Julisa Abad is the Director of Transgender Outreach and Advocacy at Fair Michigan. The Fair Michigan Justice Project seeks to create a safer environment for transgender persons in the Detroit Metro area by investigating and prosecuting hate crimes against transgender individuals. They go into the communities and reach out to victims and witnesses in their own neighborhoods where they feel safer. They help them through the prosecution process, which in turn, gets violent hate crime perpetrators off the streets.

Rachel Crandall-Crocker, LMSW, Executive Director and Co-founder of Transgender Michigan. Crandall Crocker is a licensed psychotherapist specializing in transgender issues. She is also an international transgender activist, and the founder and organizer of the International Transgender Day of Visibility. Crandall Crocker has consulted for corporations, government agencies, and universities. She runs the Transgender Michigan help line which is the first transgender help line in the US. 

Layton “Mykell” Price, CDE, CDP, CDR, Director of Talent, Equity, and Inclusion at the Ruth Ellis Center, has over 15 years’ experience of leading and growing the global diversity and inclusion landscape for multiple local and national nonprofit industry leaders. Price has developed and managed programs for individuals from diverse backgrounds with a focus on LGBTQ+ identities, BIPOC, homelessness, disability, and other historically marginalized experiences. Price leads the Ruth Ellis Center’s organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion strategic initiatives. Addressing social determinants of health with a focus on economic stability, he directs REC’s employee experience department and career readiness programming, Mykell also serves on the board at Student Advocacy Center of Michigan and the Dismantling Oppression continuing education advisory committee at University of Michigan’s school of social work.

Emme Zanotti, Director of Advocacy & Civic Engagement at Equality Michigan, will serve as moderator at this event. In her current role at the largest statewide nonprofit dedicated to LGBTQ+ advancement, Zanotti oversees all of the voter engagement programs, legislative advocacy tactics, and a robust network of volunteers across the state. Prior to her time at Equality Michigan, she served as a national DE&I manager in the private sector, was appointed board treasurer at Stand with Trans and a co-chair of the statewide #HateWontWin coalition, ran candidate campaigns for public office, and was elected as the vice chair of the Michigan Democratic Party’s LGBT&A Caucus.