Beyssa Buil was born and raised in Miami, Florida by two wonderful parents that emigrated from Cuba. At an early age, she began to observe how oppression manifested with her father being racialized while her white mother was not. This led her to learn about abolitionists and social activists. She then began to participate in demonstrations and petition signing.

Beyssa graduated with a Master’s of Divinity and a Humanist Certificate from Meadville Lombard Theological School. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest Honor’s Society, and Theta Alpha Kappa, the National Honor Society for Religious Studies and Theology, for her Bachelor’s degree.

Beyssa is an endorsed Humanist Associate Chaplain, Spiritual Director, Poet, Social Activist, Special Education Advocate, and Anti-Racism Coach. She provides community care, education and works with individuals and groups from marginalized communities to cultivate practices of self-care, community building, resiliency skills.

Beyssa serves as an Ambassador for Overcoming MS since she is utilizing her experience as a person living with Multiple Sclerosis to support others in their healing journey.

Some of her best meditations have come from repetitive notes on her typewriter. One of her poems appeared in Strangeways Zine Collective, Volume 2, Issue #2, another poem was inducted and included in the University of Miami Special Collections. All her zines are carried by Exile Books, an experimental artist’s bookstore.

Beyssa is a lifelong fighter of systems of oppression since she believes in the words of Alice Walker, “Activism is my rent for living on the planet.”

Rev. Peggy Clarke has a BA in Liberation Theology, an MA in Historical Theology (Medieval), and another 26 credits in American Religious History. She was a Crisis Work Supervisor working with homeless and runaway kids in NYC, and then went on to be a Campus Minister and Adjunct Professor for a decade.

In 2008, she co-founded a food justice organization that’s still thriving. Its mission is to create equal access to food that’s good, clean, and fair. They do that through local growing and critical partnerships. In 2010, Peggy was ordained and worked as a DRE and solo minister, and now as Senior Minister at UU churches in the NY area.

As a UU, Peggy was on the team that ultimately wrote Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice Statement of Conscience and went on to chair the UU Food Justice Committee. She was also part of the Environmental Justice Collaboratory and was a convener for the experimental Commit2Respond program.

In 2014, Peggy was the prime organizer for UU involvement in the massive Climate March held in NYC and was an Observer Delegate at the Paris Climate Summit. In addition, She was a witness at Standing Rock, marched to free refugees at the Mexican border, and organized national UU involvement in the Climate Strike in 2019.

Peggy is currently a member of the founding board for the new NY State Advocacy Network and she is organizing a witness event at Pipeline 3 at the request of a coalition of Indigenous folx. Peggy lives in NY with her husband, son, and 2 dogs.

Johannes Favi is a community and human rights activist and writer who received the 2021 Jeanne and Joseph Sullivan Award from the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago, Illinois.

After spending over 10 months detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in horrible conditions, Johannes, an immigrant from Benin, started advocating for and providing support to other victims. He raised money to support families affected by detention and deportation in his community, educated students in schools and universities on the impact of detention, and wrote several articles championing the abolition of for-profit detention centers.

Johannes has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and worked at Etisalat Benin before immigrating to the United States in 2013. In 2019 He was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and spent nearly a year in jail at Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee, Illinois. With no bond and denied access to fresh air and direct exposure to sunlight he vowed then that he would dedicate his life to ensuring equal treatment for all immigrants.

While detained, Johannes missed the birth of his son and his daughter’s first steps and couldn’t afford to send them holiday gifts. His first year out of detention, he organized a Christmas toy drive in collaboration with The Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants, Connect Kankakee, and the National Immigrants Justice Center.

Johannes firmly believes that detention is not the solution for a civil matter like immigration, especially during a global pandemic, stating “It is wrong to put people in handcuffs and in leg cuffs as if they were in a maximum-security prison. During and post detention many families struggle to pay their rents, bills or even put food on the table daily. It is not normal that in this country a parent would have to go hungry so their children can eat. When facing unstable housing situations and being worried about how you are going to pay the next month’s rent, many make bad decisions in their life just so they could fill in the lost income caused by detention.”

Johannes has continued to be active in civil rights and social issues, particularly through the Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants, a Chicago nonprofit organization where he is currently serving on the Board of Directors. He is also part of Connect Kankakee, a local group of fierce advocates where he also serves as a board member. He is an ambassador for the newly created Midwest Immigration Bond Fund.

