Third Coast Workers for Co-operation: People

Staff bios
Carlos Perez de Alejo, Community Outreach Coordinator Originally from Miami, Fl, Carlos received his BA in History from Florida State University (FSU), where he began his interest in democratic workplaces by helping establish FSU's first collectively-run monthly magazine. In 2006 he moved to Austin, TX and became a collective member of Monkey Wrench Books, an all-volunteer, collectively-run bookstore in North Austin, which is a member of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives. During his brief stint in Austin, Carlos has served as a member of the Student/Farmworker Alliance, a community organizer with Workers Defense Project, and the Communications Director for Soulforce. He holds an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and has written on cooperatives, labor, and immigration for Dollars and Sense, YES!, and Z Magazine.
Andi Shively, Operations and Development Coordinator Andi Shively will complete a MS in Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire University, specializing in cooperative business development, in the Spring of 2010. She is a member of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives Union-Coops Committee and helps to organize the Eastern Conference on Workplace Democracy as a voting member of the Eastern Coordinating Committee. Prior to moving to Austin in 2002, she completed a bachelors degree in Women's Studies and Political Science at the Ohio State University. During her first stint in Austin, she worked for five years with the Inside Books Project collective and served for three years on the Rhizome Collective board of directors. Though she looks forward to her permanent return to Austin in the summer of 2010, she currently lives in State College, PA, where she consults with the Keystone Development Center, works as the office manager for a small business, delights in cooking delicious local food, and dances to live music as often as possible.
Joaquin Mariel, Cooperative Development Coordinator Joaquin has spent the last 5 years involved in movements for workplace justice and has been a hands-on student of worker cooperative development. He is currently a collective member at Texas' only worker run recycling center, Ecology Action of Texas, where he has worked for the last two years. In addition to this experience, Mr. Mariel has completed significant graduate level coursework in both business and accounting.
Community Advisory Board
Courtney Morris Courtney Desiree Morris is a community organizer and writer living in Austin, TX. She is a doctoral candidate in the African Diaspora Program in Social Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin and her research focuses on exploring Afro-Nicaraguan women's consciousness and political activism since the end of the Sandinista Revolution. Courtney is a member of The Austin Project (2005-present). She has been organizing in Austin since 2001 and the bulk of her organizing has focused on working with youth, women, and queer communities of color. She has worked closely with the Youth Liberation Network (2001-2006), Cimarron: Youth Building Community (2006-2008), Communities in Schools (2002-2003) and has collaborated with various community organizations including Austin Voices for Youth and Education, ALLGO, PODER, and Resistencia Bookstore. She currently serves (proudly!) as a member of the Local Council for the Alma de Mujer Center for Social Change.
Andrew W. Smiley Andrew has over 15 years experience working in sustainable agriculture and food systems, including on- farm production, agricultural marketing, micro-enterprise development, food journalism, farmer training and technical assistance, and even food-service management. Andrew received his B.A. in political science from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He is the former Executive Director of Baton Rouge Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance, Inc. (BREADA). Andrew is an active supporter of sustainable food systems throughout Texas and the U.S. as an active volunteer with the Community Food Security Coalition, National Farm to School Network, Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (Southern SAWG) and Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (TOFGA), and has applied his passion for gardening, sustainable food systems, small-scale farming, and healthy cooking to his work with Sustainable Food Center in Austin, Texas since 2005. Andrew currently works with SFC as Farm Direct Projects Director, which includes management of several public policy, farm marketing, and food systems education initiatives, including Sprouting Healthy Kids - SFC's farm-to-school pilot project.
Robert Jensen Robert Jensen is a professor in the School of Journalism and director of the Senior Fellows Honors Program of the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. Jensen joined the UT faculty in 1992 after completing his Ph.D. in media ethics and law in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a professional journalist for a decade. At UT, Jensen teaches courses in media law, ethics, and politics. Jensen is the author of All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice, (Soft Skull Press, 2009); Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (South End Press, 2007); The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege (City Lights, 2005); Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity (City Lights, 2004); and Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream (Peter Lang, 2002). Jensen is also a founding member of Third Coast Activist Resource Center and a longtime activist in movements for economic, racial, and gender justice.
Marianne De Leon Marianne has served as the Development Director for Soulforce, the Resource Center of Dallas, and Equality Texas, three organizations dedicated to the LGBT equality movement. She was responsible for directing the fund development programs of all three organizations, including grant writing, events, and donor development. Marianne is Cuban American and a native of St. Petersburg, Florida. She moved to Houston, Texas with her parents at a young age. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and her Master of Arts from Southern Methodist University. She worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova for two years on women's reproductive rights and raised funds to support women's healthcare initiatives. Prior to joining the equality movement, Marianne worked as a Resource Development Specialist with the International Rescue Committee, which advocates on behalf of the displaced, addressing the root causes of violence and standing up for the world's most vulnerable populations. She has nearly 9 years of experience in fund development in a variety of nonprofit settings.
D'Ann Johnson D'Ann has more than two decades of legal experience in the areas of nonprofit management, banking policy, and the development of legal resources and training programs, and is a longstanding advocate for cooperatives. She currently serves as the Legal Services Director for Texas C-BAR, an organization that provides free legal services to Texas nonprofits working to improve the quality of life in low-income neighborhoods. An honors graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, D'Ann's prior work experience includes serving as legal counsel to state and local governmental entities and a nonprofit membership association of attorneys. She is a graduate of Leadership America, a Friar, and a founding board member of a pro bono legal program for immigrants. D'Ann is also responsible for coordinating C-BAR's work with community-based nonprofits in rural communities.
Caroline Keating-Guerra Caroline Keating-Guerra is the Coordinator of the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition, a membership-based coalition of organizations, individuals and allies working for immigrant justice. Before working with AIRC, she was the Cooperative Organizer for Colors, a project of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY) and the only worker-cooperative restaurant in New York City. Prior to working at ROC-NY, Caroline volunteered with the Workers Defense Project in Austin, while attending graduate school at The University of Texas at Austin.
Tanya Ladha Tanya Ladha, currently employed at PeopleFund, has been an active member of the Austin community since she moved here over 8 years ago. During her time at PeopleFund, Tanya has organized with the small business and east Austin community, hosted economic summits addressing regional challenges and brought together diverse groups in search of common goals; her current position as a community lender provides her the opportunity to aid in the growth of small, local businesses and non-profit organizations. Prior to joining PeopleFund, Tanya worked in Central America with a small women's fair trade cooperative and helped sustain an Austin-based independent media center.
Carmen Llanes Carmen Llanes is a native Austinite and full-time organizer with People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources (PODER). She co-facilitates youth and community health-related programming at PODER, coordinates the restoration of Oak Springs Water Quality Preserve, and works with various coalitions and efforts citywide, including the Texas Fair Trade Coalition-Austin, the Juvenile Justice Roundtable, Urban Roots, and the local council of Alma de Mujer Center for Social Change. She also works with Southwest Key Programs on voter empowerment and leadership development in East Austin. Carmen graduated in 2007 from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies and wrote her exit thesis on the social, nutritional, and environmental impacts of NAFTA's corn trade.