Our International Programs Team

Lisa serves as KIND’s Senior Vice President, Global Partnerships. Lisa was a co-editor and contributing author of Childhood, Migration, and Human Rights in Central and North America: Causes, Policies, Practices, and Challenges, a study on children affected by migration in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States, written in collaboration with organizations from each country and funded by the MacArthur Foundation. Previously, she was Managing Attorney at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS). Throughout her eight years at CGRS, Lisa worked to advance law and policy for immigrant women, children, and asylum seekers through impact litigation, national policy advocacy, and extensive training and mentoring of attorneys. Prior to CGRS, Lisa practiced child immigration and child welfare law at Legal Services for Children. She began her legal career as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center representing immigrant children before the Immigration Court and Board of Immigration Appeals. Lisa has trained and mentored attorneys across the country and has presented to federal judges, immigration judges, and asylum officers. She is a 2002 graduate of Berkeley Law, Order of the Coif, and a 1996 graduate of the University of Maryland, magna cum laude.

Alejandra Macías Delgadillo joined KIND on February 6, 2024, as Country Director, Mexico. Alejandra is an extraordinary advocate and expert in Mexico on the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. Her work in legal empowerment and policy advocacy has had an impact on changing laws and practices at the national and regional levels, benefiting people in need of international protection. Prior to joining KIND, she served as the Executive Director and founder of Asylum Access Mexico, establishing the first leading national organization to provide legal assistance to refugees. Alejandra holds a master’s degree in Human Rights from Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City) and Law at Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Mexico. As a former founder and executive director of one of Latin America's leading refugee rights organizations, she has appeared on numerous occasions before international human rights bodies as an authority on the subject. Alejandra has managed public policy initiatives at the state, national and regional levels to ensure due process and rights protection for refugees, positioning Asylum Access Mexico as the largest provider of legal advice for asylum seekers and refugees in Mexico. She is a co-chair of the Steering Committee of the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights. Alejandra also worked at Sin Fronteras IAP, as an Asylum Seekers Area Coordinator responsible for various litigations participating in investigations on migration issues. Since June 2016 she is a member of Citizen Council of the National Institute of Migration of Mexico (Institution of the Mexican Government).

As Senior Vice President and Regional Director, Latin America, Ms. Julie Schechter Torres has overseen the growth of KIND’s presence and programming in Mexico and has led its strategic planning for expansion in Central America. Since joining KIND in 2023, she has provided high level leadership of KIND’s work to help Mexican authorities improve their systems for protecting child migrants. She has guided KIND’s new initiatives to assist children seeking asylum in Mexico and develop an emergency response team. She has taken KIND’s monitoring and evaluation program to a new level, fostering improvements in impact analysis, and enhancing KIND’s culture of learning. Prior to coming to KIND, Ms. Schechter Torres was a career member of the Senior Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State. As the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassies in Honduras and El Salvador, Ms. Schechter Torres coordinated all U.S. Government efforts in those countries to address the root causes of migration. As Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict and Stabilization Operations, she led a team responsible for funding NGO programs worldwide. She was part of the leadership team that created and managed the emergency logistics operation that facilitated the arrival in the United States of more than 45,000 Afghan evacuees after the U.S. Embassy in Kabul closed in 2021. Ms. Schechter Torres holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a master's in public policy from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.

Kirsty Thomson is the Senior Director for Europe at Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) where she works with the Regional Director for Europe supporting the International Programs team in developing and implementing the organization’s work to address the legal and psychosocial needs of unaccompanied and separated children in Europe. Kirsty has worked alongside the organization since 2016; initially as a partner in the development of its UK program before also assisting with the development of its programs in Europe both as an Advisory Committee member and a Consultant. Prior to joining KIND, Kirsty practiced law in the UK for 18 years in both the private and NGO sector. She has expertise in the legal and protection needs of unaccompanied and separated children as well as linked specialisms in migration, gender-based violence and human trafficking. She is also an established social justice leader co-founding a human rights charity in 2017 with experience of developing and implementing legal, advocacy and capacity building initiatives in UK and Europe. She believes strongly in the power of partnership working as the key to the protection of unaccompanied and separated children.