Charlotte Jones-Carroll retired in 2000, after a career at the US Agency for International  Development (10 years) and the World Bank (21 years) doing strategy, program, and budget work, including eight years as a manager. She subsequently did consulting work for the World Bank and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

For the past four years, Charlotte Jones-Carroll has been the Convenor of UUSJ’s Immigration Action Team and doing related advocacy for UUSJ. At the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in suburban Maryland, she has worked on the Latin American task force and organized and for four years co-chaired the Immigration and Refugee Justice Committee. At RRUUC, Beloved Community, welcoming congregation, she also served on and chaired the Social Justice Council. She has done witnessing for immigration rights, women’s reproductive rights, civil rights, peace, and other issues.

Charlotte has served on the UUSJ Board as Secretary for the last two years during its strategic planning period, serving on the Governance Committee and Finance Committee as well as heading the Immigration Action Team. She has served on many other non-profit boards, including UUSC (five years), River Road UUC (four years including the chair), La Clinica del Pueblo (Sec, Treas, Chair — including during a major transition to a community-led board), Margaret McNamara Education Grants (formerly MMMF — served as Chair for two years), Centro Familia (no longer exists – but was Secretary/Treasurer), World Bank Children’s center (Secretary) and Cantigas (Latin American choral group — Secretary). She also has served on numerous nominating committees including at UUSC and RRUUC.

Charlotte has a BA in International Service from American University and an MPA – Econ Development from Princeton University. Charlotte is married with one adult child and an extensive blended family. She lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Norma Flores López is the Chief Programs Officer at Justice for Migrant Women. Norma grew up as a child of a migrant farmworker family from South Texas. She began working in the fields at the age of 12, where she continued working until she graduated from high school. She has long been an active advocate for migrant farmworker children’s rights and continues to raise awareness on issues affecting the farmworker community.

Norma has had the opportunity to testify before Congress and has appeared on national news outlets, including “60 Minutes”, on issues related to child labor in agriculture. She has also been invited by foreign governments to consult on strategies to reduce child labor abroad.

Norma serves as the chair of the Child Labor Coalition’s Domestic Issues Committee and was just awarded the U.S. Department of Labor prestigious 2021 Iqbal Masih Award for the Elimination of Child Labor. In 2017, she was selected to serve as the representative for the United States on the Board of Directors for Global March Against Child Labour. In addition, Norma has served on the Board of Directors for the National Consumers League since 2016.

Prior to joining Justice for Migrant Women, Norma was the Governance and Development/Collaboration Manager at East Coast Migrant Head Start Project and a co-founder of The Foundation for Farmworkers. She also served as the Director of the Children in the Fields Campaign at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and managed national and local clients at public relations firms.

Norma is a graduate of the University of Texas Pan-American and the George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. Norma lives in Virginia (DC area).

Dr. Serena Lowe has served on the UUSJ Board since March of 2019. She is currently Chair of the Policy Advocacy Review Committee and has been engaged in a number of UUSJ’s advocacy, education, and witnessing activities. Serena has been a part of several social justice ministries at All Souls UU in Washington, DC, and previously led the congregation’s Migrant Solidarity Work. She was a member of the Coordinating/Advisory Council for the Congregation Action Network.

Serena has spent the past 25 years furthering public policies that promote the socio-economic advancement of low-income working families, individuals with disabilities, seniors, children, women, immigrants, and refugees. Currently, she is the Founder & Principal of AnereS Strategies LLC, a high-impact public policy and organizational management consulting firm focused on providing innovative solutions and extraordinary results for federal and state government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, and professional associations.

Previously Serena served in a variety of leadership roles in the field of government relations, including as the Reimbursement Director of a Fortune 100 global biopharmaceutical company; the youngest Vice President of a top 20 national lobbying firm; a research/policy fellow within two foreign governments (British House of Commons; Israeli Ministry of Health); the Executive Director of two national nonprofit organizations; a senior legislative aide to two Members of Congress, and a senior policy adviser at two agencies within the U.S. federal executive branch.

Serena completed a B.A. in International & Public Affairs at Westminster College; a one-year overseas academic program as a Cranshaw Scholar at Cambridge University and the London School of Economics; two graduate degrees (M.P.H. in International Health Policy and M.A. in International Development Policy) from George Washington University; and a Ph.D. in Public Administration from American University. Serena has also taught part-time on the faculty of Rutgers University’s School of Public Affairs and Administration.

Chloe Emily Ockey serves as Communications and Media Coordinator for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno, California. Her passion is bringing awareness to social justice issues through creative means such as videos, photography, music, and graphic design. Chloe Emily has also taken part in multiple national UU programs and trainings from the UU College of Social Justice, the UUA, and more.

