Meet Our Team
Sydni Scott
Founder & Director
Sydni is a pre-law student at Columbia studying political science and African American studies. She has been passionate about racial justice since high school, earning the Princeton Prize in Race Relations before starting college, and on campus, she is a student advisory board member of the Eric H. Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights. Passionate about research, she has pursued projects about the racial wealth gap and innovative policy methods to address it, and currently, she serves as a research and editorial intern at the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity, a partnership between Columbia University and the Nelson Mandela Foundation where she is the first undergraduate student hired to support their mission of exploring and addressing global anti-black racism.
Bryce Harris
Director of Public Relations
Bryce is a senior at the University of Hartford who will be graduating with a Bachelors degree in Marketing this May. He is a strong proponent of racial and social justice, while also being an active member in his community and others through volunteering and community service. He is an aspiring writer, with his first piece being published in the Hartford Courant last summer in the wake of the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. He plans to continue speaking out on injustice and inequity through writing in the near future.
Julia Jordahl-Henry
Director of Communications
Julia is a sophomore at Columbia University on the Women’s track team. A computer science major who also enjoys creating digital art and social media graphics. In addition to her position at TAP, she is currently a Make A Play D-league fellow, and working on the communications team of Leonard Lee for Boston City Council Campaign. Last year, she spent the summer running a BlackAt Instagram for her hometown, organizing and speaking at a protest, and moderating discussions about racism with administrators of the local public school system. She is passionate advocate and is ecstatic to work towards reparations with such a talented group of people.
Erin Cooper
Executive Director of Research
Erin Cooper is studying Mechanical Engineering and Urban Studies at Columbia University. With The Amendment Project Erin leads her team in researching topics for TAP’s panels, collaborations, workshops, blog posts and Instagram. She has been passionate about racial justice and decolonization since high school. Interested in the intersections of quantitative research and the real stories of the people behind the data she has worked on projects combining urban mapping and storytelling. Previously, she has worked as a team leader with the Sunrise Movement’s Bronx and Southern Westchester Chapter as well as the Safe Passage Project, an organization that provides pro-bono assistance to refugee children facing deportation.
Naima Small
Editorial Director
Naima is a current high school senior who will be matriculating into the University of Pennsylvania in Fall 2021, where she is hoping to major in Communications. She is the founder of Dear Dark Skinned Girl, a blog and Instagram account dedicated to writing about Black women’s issues. She is passionate about journalism and social justice, and hopes to explore the intersection between the two in the future.
Yasmine Jaffier-Williams
Campaign Director
Yasmine is a first year student at American University with an intended major of Communications, Legal Studies, Economics, and Government (CLEG). During her time in high school, Yasmine co founded and was a co-executive of two impactful clubs: Young Ethnic Scholars and Let’s Talk About Race. Due to her school community involvement, she was awarded the Gerry Murphy Humanities Award, League of Women Voters Award, the Jon Hamilton award, and the Nancy J Lucas award. Overall, Yasmine is committed to learning and working to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion in her communities.
James Hu
James is a rising sophomore at Columbia University studying political science on the pre-law track. In high school, he was a member of the USA Debate Team, where he developed a passion for contemporary politics and started engaging in nuanced conversations about race. During the 2021 NYC elections, he was involved in numerous grassroots city council campaigns. Holistically, James is passionate about local politics, specifically its impact on communities of color, and is excited to learn from and with the team at TAP!
Denia Smith
Boston Co-Campaign Director
Denia is a senior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South and an ardent advocate for racial and educational equity. She serves as the Co-founder/Main Chair of the POC Advocacy: an organization dedicated to implementing racially equitable education reform. Her efforts to promote equity and inclusivity as president of the Black Student Union and project-lead of the School Climate/Culture Team were recognized by the Princeton Prize in Race Relations. Denia also advocates for gender equity as a Teen Advisor to the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up campaign and studies the intersection of racial and gender equity as a Young Scholar at the African American Policy Forum.
Ava Cargan
Ava is a junior at the Miss Porter’s school. Prior to Porter’s, at Upland Country Day, they were the founder and leader of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion program. At Porter’s, they are the head of the Association for White Anti-Racist Research (AWARE). Ava served on their school’s Representation in Curriculum group and has been working with the academic office to create a curriculum that supports all identities. They studied Literature, Culture & Philosophy at Yale and is currently serving as a Yale ambassador. Ava was a volunteer on the Marti Allen-Cummings campaign this past summer, they helped campaign for the first non-binary person who ran for city council in New York. They started publishing their writing in August of 2021 at Muanzo Mpya, an organization which raises awareness for Kibera. In the future, they are hoping to go to college in New Zealand for international relations with hopes to become a journalist.
Elyana Alleyne
Elyana is currently a junior at Miss Porter’s school. Her passion for racial justice continues to grow as she speaks out in her community at protests and works with a local activist. At Miss Porter’s, she serves as one of the heads of the black affinity group, Sister2Sister. This past spring, she participated in the Change Maker’s Institute through Porter’s Global, where she worked with the racial justice group. During her fellowship, she interviewed leaders in racial justice and worked with her peers to create a blueprint for racial justice. Most recently, Ely was accepted into the Columbia Pre-College program, where she will be taking a three-week course called Law as a tool for social justice. Ely has also been a member of Jack and Jill of America for the past eight years. This year she will be serving on the teen executive board for the Hartford Chapter as the Recording Secretary. In the future, she hopes to follow a pre-law path in college to continue to work towards racial justice.
Kianna Pete
Kianna is a junior at Columbia University, majoring in Political Science and Ethnicity & Race Studies with a specialization in Indigenous studies. At her university, she is the publicity director of the Native American Council, a Multicultural Recruitment Committee intern, and a mentor for the Columbia Mentoring Intuitive. On her own time, she utilizes her social media to speak about Indigenous topics relating to her identity. She has participated in non-profit organizations' webinars and podcasts to hold conversations about pressing issues within her community. Previously working with her district’s congressman and local tribal government offices, she hopes to gain visibility and representation for Indigenous people within government.
Alexis Rich
Alexis is a junior at Boston College majoring in Sociology and minoring in Women and Gender Studies while simultaneously a first-year graduate student in Boston College’s MSW program. She is involved in leadership positions on campus as both the treasurer of Hillel and the president of I am That Girl: the Feminist Society of Boston College. Additionally, she has a passion for photography and is a member of the creative/media team for the Gavel: The Progressive Newspaper of Boston College and an amateur photographer focusing on model and runway shoots. Alexis has spent the last 3 summers working with the ACLU Advocacy Institute and is working toward a career in the field of human rights and victim’s advocacy.