Our team

Rahsaan Thomas is the co-founder of Empowerment Avenue, a program he co-created while incarcerated to meet the needs of incarcerated writers and artists, helping them to get their voices in mainstream spaces for prevailing wages. He built the organization based on his experiences as a writer, filmmaker, and social justice advocate.

He is most known for co-hosting and co-producing the Pulitzer Prize finalist and 2020 Dupont Award winning podcast, Ear Hustle, as well as appearances in United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell and the documentary What These Walls Won't Hold. Initiate Justice credits Rahsaan with initiating the successful restoration of voting rights for people on parole in California.

Additionally, Rahsaan is the co-founder of the San Quentin Film Festival, the first ever held inside a state prison. He also created the Returning Filmmaker Fellowship.

Christine Lashaw has 20+ years of experience as a senior Experience Developer at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA), where she dedicated herself to connecting people from diverse backgrounds with art, history, natural sciences and critical contemporary topics through open dialogue, storytelling, and hands-on activities. Christine is a nationally recognized creative museum leader known for producing art and cultural exhibitions and programs, shaped by community ideas.

She first met Rahsaan “New York” Thomas during a visit to San Quentin's Prison Art Program, which launched her advocacy work for incarcerated artists. After leaving OMCA in 2021, she reconnected with Rahsaan to support Empowerment Avenue's pilot art project—Meet Us Quickly: Painting for Justice, exhibition and art sale. The success of that project paved the way for her current role. She has a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design.

Evette Dionne is an award-winning author, journalist, and editor. She is honored to co-lead the Writing for Liberation program at Empowerment Avenue. Evette is the former executive editor at YES! Media and editor-in-chief at Bitch Media. She also serves as a columnist for MSNBC, where she writes about the intersections of politics, identity, and culture. Her writing has also been published in The New York Times, Elle, TIME, Glamour, The Cut, Cosmopolitan, Andscape, and Teen Vogue.

She is also the author of Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box, a Coretta Scott King Honor winner and National Book Award nominee, and Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul. Evette is a proud graduate of Bennett College, an HBCU that shaped her commitment to equity and truth-telling. She is based in Denver.

Joshua Strange is a writer, editor, and justice-oriented strategist dedicated to transforming how society understands incarceration, restorative justice, equity, and freedom. As co-lead of the Writing for Liberation program, he supports system-impacted writers in developing their craft and amplifying their voices in the world. Joshua believes in the power of storytelling as a catalyst for shared understanding and lasting change.

Joshua's journey with Empowerment Avenue began while incarcerated as a freelance journalist. He published award-winning journalism as a staff writer for San Quentin News and helped elevate the publication during his tenure as senior editor. A certified mediator and restorative-justice practitioner, he trains others to apply restorative approaches in a variety of contexts, promoting accountability and community healing.

Grounded in lived experience and guided by systems thinking, Joshua brings a collaborative, trauma-informed approach to his work. He has a Ph.D. in the biological sciences and an MBA in Leadership, combining scientific insight with systems thinking to unite storytelling, justice reform, and redemptive human transformation.

De'jon Joy is a community organizer and cultural worker dedicated to building power among the most marginalized. While incarcerated, he co-developed a curriculum on African American identity for Black men at Mount Tamalpais College. Leaning into creative expression as a tool for connection, he has collaborated on film projects exploring freedom, identity, and mental health. He also organized and advocated around housing justice as Organizing Director at the Coalition on Homelessness.

An Ed Trust Justice Fellow (Cohort 5) and SF Scholar at San Francisco State University, he earned a B.A. in Communications with a minor in Sociology and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Communication Studies. His research explores the tension of achieving Black joy while navigating the rapid shapeshifting of Black culture under technological change.

Ashley Carter is the Founder and CEO of ASX Consulting, where she partners with organizations to tackle structural inequities by transforming processes, policies, and programs into tools for truly inclusive workplaces. As a Black woman and mother, Ashley brings a personal understanding of how privilege and stigma shape professional experiences — a perspective that fuels her commitment to building environments where everyone can thrive.

With over 15 years of experience leading operations and human resources, Ashley is a trusted expert in organizational strategy and cultural change. She has guided nonprofits, advocacy groups, and justice-centered organizations through leadership transitions, policy design, and system improvements that promote equity and accountability.

Ashley is passionate about helping teams navigate complexity and co-create solutions that balance structure with care. Whether refining leadership practices, strengthening collaboration, or reimagining organizational design, she focuses on making strategies work in ways that empower people, improve culture, and drive lasting impact. Ready to Evolve, Just ASX!

Miye Sugino is a student at Yale, with a background in art and writing. She is interested in distilling inexpressible topics—memory, displacement, and loss—into an image. Her work has been recognized by the National YoungArts Foundation, U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts, and the Japanese American National Museum.