Chloe Emily helped lead her home congregation in the shift from in-person to virtual ministry and has spent this year with the UUA General Assembly and Conference Services Office as their Community Engagement Intern. She has event management and planning experience with the Center for Advanced Research and Technology, as well as Central California Adoption Services and the UUA Office in the United Nations. Chloe Emily earned her Associates in Communications Studies in Spring of 2018 and has since been immersed in the work of adoption advocacy, climate justice, and Young Adult program development.

Rev. Eleanor Piez serves as a chaplain with Adventist Healthcare, currently working primarily with Covid patients and the hospital staff caring for them. Her chaplaincy experience also includes long-term care, hospice, and general hospital settings. She is an affiliated community minister at Mount Vernon Unitarian Church (in the DC area of Northern Virginia), which ordained her in January 2021. Currently, she is assisting Mount Vernon Unitarian to mobilize advocacy on county plans to address homelessness. Eleanor is currently a member of the Board of Directors of UUSJ.

Eleanor completed the M.Div. degree at Pacific School of Religion in 2018 and served as Intern Minister with the UU Church of Annapolis and the UU Legislative Ministry of MD in 2016-17. Before entering theological school she was a fundraiser and manager for small, grassroots, anti-poverty organizations and a congregational and interfaith lay leader. She helped launch congregation-based community organizing and statewide UU advocacy efforts in California.

Eleanor is originally from the Washington DC area but spent most of her childhood outside the United States and much of her adult life in the San Francisco East Bay region. Prior to moving to California, she was active at All Souls Church in Washington DC. She was a lay leader in the First Unitarian Church of Oakland 1985-2005 and later joined the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco where she served as treasurer and board member 2013-15. Although it is not a UU church, Eleanor first acknowledged her call to UU ministry while she was active there. Today her ministry focuses on healing: of individuals as a spiritual care provider in the hospital, and of communities as an activist and leader toward justice, peace, and equal opportunity. Eleanor is a third-generation Unitarian Universalist and mother of two young adult daughters.

Rev. Joseph Santos-Lyons (he/they pronouns) is a biracial Asian-American (Chinese and Czech) organizer and minister based in Antipolo City, The Philippines. With a background serving youth and young adult ministry in the UUA, and leading APANO, an Asian and Pacific Islander community-based organization, Joseph’s current calling is in cultivating a new cohousing, chapel, and retreat space in Southeast Asia through the Center for Organizing, Renewal and Leadership.

A second-generation UU, Joseph’s theology is grounded in mutuality, liberation, and the unknown. Joseph is the past president of DRUUMM, and working on a Doctorate of Ministry with the Pacific School of Religion. He and his partner Aimee co-parent their three children and stay engaged with the UU Church of the Philippines and the Church of the Larger Fellowship.

Mariano J. Vera is a member of the Manatee Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Bradenton, Florida where he chairs the Social Justice Committee. Mariano is a journalist and speaks Argentinian Sign Language (first language), Spanish, and English.

He is currently producing a Latino radio show with specific themes (women singers and songwriters, gay, international day of peace, etc.) broadcast locally on WSLR 96.5 Sarasota and syndicated to 21 radio stations through the Pacifica Network.

Mariano has belonged to Argentine social justice communities and worked with disadvantaged people in the US. He still works with progressive causes in his community. He grew up with Jesuit priests who addressed the Theory of Liberation and emphasized social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed people.

Mariano has worked at Jefferson Center Apartments in Sarasota, Florida, UU housing for low-income elderly people, and as an educator for AIDS research in Washington D.C. in the 1990s. He has also worked at Gallaudet University in the International Center on Deafness. Mariano worked with the AIDS afflicted during the Pandemic of the late ’80s and ’90s in Washington D.C., and with the LGBTQ community in the ’90s and 2000s, He actively participated in working with issues like homelessness, hunger, and Women’s rights. Mariano is now volunteering as a notary public, a Spanish to English translator, and an immigration forms specialist.

Mariano considers himself an incredibly lucky man. He says: “My parents were empathetic and at the same time due to their disability (they were both born deaf), they required others to be caring towards them as well.” Mariano also says: “I was fortunate when I met Tom, my current spouse. Tom is a bonanza of social justice battles and commitments, as well as a spirited fighter for social and racial equality.”

Mariano says: “The key to success in the volunteer universe is in the search for the opportunities during whatever social situation develops.”