Staff

Katherine Acey | Executive Director Emeritus | bio

J. Bob Alotta | Executive Director | bio
jbalotta@astraeafoundation.org

Christian Baer | Administrative Coordinator | bio
cbaer@astraeafoundation.org

Alex Bell | Development Officer | bio
abell@astraeafoundation.org

Sangeeta Budhiraja | Director of Programs | bio
sbudhiraja@astraeafoundation.org

Namita Chad | Program Officer and Grants Administrator | bio
nchad@astraeafoundation.org

Ariel Federow | Development Associate | bio
afederow@astraeafoundation.org

Senka Filipovic | Executive Assistant | bio
sfilipovic@astraeafoundation.org

Miles Goff | Program Associate | bio
mgoff@astraeafoundation.org

Jova Johnson | Administrative Coordinator | bio
jjohnson@astraeafoundation.org

Mai Kiang | Director of Grantmaking | bio
mkiang@astraeafoundation.org

Zavé Martohardjono | Media and Communications Officer | bio
zmartohardjono@astraeafoundation.org

Joy Michael | Staff Accountant | bio
jmichael@astraeafoundation.org

Suzanne Pharr | Movement-Building Coordinator | bio
suzannepharr.org

Adam Shaw-Vardi | Webmaster
asvardi@astraeafoundation.org

Katherine Acey | Executive Director Emeritus

Katherine Acey served as the Executive Director of Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice for twenty-three years (1987 – 2010). Under her stewardship Astraea established the nation's first Lesbian Writers Fund in 1990, created the International Fund for Sexual Minorities in 1996 and in 2006 launched the U.S. Movement Building Initiative to support people of color LGBTQ organizations to collectively build their power and voice.

From 1982 – 1987 Katherine was the Associate Director of the North Star Fund in New York City, overseeing its grants programs and participating in donor engagement and fundraising. She was involved in the Women's Funding Network since its inception, serving as a founding board member and chair. She is also a founding member and past chair of the Funders for LGBT Issues and has served as a board or advisory member to countless organizations. Current affiliations include: Board Member and Treasurer for both the International Network of Women’s Funds and Political Research Associates; Steering Committee, Public Foundations Project; Advisory Committee, Pipeline Project; and Advisory Committee, OSF LGBT Initiative. Until her departure from Astraea she served on the Steering Committee of the Global Philanthropy Project: Expanding Resources for LGBT People.

J. Bob Alotta | Executive Director

A lifelong activist and accomplished filmmaker, Bob has a long track record of exponentially expanding organizational capacity through skillful management and fundraising. She is adept at developing strong partnerships with diverse communities, donors, institutional funders and corporate stakeholders.

Bob served for four years as the Board Chair of FIERCE, a longtime Astraea grantee partner and effective policy advocate working to build the leadership and power of LGBTQ youth of color. On behalf of the FIERCE Board of Directors, Bob was awarded the Stonewall Foundation’s 2009 Alan Morrow Prize for Excellence in Board Leadership. Bob also served for six years as a grant reviewer for the Community Fellowship Program at the Open Society Foundations. She has consulted for Swarthmore College, Williams College, WITNESS and the Prison Moratorium Project.

Prior to joining Astraea, Bob was as Director of Digital Media and Content at Zeitbyte Digital Media. There, she grew the firm’s staff ten-fold as the principal executive responsible for technical, financial and staffing infrastructures. Earlier in her career, Bob was the Director of Digital Technology for Film at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, one of the most highly regarded film programs in the U.S. During her tenure, she expanded the program; secured multi-million dollar gifts; and taught numerous graduate and undergraduate workshops in post-production. Bob has also taught at Williams College and at various youth services agencies throughout NYC.

Throughout her career as a filmmaker, Bob has used the medium to elevate the lived experiences of LGBTI communities. Bob’s documentary and narrative films have aired on Democracy Now, GRITtv and PBS and have screened at festivals in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Middle East.

Christian Baer | Administrative Coordinator

Christian Baer was raised by two moms in Houston, Texas, and holds a degree from Hampshire College. Besides being very pleased to work at Astraea, Christian works for the New York State Immigrant Action Fund, and as an assistant video editor.

Alex Bell | Development Officer

Alexandra Bell is a graduate of the University of Chicago, where she majored in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on race, politics, and documentary film. She has previously worked as the Director of Develoment for the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center and as a Development Assistant for the Audre Lorde Project, a center for LGBTSTGNC People of Color. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree at Columbia University's School of Journalism.

sangeeta budhiraja | director of Programs

Namita Chad | Program Officer and Grants Administrator

Namita is a queer South Asian activist with over a decade of experience working with grassroots, LGBTI, immigrant and feminist groups including the Audre Lorde Project, DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving), and SALGA (the South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association). At Astraea, she coordinates grants administration and data analysis, and is the program officer of Astraea's Emergency and Movement Resource Funds. She has also spent considerable time as an audio/visual tech assistant and movement security volunteer. She is currently a board member of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, and lives in Queens, a borough for which she has much affection.

