Advisory Council
The Advisory Council is a group of trusted leaders who guide the Festival Center’s justice-focused work across multiple fronts: shaping responsive community programming, supporting capacity-building and infrastructure, and lifting up our community stories. Their insight ensures our offerings remain rooted in healing, collaboration, and the needs of grassroots organizations throughout DC.
Joanna Blotner
Joanna Blotner is an experienced social justice lobbyist, campaigner, and policy expert with 15+ years advocating for working families, vulnerable communities, and climate protections at local and federal levels. She currently serves as DC Director of Government Affairs with DC Action. Joanna is a passionate interfaith organizer and DC elections enthusiast.
Caitlin Duffy
She//Her
Caitlin Duffy (she/her) is a network weaver and intergenerational storyteller of German, Irish, and Polish descent whose career in the organized money ecosystem brought her from time banking to commercial banking. Since 2019, Caitlin has served as First Vice President of Philanthropy Banking for Amalgamated Bank, the country’s largest socially responsible, B Corporation bank, where she leads strategy and relationship management for nonprofit and foundation clients, supporting values alignment across banking, giving, investing, and lending. Her work builds on more than a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector, including research, programming, and funder organizing with the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. She was a 2021-2022 Fellow with the Just Economy Institute and has served in leadership roles with the Diverse City Fund, Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy, and Philanthropy DMV. Caitlin holds a MA in Ethics, Peace, and Global Affairs from American University’s School of International Service, and a BA in Spanish from The College of New Jersey.
Richael Faithful
They//Them
Richael is a seasoned healing justice strategist, folk healer, and movement lawyer dedicated to collective liberation. Rooted in Black diasporic traditions, Richael integrates energy, earth, and spiritual practices to support individuals and communities in deep transformation. They have worked across social movements to cultivate healing justice frameworks, ensuring that frontline organizers and communities impacted by systemic oppression have access to holistic healing resources. Through teaching, writing, and ritual, Richael offers pathways for personal and collective healing grounded in justice and care.
Rebecca Mintz
She//Her
Deepa Iyer
She//Her
Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer focused on public policy, solidarity and social movements. She leads projects at the Building Movement Project and hosts the Solidarity Is This podcast. Previously, she has worked at various nonprofit organizations at the national and local levels. Deepa is the creator of the social change ecosystem framework, and the author of We Too Sing America, Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection, and a children’s picture book called We Are The Builders!
Noor Mir
She//Her
Noor is a DC-based organizer with a passion for campaign strategy and a knack for organizational planning. Born and raised in Islamabad, Pakistan, Noor moved to the United States in 2008 and is still figuring her way around! Her experience in college working on popular education programs on structural and institutional racism with the African American Policy Forum were formative in developing a global, intersectional approach to her work.
Noor organized against US lethal drone strikes before working with the Washington Peace Center and then at Amnesty International as a field organizer and a campaigner on police accountability, criminal justice and ending gun violence. Since 2016, she’s been at DC Action Lab, where she has been at the forefront of the coalition building and strategy setting behind national mass movements, from immigration to gender justice to climate and beyond. She also serves on the Board of the Women’s March.
Josh Tobing
He//Him
Josh is the Director of Strategic Partnerships at iF, A Foundation for Radical Possibility, a private foundation and catalyst for racial justice rooted in his hometown of Washington, D.C. In his role, he weaves relationships across regional and national philanthropy to build the financial capacity of iF’s nonprofit partners and to advance racial justice in the DMV.
Josh is an organizer of people and wealth. Prior to joining iF, he held donor engagement roles at the National Partnership for Women & Families and the National Women’s Law Center. In addition to his work, he currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the DC Abortion Fund and the Fund for Reparations NOW! and is co-chair of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy’s (AAPIP) DC regional chapter.
AnaYelsi Velasco Sanchez
She//Her
Born in Venezuela, AnaYelsi R. Velasco Sanchez (she/ella) is an IndoLatinx mujerista working to create and agitate her way through the Latin diaspora. She is a highly skilled and compassionate public educator who utilizes her signature Interlocking Justice methodology to catalyze an embodied response in her clients. Interlocking Justice is a holistic, accessible, and sustainable approach to justice and liberation work that AnaYelsi teaches and speaks about nationwide. She empowers individuals and communities with her diverse skill set, which includes education, coaching, consulting, writing, and art. AnaYelsi is the founder of the Interlocking Justice Institute and En Conjunto—a collective providing support, community, resources, and collaborative opportunities to People of Color working independently at the intersection of justice and spirituality.
She lives in Washington, D.C. Her website is www.anayelsi.com; you can follow her across social media at @brwneyedamzn and find her on Facebook (/anayelsi18).