Kirill Ivan Staklo
Program Director
he/him
Kirill is a peer support programming specialist with expertise in LGBTQ+ peer support, crisis and suicidology. Before bringing together the PeerPride team, Kirill spent 6 years building up the only international trans peer support and crisis hotline program at Trans Lifeline. He is active in international LGBTQI+ Roma community work.
Contact: kirill@peerpride.com
Elisio Acosta
Spanish Language & BIPOC Programs
Trans Haven Programs
he/el
Elisio is a crisis and peer support specialist with extensive experience providing and coordinating anonymous, confidential remote services. He is passionate and outspoken about LGBTQ+ rights, with a focus on advocating for the Black and Latinx trans communities. Elisio also facilitates support groups and works as a mental health advocate. He is available to work with bilingual organizations, providing culturally competent training in both English and Spanish.
Nze Okoronta
Peer Support Respite & Harm Reduction Equity Consultant
they/them
Nze is a peer respite, warmline worker and crisis services expert creating safer alternatives for navigating emotional distress. They specialize in operating, supervising and and supporting peer-led crisis alternatives based in harm reduction principles, informed consent models, and alternatives to suppression of heightened and altered states. Nze also specializes in DEI, housing insecurity, clinical substance use counseling, community outreach, and population-specific SUD program development for Black and Brown communities. Nze identifies as a psychiatric survivor and advocates for others who have experienced medical trauma surrounding pathology, racial bias and institutional harm, and medications. They are an active participant in Mad Pride movements and believe in liberation through self-identification.
Contact: nze@peerpride.com
Eliot Olson
Development Coordinator
Trans Haven Programs
he/him
Eliot is a trans activist from the South and a development professional with a background in direct service for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ nonprofits. He currently lives and works in New Haven, creating and coordinating trans competency education and advocacy programming. Eliot helped run GendeRev, Columbia University’s only transgender support and advocacy organization. He is passionate about addressing trans homelessness and expanding economic rights for LGBTQ+ people. Currently he is focused on fighting infrastructural barriers for trans individuals and addressing legal challenges as he advocates for the LGBTQ+ community.
Contact: eliot@peerpride.com
Rae Jereza, Ph.D.
Consultant – Race, LGBTQ+
they/them
Rae is a non-binary Filipinx immigrant and sociocultural anthropologist. Rae specializes in studying the culture and structure of content moderation, as well as tracing and responding to the rise of ultra-right attitudes and tendencies within broader community spaces. Their scholarship and teaching is oriented towards supporting marginalized groups by destabilizing racist assumptions and practices. They are available to facilitate trainings and workshops to help you identify meaningful ways to address issues of racial inequality in your organization.
Chris Garaffa
Technologist
they/them
Chris is a technologist and former Technology Director at Trans Lifeline. They focus particularly on technology accessibility, equity and security. Chris also runs TechForThePeople.org, a news and tips site about technology focused on addressing the needs of working-class people.
Contact: chris@peerpride.com
Domenia Zih
Peer Support Consultation
Trans Haven Programs
he/him
Domenia is a peer support specialist, a current Masters student at WNMU at the school of social work, a Horatio Alger National Scholar and a graduate of Palm Beach Atlantic University. As a person with lived experience in the foster care system, he has a background in supporting youth and adults experiencing homelessness and housing instability and intends to continue that work with a focus on foster care youth. He is also passionate about creating peer support systems by and for trans people of color and trans people navigating faith communities.
Kae Vargas
Immigrant Services Consultation
Spanish Language Services
Trans Haven Bolivia Programming
he/él
Kae Vargas is a queer immigrant trans man currently living in New Haven, Connecticut. His lived experience of navigating and supporting himself and family members through the immigration system and direct services has made him passionate about supporting other immigrants, especially in the queer community. In his home country of Bolivia he helped form the only LGBTQ+ center in the small city of Tarija. He is available to facilitate trainings on language equity and empowering monolingual Spanish speakers.
Will Love
Advocate & Consultant: Race, Gender, LGBTQ
they/them
Will has been active in the advocacy and consulting field since 2016, working with organizations like CT Students for a Dream and Action Together Connecticut. Will focuses on the intersectionality of race and gender, in regard to health care, housing needs, and institutionalized racism. Will is available to address diversity, equity, and inclusion needs at any organization, as well as the needs of the gender-expansive population.
Rey Resendez
Consultant: Fitness, Personal Training & LGBTQ+ Latinx peer work
they/she/he
Rey Resendez is a genderfluid trans activist/consultant that works to create safe online spaces for transgender people that need social support and start conversations on nonbinary awareness and transgender rights. Aside from providing education through workshops, consultant work and brand partnerships, Rey is a certified personal trainer who provides gender-affirming training and accessible nutrition coaching to queer folks around the world.
Ravyn Ororo Laveau-Moulton
TWOC Programming Consultant
she/her
Ravyn is a proud Black trans woman and advocate for trans individuals in Connecticut. She is a case management specialist, victim and trauma care services developer, community organizer and natural hair enthusiast. Her work in healthcare and her lived experience have empowered her to help trans people facing homelessness, domestic and intimate partner violence and systemic racist abuse. Ravyn teaches and works with the priority of bridging divides between marginalized communities while unapologetically uplifting and centering Black trans women.
Sundry Grayson
Consultant – Dissociative spectrum, LGBT, sex work, dietary restrictions, web & app QA
she/they
Sundry is a long-time peer support provider. Her day-to-day for the past decade has been front-end QA with a focus on UAT. Sundry is a baker specializing in celiac and cardiac friendly vegan recipe creation. They are happy to support with developing accessibility plans for any other dietary restrictions.