organization’s climate policy initiatives. Prior to joining WE ACT, Annie organized alongside New Yorkers experiencing homelessness on City and State legislation designed to improve access to high quality affordable housing. All of Annie’s organizing and policy experience is grounded in community led activism. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Human and Organizational Development with a focus on Community Development from Vanderbilt University and is currently pursuing a Master of Urban Planning degree at Hunter College with a focus on equity and sustainability in city planning.