Laura serves as KIND’s Director, Legal Protection, International Programs, focusing on family reunification and international protection of children and separated families in Central America and Mexico. Laura joined KIND in 2018 and worked as a Staff Attorney in the Baltimore and Atlanta field offices before joining International Programs. Laura has previously worked with the UN Refugee Agency, Asylum Access and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Bio coming soon.

Bio coming soon!

As a Mexican attorney, Elba comes to KIND, Mexico Program with expertise in the promotion and defense of the human rights of migrants and refugees in Mexico and the Americas. She has extensive experience working in academia, clinical legal defense, strategic litigation, and advocacy on public and political policies at a national and regional level. Prior to joining KIND, she directed the first law clinic on refugees in Mexico at the Ibero-American University and served as the Regional Associate of the International Coalition Against Detention, where she developed and advocated for immigration authorities to implement the first model of alternatives to detention for unaccompanied migrant children in Mexico. She was also Deputy Coordinator of the legal defense and strategic litigation area at Sin Fronteras IAP and has collaborated as a consultant, researcher and academic with different institutions, including the Center for Research and Economic Teaching (CIDE), the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (IIHR), the Institute for Legal Research (IIJ-UNAM), and the University of Texas (UT), among others. Elba is a graduate of law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where she also studied international relations, and holds a Master’s degree in Conflict and International Security from the University of Dublin, Ireland.

Jyothi Kanics is Director, Policy and Advocacy (Europe) at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), where she provides support to the Senior Director for Europe and the Vice President, Policy and Advocacy. She joined KIND in January 2024 and advocates together with KIND’s partners in Europe for laws, policies and practices that improve protection for and advance the rights of unaccompanied and separated children. In her previous engagement as Associate Member working with KIND’s partner organization Child Circle, Jyothi contributed to shaping our joint vision in our flagship publication Advancing Protection for Unaccompanied Children in Europe by Strengthening Legal Assistance and to developing joint policy recommendations. Since 1995 Jyothi Kanics has been active with non-governmental and international organizations advocating for the rights of migrants in vulnerable situations such as separated children, trafficked persons, detained migrants, undocumented immigrants and stateless persons. Her work experience includes policy development and strategic advocacy work as well as direct case work. She served as the Head of the Anti-Trafficking Unit at the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and worked with Save the Children as the Programme Manager of the Separated Children in Europe Programme. She then worked with the Irish Refugee Council as Separated Children’s Officer. From August 2009 to September 2014 she worked with UNICEF as an Advocacy and Policy Specialist. Jyothi completed her undergraduate degrees in Russian & East European Studies and Russian Language & Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a Masters in International Relations from Yale University and a Masters in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford.

Bio coming soon!

Lucero serves as the Director, Partnerships & Capacity Strengthening. Most recently, she served as the Director of Legal Services at the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) and solo practitioner focused on immigration and family law in Washington, DC. She brings valuable experience in strategic planning, coalition building, and delivery of culturally competent, community-based direct legal services based on positions at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA), and Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) in Washington, DC and Los Angeles, CA, respectively. She has appeared on local, national, and international print, television, and radio media on topics related to immigration law and policy. For her important contributions, Lucero has received several awards and recognitions including DOL Secretary's Exceptional Achievement Award, HBA-DC's Rising Star Award, the Premio Inspiración and Bou Alumni Award from American University Washington College of Law, among others. Lucero is a graduate of American University Washington College of Law (WCL) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She has lived, studied, and traveled throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Central America.

Marieanne McKeown is KIND’s Regional Director for Europe. In this role she manages KIND’s portfolio of projects across Europe, in which NGO and legal partners provide quality pro bono legal assistance to help unaccompanied and separated children obtain protection and reach safety. Prior to joining KIND, Marieanne held a number of leadership positions at PILnet: The Global Network for Public Interest Law, most recently as Director of Global Programs. She was responsible for developing and managing projects that promote public interest law and strengthen local cultures of pro bono around the world. Her background is in human rights and strategic litigation for a range of non-profit organizations in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she was also awarded an LL.B. in law and an LL.M. in human rights from Queens University Belfast.

