Organizational Partners

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Chirag is a recording/performing artist, writer, facilitator and educator. He has recorded and released eight albums under Chee Malabar and hip-hop groups Himalayan Project and Oblique Brown. He continues to perform his music and speak at universities and colleges around issues of American identity and race. He was featured in the landmark South Asian-American documentary ‘Brown Like Dat’, and his lyrics and work are the subject of the book Hip Hop Desi’s and a Global Race Consciousness by Northwestern University professor Nitasha Sharma. 

In 2014, Chirag and Filmmaker Tanuj Chopra’s co-written screenplay Chee and T was awarded a $100,000 grant from Visual Communications. His writing has appeared in The New Enquiry, The Asian American Literary Review, Scroll, and Wasafiri Magazine. In addition, his work has been featured in various anthologies about Hip Hop. 

Prior to moving back to New York City, he served as a Program Director and Teaching Artist with Street Poets Inc., a non-profit poetry-based peacemaking organization dedicated to the creative process as a force for individual and community transformation. 

He has facilitated over 60 retreats at universities and colleges around socio-political issues and has consulted for numerous organizations and colleges such as ESPN, Development Without Limits, Rutgers University, Arts for Incarcerated Youth, Young Adult Library Services Association, Street Poets Inc., and The Posse Foundation. 

Chirag is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University (B.A. Political Science) and holds an M.F.A. in Fiction from Brooklyn College. 

Dax-Devlon Ross is the author of six books and his journalism has been featured in Time, The Guardian, The New York Times, Virginia Quarterly Review, Nonprofit Quarterly, The Washington Post Magazine and other national publications. He won the National Association of Black Journalists’ Investigative Reporting Award for his coverage of jury exclusion in North Carolina courts and is currently a Puffin Writing Fellow at Type Media Center.

His most recent book Letters to My White Male Friends, published by St. Martin’s Press in June 2021, is a call to action and a reflection on race. Dax details how racism has harmed Black people for generations but has also hurt white people by robbing their lives of fullness and meaningful relationships.

A New York City teaching fellow turned non-profit executive, Dax is now a principal at the social impact consultancies, Dax-Dev and Third Settlements, both of which focus on designing disruptive strategies to generate equity in workplaces and education spaces

alike. His clients have included Grantmakers for Education, Amnesty International, Results for America, iMentor, Fund II Foundation, the ACLU of New Hampshire, Vera Institute of Justice, Community Wealth Partners, Matriculate, Bard College and many others.

Dax received his Juris Doctor from George Washington University. He currently resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Alana, and their young children.

Rico is an experienced executive leader, facilitator, and creative strategist. Before his current role, he was the Vice President for Policy & Collaboration at Philanthropy New York (PNY) where he worked with national and New York based grant making institutions to develop events for foundation staff members. Prior to his time at PNY, Rico was the Vice President of Strategic Projects and member of the executive team responsible for the expansion, evolution and management of The Posse Foundation. He has played multiple roles that have supported the growth of Posse, notably as the national director of training and site development, which helped replicate the Posse program during the early stages of the organization’s growth.. During his 20 years at Posse, Rico has codified and developed Posse’s comprehensive curriculum and processes, led multiple staff trainings and has helped develop Posse’s unique brand. 

In 2008, Posse honored Rico alongside Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs; Deval & Diane Patrick, Former Governor and First Lady of Massachusetts and Nancy Vickers, President Emerita, Bryn Mawr College. Rico led a series of organization wide initiatives for Posse, which included the cultivation of a new consulting arm, whose aim was to leverage Posse’s expertise and work with institutions, organizations and companies build more inclusive cultures and design youth leadership and resilience programs for diverse populations. He graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Human and Organizational Development and English Creative writing. 

Emely Martinez is a leader in talent development, programming, facilitation, and education, with a passion for building organizations to be diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Emely graduated with a degree in Psychology from Yale University, and began her career with Teach for America as a Kindergarten teacher in Washington, DC. Focused on equity work through education, Emely then joined the national headquarters of After-School All-Stars (ASAS), a federated non-profit. As National Program Director, she was charged with co-creating four signature initiatives, focusing on high school graduation, health and safety, career exploration, and service-learning, including the accompanying curriculum, staff, and youth development experiences. In 2014, Emely became the first Senior Director of Talent Development and part of the leadership team that launched six new ASAS chapters throughout the country over a three-year period. As Sr. Director of Talent Development, she established an entire Human Resources team and structure to support the growth of the organization, as ASAS grew from 13 to 300 employees. Emely led efforts to revamp the recruiting process to reflect the priorities of building a diverse and inclusive team, review organizational values and policies, and implement leadership development practices.  As a consultant Emely’s main projects focus on building equity-based workshops for organizational leaders, DEI discovery processes, strategic planning, talent acquisition and development, and the creation of DEI councils. Emely also holds a Master’s in Education from George Mason University and currently resides in Long Beach, California.

Kelsey M. Donnellan, MPH serves as an interdisciplinary facilitator and consultant with expertise in public health, aging, brain health, and equity. She is the Principal at Little Pineapple Collaborative, where the mission is to creates space to learn and transform our understanding of ourselves as individuals and our communities by designing spaces for creative thought, engaging discussion, and actionable next steps.

Kelsey brings over ten years of experience in systems change, learning cohorts, and strategic planning in the U.S. and India. She offers strong virtual and in-person facilitation techniques, relationship and project management, and critical thinking. Most recently Kelsey worked at the

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), providing health equity technical assistance to the U.S. territories and freely associated states. Prior to ASTHO, Kelsey worked on a variety of issues including sustainable agriculture, socially just procurement practices, trauma-

informed care, health considerations for transgender people, and HIV policy.

Kelsey identifies as a white, non-indigenous woman of Nordic descent, who lives with a

disability and lives and works on the unceded Susquehannock and Piscataway lands in

Baltimore City, MD. She is also an adventure seeker, dog parent, and lifelong learner who is

currently learning Hindi.