Noël Heatherland
Board of Directors | Atlanta, Georgia
Noël Heatherland (they/them) is a statewide organizer and advocate based in Atlanta, Georgia with roots in rural south Georgia. Noël brings lived experience and a steadfast commitment to co-creating collective liberation. They currently serve as Statewide Organizing Manager at Georgia Equality and are actively involved with The Venture Out Project, The Collective, Ahimsa House, and the Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative. They formerly served on the boards of Georgia Equality and the Equality Foundation of Georgia. In addition to being on the TDDM Board, they are a Board member for The Dreaming Justice Project and Community Deeply Rooted. They serve on the Steering Committee for the Atlanta LGBTQ+ Center initiative. Noël was chosen as a 2026 Atlanta Pride Grand Marshal due to their advocacy and organizing work for LGBTQIA+ people and human rights.
Noël is a graduate of the University of Georgia with expertise in Communications, Political Science and Social Work. Their work spans grassroots organizing, faith-based advocacy, and statewide leadership to ensure queer and trans people can live authentically and with belonging. They reside in East Point with their partner Arie, an Afro-Indigenous trans artist, along with four dogs and a cat.
Dr. Christy Perez (C. Dreams)
Board of Directors | Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Christy Perez (she/her) is an Afro-Latina public theologian, historian, journalist, content creator and policy strategist whose work centers the intersections of incarceration, public health, and structural inequality. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Dreaming Justice Project based in Atlanta, where she leads initiatives focused on reentry support, harm reduction, political education, and decarceral policy, and she serves as State Gender Policy Manager at Georgia Equality, advancing statewide advocacy on gender justice and health equity.
Dr. Perez was named one of the Top 30 Inspirational Women to Watch for in 2026 by NY Weekly Magazine and she is the author of Practicing Freedom: A Dreaming Justice Handbook for Faith, Abolition, and the Work of Repair. Dr. Perez earned her doctorate from Amherst Theological Seminary while incarcerated, pursuing higher education through independent study and academic sponsorship, an experience that now directly shapes her scholarship and policy analysis on prisons, health systems, and reentry. She is a Marvel Cooke Abolitionist Journalism Fellow, a Writing for Justice Fellow with the INCITE Institute at Columbia University, and a Senior Journalism Fellow with The Lighthouse | Black Girl Projects. Her journalism and commentary on mass incarceration, health disparities, and social policy have appeared in outlets including HuffPost, Filter Magazine, Business Insider, and The Appeal, and she is the recipient of the 2024 PJP Stillwater Award for Best News Story.
Based in Atlanta, Dr. Perez is a nationally recognized journalist, speaker, consultant, and community educator who brings an interdisciplinary lens that bridges theology, public health, and policy. Drawing from both lived experience and rigorous research, her work focuses on the health consequences of incarceration, the role of carceral systems as de facto public health institutions, and the advancement of harm reduction, decarceral policy, and community-based models of care. Follow her on all social media @UnCagedChristy.
Andi Monroe
Board of Directors | Atlanta, Georgia
Andi Monroe (they/them) is a seasoned Atlanta-based community organizer and advocate dedicated to advancing equity and visibility for LGBTQ+ communities. With extensive experience in nonprofit leadership and media production, Andi co-founded an LGBTQ+ media company and served as Interim Executive Director of the OUT Georgia Business Alliance. Currently, they are the Southern Regional Coordinator for Lambda Legal and serve on the boards of ARTS Station and the OUT on Film festival. Andi’s work is driven by deep community ties and a commitment to building power and connection across the South.
Jae Douglas
Board of Directors | Tallahassee, Florida
Jae Douglas (she/they) is a 21-year-old Black Puerto Rican trans femme activist, strategist, and storyteller based in Tallahassee, Florida. In just one year of advocacy, she has become a national voice for trans liberation, Afro-Latinx visibility, and housing justice in the Deep South. Jae is the Administrative Assistant at Capital Tea, Tallahassee’s only trans-led nonprofit organization and home to the only two transgender-specific safe houses in the state of Florida. She also serves as Strategy Director for the National Trans Visibility March (NTVM), a board member of Tallahassee Pride, and a member of Advocates for Youth’s national advocacy cohort. Her work—especially around housing—is personal, deeply rooted, and grounded in a broader commitment to community care and total liberation.
From DC to LA to NYC, Jae’s voice has resonated on national stages. She was a featured speaker at the Freedom to Be Rally during U.S. v. Skrmetti, a grand opening speaker at the TS Madison Starter House, and was named one of The Advocate’s 2025 Thriving Under Thirty. She also received the Advocate for Change Award from the Hispanic Federation at FUERZAfest in NYC.
DaQuon Allen
Board of Directors | Montgomery, Alabama
DaQuon Allen (they/them) is a Montgomery, Alabama–based organizer, artist, and creative working at the intersection of art, culture, civic engagement, and community building. Their work centers on creating meaningful opportunities for young black and queer people to connect, engage, and recognize their power.
Through their community initiative, We Gone Get Free, DaQuon combines organizing, creative programming, storytelling, and cultural experiences to advance youth civic engagement, climate justice, and affirming spaces for Black and Brown Queer communities across the River Region. Whether they’re organizing an event, creating content, or showing up for their community, their work is grounded in one belief: culture is a tool for change.
