Cairá (she/her) joined the TREC team in 2022 following 8 years as a passionate youth development leader for equitable education. She has found fulfillment impacting the lives of young people through managing multiple experiential and social-emotional learning programs across the city of Chicago. Cairá is also a certified community organizer (Midwest Academy, 2016), and has worked with organizations like Kenwood Oakland Community Organization and We Charge Genocide on local grassroots initiatives to make tangible improvements in the lives of marginalized communities. In 2015, she co-founded Assata’s Daughters, a radical political education program for young Black girls and femmes run by an adult community organizing collective working to combat police violence and community divestment. She was also a member of Black Youth Project, Chicago Light Brigade, and Black Lives Matter Chicago.
Cairá is a visual artist, graphic designer, and streetwear brand owner with a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She enjoys summer street festivals, Lou Malnati’s pizza, and living the city life with her baseball-loving husband Jason and their giggling son Orion.