Alexandra joined KIND as a Project Director, Europe in February 2024 and had previously been assisting KIND as a consultant since 2022. She is a Slovak human rights lawyer and current Associate Fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Europe, where she co-coordinates the Human Trafficking Initiative Project. Between 2006-2010, Alex was a Head of the UNODC Office in Bratislava. From 2008-2016, she also served as an independent expert in the Council of Europe monitoring Committee GRETA (Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings) (2008-2016). Between 2012-2017, worked as a Senior Lawyer in the Slovak NGO, Human Rights League, which was awarded the first ever Human Right Defender Award from the US Embassy in Bratislava for the protection of the rights of migrants and refugees in 2013. Since 2016, Alex has been a member of the Direction of Exercise in six Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) simulation-based trainings on combating human trafficking in mixed migratory flows in Vicenza, Italy. Because of her work in the region between 2018 – 2021, Alex has been regularly instructed as trafficking in human beings’ expert witness in front of the UK immigration tribunals in cases relating to the return of vulnerable trafficking victims - former unaccompanied and separated children minors- to Morocco. In 2022, she was appointed as an expert consultant of the Slovak National Crime Agency in their investigation of war crimes perpetuated in Ukraine. In December 2023, she was awarded a Human Rights Defender Award by the US Embassy in Bratislava for her leadership in advocating for the protection of the rights of trafficking victims and migrants and efforts to hold the perpetrators of crimes committed against refugees from Ukraine accountable.

Kate Metcalf is a Managing Attorney in International Program at KIND. Prior to joining KIND in September 2021, Kate worked as a Senior Attorney at Catholic Charities in Boston where she represented unaccompanied children, domestic violence and trafficking survivors, asylum-seekers, and other noncitizens pursuing a wide variety of humanitarian and family-based immigration benefits. Kate previously advised immigration judges on complex issues of immigration law at the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and counseled detained noncitizens and asylum-seekers at the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project. Kate received her law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Villanova University.

Markéta Vigašová is a KIND´s Lawyer in Slovakia. She has been cooperating with KIND Europe since November 2023 as a KIND Fellow, based in non-governmental organization Human Rights League in Slovakia. She joined KIND as a Legal Counsel in June 2024. Markéta´s role is to provide legal representation and counseling for unaccompanied and separated children. He other role among other, also includes conducting legal research to identify outstanding legal issues, to advocate for the rights of unaccompanied/separated children and to support capacity strengthening efforts. Prior to joining KIND, Markéta was Legal Counsel in a various non-governmental organizations including Human Rights League, providing legal assistance to migrants, refugees, victims of trafficking in human beings/exploitation, war crimes victims and other vulnerable persons. She was an intern at the Office of the Public Defender of Rights (Ombudsman) in Czech Republic in Brno city. She received her Master´s Degree of Law from the Law Faculty of Trnava University, Slovakia. Markéta is honored to work for KIND and is committed to improving the access to the rights for all unaccompanied /separated children and young adults.

Branko serves as Project Manager, Europe in the International Programs department and joined KIND in April 2024. He provides support to the Project Director, Europe, in a day-to-day implementation of the project. Prior to joining KIND, Branko served in the Slovak Police Force for twenty-eight years. After earning MA degree from the Police Academy, he held different positions from investigator, senior investigator/specialist at the Slovak National Crime Agency, to the member and leader of joint investigation teams (JITs) created to investigate the most serious organized crime. Most recently, he acted as the Chief of the Slovak National Crime Agency having jurisdiction to tackle the most serious crimes, and finished his police career in March 2024 as the First Police Vice President. Among other significant achievements, in this role, Branko also enabled the creation of a joint investigation team dealing with investigation of war crimes committed in Ukraine and facilitated two missions of the Slovak police officers and forensic experts to assist Ukrainian law enforcement in war crimes documentation. The project brings together civil society, child protection, and law enforcement actors in Slovakia, Czechia, Poland, and Romania to protect children displaced by the war from trafficking, abuse, and other serious harm and help them access their rights. It focuses on capacity building in all four countries and creating multi-disciplinary Hubs in Slovakia, Czechia, and Poland. The Hubs will support law enforcement agencies to pursue conflict-related investigations where children and youth displaced from Ukraine are at risk, victims, or witnesses of these crimes. The Hubs will also connect civil society, child protection, and law enforcement and ensure that child-friendly, trauma-informed legal and case management support is provided for children who are at risk of or victims of conflict-related crimes including human trafficking.

