Team

Karen brings a background in anthropology, photography, and human rights documentary to NMAP’s narrative change methodology. For over a decade, she has conducted research all over the world, including in the U.S., Latin America, and MENA region. Prior to NMAP, Karen studied the relationship between communities and their local heritage, in Mexico and Honduras through a Harvard Art Museums fellowship as well as at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, leading to recommendations for increased community engagement and new museum programming. She has also applied her research and anthropology skills in the tech sector, working for a mobile-app startup where she led the creation of best practices for content curation. Recent research Karen conducted at NMAP is helping to shape a growing movement against petrochemicals and informing emerging Green New Deal messaging.

Danielle moved to New York in 2015 from her native New Orleans, where she served as Incubator Manager at Propeller: A Force for Social Innovation, a non-profit that helps launch businesses solving social and environmental challenges in the Greater New Orleans area. At Propeller, Danielle led operations for the Propeller Incubator, a shared office, event space and local hub for social entrepreneurship, home to 60+ inspiring organizations. Danielle graduated from Tulane University with a BA in International Development and Anthropology and spent her summers traveling, both abroad and across the US by bicycle.

Stephen Steim is an activist and filmmaker with more than a decade of experience working in the human rights movement. As the executive director of NMAP, he leads the organization’s work to bolster human rights litigation, advocacy and legal empowerment through creative uses of storytelling. He previously served as NMAP’s Creative & Technical Director. Prior to joining NMAP, Steve worked in a senior role at Human Rights Watch. In his eight years there, he established the organization’s Chicago office, oversaw a number of advocacy and development initiatives in Chicago and New York, participated in the launch of HRW’s global fundraising campaign, and shot and edited videos as a member of the multimedia team. Born and raised in Chicago, Steve began his career as a consultant for the 2004 Obama for US Senate Campaign. He provided a range of public affairs services to the AFL/CIO, the United States Library of Congress, and Teach for America, among many other clients. In 2007, he launched The Detainees Speak, a series of performances by internationally renowned musicians and actors including Riz Ahmed, Alana Arenas and David Kelly. Artists read poems written by Guantanamo Bay detainees and raised funds for their legal representation. In 2008, Steve co-founded Homeroom, an independent, non-profit resource for creative Chicagoans. Steve holds a liberal arts degree from St. John’s College and a master’s degree in digital media from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Michael has a 15-year background in visual and cultural criticism, strategic communications, and event curation. Her work on a Wallace Foundation committee helped shape the national narrative and language for the out-of-school time field, and she has worked in collaboration with museums and cultural institutions around the country to produce cross-disciplinary art, music, poetry, and lecture series for diverse audiences. Her approach to NMAP’s narrative change work leverages cognitive science, narrative framing, and lessons from disinformation tactics to make progress on social problems using new narratives promoted by unconventional storytelling approaches.

Katherin Machalek is a documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. Her work explores new modes of storytelling for strengthening the human rights narrative and legal and advocacy campaigns. Katherin has premiered films at the Altitudes Festival and DOC NYC and has been involved in a number of filmmaker collectives including Union Docs’ Collaborative Studio, Film Fatales, and the Video Consortium. She has also contributed to Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, The Russian Woodpecker, and Sisters of the Wicked Wig, a documentary on Brooklyn drag culture premiering at the LA Indie Film Festival in March 2016.

Katherin comes to NMAP after nearly seven years at Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems (HURIDOCS), where she worked to develop the organization and technology solutions for the human rights movement. Katherin holds a master’s degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and is currently an MFA candidate in Integrated Media Arts at CUNY-Hunter College where she continues to explore the use of technology and new media for innovating the way we tell stories.

Begimai Ailchinova is currently receiving a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from a university in Kyrgyzstan. She started her journey into new media and communications quite recently. However, her experience in the field of human rights protection is significant. Begimai contributed her knowledge and experience to one of the important actions held in Kyrgyzstan “Take my child to the school,” where she fought for the right of children to education for several months. She also played an important role in various projects related to education for girls. Begimai actively fights for gender equality in her country by publishing materials about successful women in various fields and breaking stereotypes. Besides this, she also participates and represents her country in various conferences, both regional and international.

Sory Ibrahima Monekata has been working in international development for more than a decade in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining NMAP, Sory was the Managing Director of a Strategic Grant of AmplifyChange, a high-level advocacy and influence initiative, with an important capacity-building component of Civil Society Organizations in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea and activities such as studies, exchanges and learning visits in Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. From April 2014 to February 2020, Sory has served on the Board of Trustees of the Forum of International Non-Governmental Organizations in Mali, with the mandate to review the Governance and Leadership systems and processes of the Forum. He has been the Executive Secretary, and the Advisor to the new Executive Secretary of the Forum, aiming at maximizing synergy and to promote efficiency of development and humanitarian assistance in Mali. Sory’s prior experiences include Country Director role for the United Nations Association International Service for Mali, Burkina and Malawi between 2014 and 2017, and Chief Executive Officer and Training Director of Ebenezer International between 2008 and 2014, coordinating the civil society organization’s capacity building initiatives of the organization in West Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Ghana). He holds a master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from ISPRIC and is pursuing a PHD in Sustainable Development and Diplomacy with EUCLID University.

Abi Taylor is an activist and student located in West Virginia. She studies anthropology and psychology while also leading the Sustainability Club at Marshall University. She is currently working on her senior capstone project where she is researching the ways in which the coal and petrochemical industries have become dominating forces in her state despite their threats to the environment and public health. The Sustainability Club is striving to make their university a zero-waste institution by eliminating single-use plastic on their campus. Her career aspirations lie in activist work in her community to seek a more just and sustainable future for Central Appalachians while also working to protect the environment. Abi is volunteering with NMAP to conduct national narrative research around petrochemicals.

Virginia is a feminist writer, editor, narrative investigator and poet. She writes about social justice and feminism, questioning the paradigms currently in place through an approach centered on the emotional and spiritual as well as in the political and logical. She is the content curator and main writer on The Tilt, our Medium magazine, where she is weaving narratives, questioning narratives and discovering alternative paths with the help of other awesome writers and creatives around the world.