Ariel Federow | Development Associate

Ariel Federow is an activist and artist whose work has taken several forms: community fundraising, membership organizing, and social justice theater and arts work. Originally from Seattle, she performs around New York City, and has worked extensively with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice to create theater that addresses issues of inequity and liberation. Ariel is also a member of an informal network that raises funds for grassroots nonprofits by throwing house parties and public events. She holds a BA in English and Dance from the University of Washington.

Senka Filipovic | Executive Assistant

Senka Filipovic is originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but for over a decade she has made the United States her home. Senka’s career has been primarily centered in nonprofit and government work, including a three-year position as a staffer for the Sacramento City Councilmember Kevin McCarty in which she coordinated policy initiatives ranging from public safety to education. Her desire to expand her skills and knowledge in advocating for disenfranchised people prompted Senka to obtain a Master of Science in Global Affairs and Human Rights from Rutgers University in 2009. In addition to working at Astraea, Senka also serves as a grants consultant for the Bronx Community Pride Center and is a Disaster Action Team volunteer for the American Red Cross in Greater New York.

Miles Goff | Program Associate

Miles is a queer transman born and raised in rural Vermont, one of six kids. He received a BA in Critical Social Thought from Mount Holyoke College in 2004, focusing his independent work on power and resistance in the service sector of the economy. Most recently coming from Americans for Safe Access as well as various caffeine-pushing gigs, Miles is excited to be working at Astraea. In his spare time, he likes to ride his bike, read and try to make the world a better place. Miles feels lucky to have been able to work with the Challenging White Supremacy Workshop, the Movement Strategy Center, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and the Audre Lorde Project on various projects over the last two years.

Jova Johnson | Administrative Coordinator

Jova Johnson is a femme brown-brooklyn-girl born and raised in New York City. She is a multi-media artist with a B.A. in video, installation art and black womyn's studies from Hampshire College. Since getting her degree, she has worn multiple hats as a visual arts/media arts educator; community organizer; and administrative assistant. Jova is a member of several artist collectives that strive to educate and empower local communities throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan. She is passionate about visual arts as a key tool in social change. Having grown up in an international household, Jova is interested in making work that builds bridges between the local, the continental and the islands through documenting stories and lives. Jova is excited to be working at Astraea and to be a part of such dynamic foundation.

Mai Kiang | Director of Grantmaking

Mai is a culture activist, born and raised under martial-law in Taiwan. Mai first joined Astraea's staff as the Associate Director of Grantmaking and then served as Director of Programs before becoming Director of Grantmaking. She is a past member of Astraea's U.S. Community Funding Panel, a two-term board member and a former board chair. Throughout her career, Mai has worked extensively with grassroots queer, feminist of color, and progressive media groups. She most enjoys bringing communities together to provide a space for sharing and dialogue across disciplines, focuses and strategies.

Mai arrived in New York in 1991 to join the staff of Women Make Movies, an independent feminist film distributor, and helped bring about feminist film exhibitions and productions locally and internationally. Later she joined Impact Visuals, a leftist photo cooperative where she was elected to multiple terms as the chief steward to the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers' Union. Mai was also a part of the management team that administered an archive of a million social-issue photographs by over nine hundred photojournalists worldwide. Before joining Astraea's staff in late 2007, she was the Special Events Manager at New York University.

Mai is the co-founder and co-chair of the Institute for Tongzhi Studies, a New York-based group that supports queer artists and scholars in Chinese communities worldwide. She is also the co-convener of the 2007 Lala Institute, the first multi-region Mandarin-speaking LBT leadership camp held in mainland China.

Zavé Martohardjono | Media and Communications Officer

Zavé received a B.A. in International Relations with a focus in Political Economy from Brown University in 2006. While studying development, he became interested in new media outlets as platforms for political education and organizing. Returning to New York City, he began working in video production and youth-media training alongside the filmmakers of New Children/New York. He then went on to study Writing and Directing Documentary at the City College of New York, receiving his M.F.A. in 2009. Zavé has since worked professionally as a producer, director, shooter, editor and webcasting technician for documentary film projects, grassroots organizations, individual artists and corporate clients both in freelance positions and as Associate Producer and Editor at Zeitbyte Digital Media. He has also been involved in media-activist and community-based arts projects as a producer, curator and contributing artist, collaborating with the MIX Queer Experimental Film Festival, P.S.1, FIERCE, Into the Neon, Accidental Movement, Theater Transgression and the EMERGENYC program at the Hemispheric Institute at NYU.

Joy Michael | Staff Accountant

Joy was born on the island of St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. Growing up in a family of ten, she graduated with honors in the summer of 2006 from Monroe College, earning a BA in Accounting. While completing her studies, Joy shared her love of math as a tutor at the Boys and Girls Club and Jefferson Elementary School in New Rochelle, NY. In her spare time she enjoys reading, swimming, listening to music and traveling. Her next goal is to become a Certified Public Accountant. Joy believes in equal rights for all and that no person should be discriminated against based on their race, religion, gender, or sexuality.

Suzanne Pharr | Movement-Building Coordinator

Suzanne Pharr founded the Women's Project in Arkansas in 1981, was a co-founder of Southerners on New Ground in 1984, and was the director of the Highlander Center 1999-2004. She is an organizer and political strategist who has spent her adult life working to build a broad-based social and economic justice movement. Suzanne is the author of Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism, and In the Time of the Right: Reflections on Liberation.