Juan Ordaz Herrera joined KIND in February 2024, as a Staff Attorney, Southern Border. He supports the Legal Services department. He graduated from Universidad Veracruzana with a Law degree. Juan has experience working in public administration, in areas of defense and promotion of human rights for vulnerable groups, such as children, adolescents, and people with disabilities. Prior to joining KIND, he worked in the State of Veracruz, providing legal representation to families on the move seeking migratory status in Mexico. Juan has also participated in special projects for young people in training and promotion of rights for people with disabilities. Juan is eager to continue growing personally and professionally in the promotion and defense of children's rights.

Bio coming soon.

Melissa grew up in Indiana as a Cuban-and-Spanish-American. She graduated from Indiana University with a B.A. in Journalism and Political Science in 2012 and a J.D. in 2016. Prior to joining KIND, Melissa worked in private practice, first in Indiana in commercial litigation, and then in Houston in energy regulatory law; however, she maintained an active pro bono practice in immigration and civil rights law. Melissa is licensed to practice law in Indiana and Texas. She is fluent in Spanish.

Michelle Villegas supports the International Programs department at KIND. She joined the KIND team in October 2021. Prior to joining KIND, Michelle was a legal fellow with the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), where she served ASAP’s asylum-seeking membership, assisting with emergent legal issues for their cases and creating resources to empower members in their immigration process. Previously, Michelle also clerked with the Julia M. Toro Immigration Law Firm and worked as a paralegal with Ayuda, a nonprofit that serves survivors of domestic violence and other crimes with immigration and family legal services. Michelle earned her JD from American University’s Washington College of Law, where she participated in the Immigrant Justice Clinic, traveled to the U.S-Mexico border to volunteer with ProBAR’s representation of asylum seekers in immigration proceedings, served in several organizations to promote access to justice and equity for marginalized communities, and taught as a fellow with the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Program at Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C. As a graduating law student, Michelle received the Peter M. Cicchino Public Service Award for Outstanding Advocacy. Michelle received bachelor’s degrees in Chicana/o Studies and Psychology at the University of California, Davis. While at UC Davis, she engaged with the community as a student organizer in support of educational access and equity issues. Prior to law school, Michelle worked in rural Northern California, utilizing her organizing and programming skills to support and empower undocumented and first generation high school students. Michelle is originally from Los Angeles, CA, and is the proud daughter of Salvadoran immigrants.

Sylwia graduated from the Faculty of Law at the Catholic University of Lublin. She obtained the right to practice her profession in 2018. Before joining KIND, Sylwia has been working for children at the "I Know the Law" Foundation in Lublin. She conducted classes with children and expanded their knowledge about their rights. Sylwia also provided legal assistance to refugees from Ukraine since the war in Ukraine broke out. Sylwia actively works for children, provides free legal assistance, and supports the activities of the Chamber of Legal Advisors to improve the legal situation of children and their legal guardians. In 2023, for her charitable activities, she was awarded the "Heart for Heart" award by the District Chamber of Legal Advisors in Lublin.

Betsabé Lugo supports the Mexico Southern Border team at KIND and joined the team on November 18, 2021. Betsabé has a degree in Law from the Intercontinental University at Mexico City and a PhD in Human Rights from the University of Salamanca in Spain. Her doctoral thesis titled "The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families and the European Union" was published by the University of Salamanca in 2006. For almost five years, she served as Director of Protection and Restitution of the Rights of Children and Adolescents and as Director of Dissemination of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in the Federal Attorney for the Protection of Children and Adolescents in Mexico. She has completed certificates in the rights of children and adolescents and public policies, with a focus on gender and the protection of children and adolescents in conditions of vulnerability. Betsabé is certified in training delivery by the National Council for Standardization and Certification of the Ministry of Public Education of Mexico and has designed courses and workshops on comprehensive protection and the restitution of rights of children and adolescents.

Cecilia Moya is the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officer for International Programs. Prior to joining KIND, she provided M&E support to projects in Latin America for 15 years. She led the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation frameworks for country programs and projects, provided training and ongoing technical assistance, designed and tested monitoring tools, led the preparation of quarterly and annual project and organizational performance reports and reviewed M&E budgets. She also managed baseline studies, mid-term and final evaluations as well as research initiatives focused on topics relevant to the well-being of children and adolescents in developing countries, including migration. The work plans, tools and protection protocols for these studies were reviewed and approved by Ethics Review Teams. Cecilia has collaborated with technical and communications staff in the development of materials for external audiences to contribute to the advancement of evidence-based programming and influencing goals on topics pertaining to the rights of the girl child such as the prohibition of early and forced marriage. In Peru, Cecilia also participated in efforts to comply with government regulations pertaining to foreign assistance organizations. Specifically, she oversaw annual reporting on country programs and projects outcome level indicators, geographic coverage and reach to the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation (APCI). She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree from the Pontifical University of Peru and a Master of Arts in International Development from American University in Washington, DC.

Abel Ruiz Manjarrez joined KIND’s International Program in Mexico in 2021 as the child protection specialist focused on trainings in Tapachula, Chiapas. He is an attorney and psychologist originally from Chihuahua, Mexico. Prior to joining KIND México, he worked with UNICEF México, the Executive Commission for Attention to Victims, Attorney General’s Office, among others. He is a passionate defender of human rights and dedicated advocate for the rights of vulnerable populations, including migrant children. During his career, he has promoted the development and application of policies that had a positive impact on survivors of crime and led trainings for various NGOs and governmental institutions on the rights of survivors of crime. He also served for 8 years as a university professor in different areas including psychology, social work, criminology, and law. He received his legal degree from the Cultural Central University in Chihuahua and his degree in psychology from the Autonomous University of Chihuahua.

Eva Veldhuizen-Ochodnicanová is Forensic Psychologist specialising in Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation and Trafficking in Human Beings. She joined KIND in June 2024 as a Child Protection Specialist, Europe supporting our International Programs department. She consulted for a number of international organisations and NGO’s concerning the modus operandi of perpetrators of sexual exploitation, with a particular focus on emerging forms of crime in the online environment. Her work has spanned numerous international organisations including UNODC, the International Criminal Court, INTERPOL, the European Commission, Council of Europe, Child Helpline International, UK Ministry of Defence, and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

Since September 2021, Alejandro Sánchez works as a Child Protection Specialist in the International Programs team in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Alejandro coordinates alliances and inter-institutional agreements with government agencies and civil society organizations to promote and protect the rights of unaccompanied, separated, or at risk of separation children and adolescents who are in contexts of human mobility and, thus, strengthen the Route of Protection of their rights along the border between Mexico and the United States. Before joining KIND, Alejandro has collaborated, for more than 15 years, in socio-educational projects with children in vulnerable situations. He has developed various initiatives to promote the exercise of children’s and adolescents’ rights implementing community interventions to address and prevent street dwellers and promote the reduction of harm from addictions among children, adolescents and young people living on the streets of popular neighborhoods of Mexico City. Alejandro has also collaborated with the National DIF System on the Strategy for the Prevention and Attention of Unaccompanied Child Migration in Mexico. This Strategy sought to strengthen the family and community ties of Mexican children before they tried to migrate to the United States without the company of their families as well as to provide social assistance services to children and adolescents and of any other nationality who were already in migratory transit to the United States. Alejandro studied Sociology of Education at the National Pedagogical University, as well as a Specialty in International Migration at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte.

Bio coming soon

Bio coming soon!

Daniela Herrera supports the International Programs Department at KIND. She joined the KIND team on October 2021. Prior to joining KIND, Daniela completed her master’s studies in Pedagogy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) where she focused her research on power relations in the work of nonprofit organizations. She served as a research assistant with the Mexican Institute for Behavioral Economics (IMEC) and the Institute of Research for the Development of Education (INIDE, UIA), and gained experience in counseling and training multicultural groups in Yomol A’tel, an organization based in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, that works for the defense of the territory of indigenous tseltal communities. Daniela also has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and has worked for Casa Ernesto Meneses, a community center based in Mexico City, coordinating educational programs and providing socioemotional support.

Elisa Pothée joined KIND as the Program Assistant in Europe in June 2024, where she will support the development of several programs alongside the Europe team. Prior to joining KIND, Elisa had already worked with the organization as a program manager in France. There, she was working with KIND to assist unaccompanied minors and help them find legal support, mostly regarding asylum claims and residence permits referrals. Elisa has also worked with child protective services in France, in the services specialized in the care for unaccompanied minors. She was in charge of age assessment, as well as legal support. These experiences allowed her to understand the struggles that come with being an unaccompanied minor and fed her desire to help them globally. Elisa holds a master’s degree in Humanitarian Law and Action, specializing in Human Rights Law and Political Science, from the University of Aix-Marseille.

Ernesto joined KIND on September 2022 as the Program Assistant, Southern Border. He has a degree in Psychology from the Autonomous Metropolitan University with specialist in Cultural Management and Educational Spaces. Ernesto also has extensive experience in psychosocial interventions at the community level. He has designed educational content for children and adolescents and delivered socio-emotional training in various projects. He is founder and Director of Giraluna, a cultural space in the city of Morelia, Michoacán.

Erick joined KIND in January 2024, as a Social Services Supervisor, Southern Border, He graduated in Psychology from the Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, with academic experiences in Mexico and Colombia. He has experience in psychosocial care that includes Mexican government institutions, civil society, international NGOs, and the United Nations system. Before working with KIND, he collaborated with UNHCR from 2019 to 2023 in the states of Tabasco, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chihuahua, covering issues of gender violence, intercultural education, disability and mental health. Erick has developed experiences on issues of social inclusion with people deprived of liberty, people living with HIV and AIDS, migrants, and refugees.

Alma joined KIND in February 2023, supporting the Tapachula team as a Psychologist. Alma studied Psychology at the Universidad del Valle de México Puebla Campus. She deeply believes in the importance of intervening with children and adolescents to generate a stronger social fabric through the restitution of their rights and a dignified life. She has knowledge and experience in the educational and school area with children and adolescents generating learning experiences. He has worked in civil society associations, where his passion for working in defense of human rights, especially of populations in situations of human mobility, was born. Alma is based on a trauma-informed approach, which involves taking into account the physical, psychological and social effects of traumatic experiences, as well as the impact of violence at all levels. He has completed several courses on violence, trauma, attachment, focus on strengths, migration, safe environments, educational and therapeutic interventions with a focus on children and adolescents.

Ingrid supports the International programs department at KIND since November 2021. She is a Zoque woman from Chiapas, Mexico. She has a degree in Psychology from the Chiapas University of Sciences and Arts and has a Masters degree in Public Health in Social and Behavioral Sciences from the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico (INSP) and The School of Public Health of Mexico (ESPM). In her master's project she developed a participatory health Initiative that sought to actively engage children in generating proposals to benefit their environment and their health. Before joining KIND, Ingrid worked in the psychosocial accompaniment of indigenous Tzotzil and Tzeltal children in Chiapas and participated in the development of methodologies and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of psychosocial approaches based on children’s rights and participation. Ingrid has also worked as a clinical psychologist and educator for children with learning and / or behavior challenges associated with a disability. Additionally, she worked in 2015 as a research assistant at The South Border College (ECOSUR), in the qualitative analysis of health diagnoses in Mam and Tojolabal indigenous populations and as an indigenous cultural promoter of her Zoque community.

I was born and raised in El Salvador. Graduated as a lawyer in my country, specializing in criminal justice. Since I began my studies, I became involved in working with communities, which became my motivation and passion, focusing mainly on defending the human rights of the most vulnerable populations in my country. For the past nine years, I have worked with the immigrant community in this country helping them improve their parenting skills and helping them adapt to this country. When I’m not working, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, reading and handcrafts.

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!

Stephanie was born and raised in Houston, Texas to Salvadoran immigrant parents. She received her Bachelors of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Criminology, Law, & Society from the University of St. Thomas. Prior to joining KIND, Stephanie worked for Olson & Olson as a clerk under the group serving as special litigation counsel to the Harris County Appraisal District. She looks forward to being a part of an issue that she feels passionate about.