Ali Muldrow
Co-Executive Director
Ali Muldrow is a parent, partner, writer, instructor, advocate, and doula. She began her work in education in 2006 when she became the after school spoken word club liaison for the East High School in partnership with UW-Madison’s First Wave program. Ali played a key role in creating Wisconsin’s first Spoken Word class; a class that allowed high school students to receive academic credit for their study of urban art forms. Ali facilitated the Spoken Word course for 4 years as an artist in residence at East High School in Madison, WI. Ali went on to partner with Madison School & Community Recreation (MSCR) to create and host spoken word clubs at five Madison public high schools. Ali is currently the Director of Youth Programming and Inclusion at GSAFE, where she has for the last three years authored the curriculum for and taught Foundations of Leadership, a course based in the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth of color that recruits high school students from the entire Madison public school district who are advanced learners in the areas of leadership. While working with GSAFE Ali has also paired over 70 students with mentors and hosted two annual LGBTQ+ Youth of Color Leadership Conferences as well as co-directed GSAFE’s Leadership Training Institute, a 4 day summer camp that gives students from all over Wisconsin the opportunity to develop their abilities as activists, allies, and creators of change. In the spring of 2015 Ali launched GSAFE’s New Narrative Project in the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center, a program that provides incarcerated young people with clear channels to academic success, civic engagement, and self-determination. Ali grew up in a multiracial family where identity was discussed at the dinner table and difference was celebrated. She is passionate about consent, freedom, learning and human rights. Ali is committed to bringing innovation and love to all that she does
Amy
Administrative Coordinator for Learning and Community
Amy is a first generation Mexican-American who was born and raised in Madison. Ever since they were young, they had a passion to advocate for marginalized communities and utilize their voice in any way possible. They first became involved in GSAFE in 2014 as a high school student, serving on the Youth Leadership Board and working on the four day Leadership
Training Institute for three years in a row. They graduated from Malcolm Shabazz City High School in 2016 and went on to attended Lawrence University for two years, where they co-founded the organization Colores: Empowering LGBTQ+ People of Color and were appointed as the Operations Chair on the Committee on Diversity Affairs. They will receive their Bachelor’s from Edgewood College where they are self-designing their major, Applications for Social Change. They are passionate about racial and LGBTQ+ justice, the arts, and creating brave and inclusive spaces for youth to be uplifted and heard. When they are not working, they can be found creating art and hanging out with their cats.
Tyrone
Youth Leadership Organizer
Tyrone comes from one of the longest standing black families in Madison, going back four full generations. Graduating from East High School in 2007, Tyrone went on to UW-Platteville to focus on his successful post high school athletics, where he discovered himself and came out at the age of 21. He returned to Madison shortly after, determined to explore and experience the new community he now found himself to be a part of. He joined the Madison Minotaurs, an LGBT rugby team which he played on every year, allowing him to not only make a name for himself, but also interact with many different sorts of people that called the queer community their home. When he was 27, he finally decided to experience life outside of the states, living in Australia for the better of two years working closely with the LGBTQIA+ community and experiencing a different way of life. Upon returning to Madison, he’s gone back to pursuing higher education at MATC, focusing on a Communications degree with emphasis on LGBTQIA+. Tyrone has worked with GSAFE as an adult mentor for over four years, being a staple at the Leadership Training Institute camp that is held every year. Since sports have been a part of his life for so long, he dreams of one day focusing his advocacy in the queer community on LGBTQIA+ young athletes, providing guidance through his experiences and hope to nurture their confidence and activism into their future lives. No matter the occasion, Tyrone brings his leadership, confidence, and loveable personality to the table in hopes of positively influencing everyone he connects with.
Brian Juchems (Brian J.)
Co-Executive Director
Brian J. has been at the forefront of fostering inclusive schools in Wisconsin for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ+) youth since 1998 when he migrated to Madison from rural Iowa where he had previously worked as a residence hall director for Luther College. Brian J. co-founded and grew GSAFE’s annual Leadership Training Institute into a 4-day summer camp for high school students across Wisconsin to develop their skills as activists, allies, and agents of change. In 2002 Brian J formally joined GSAFE’s staff and has served as lead trainer, where he has regularly provided engaging professional development for tens of thousands of K-12 educators with an approachable and playful Midwest sensibility. In 2005 Brian J. partnered with Madison students to successfully pass the state’s first district-level transgender-inclusive nondiscrimination policy and has since worked with dozens of districts to take similar steps. Throughout 2016-2017, with the support of the Wisconsin Partnership Program and Gender Spectrum, Brian J. developed and piloted GSAFE’s Gender Inclusive Schools Project, a multi-level approach that helps school districts create systemic change towards the health and well-being of transgender and non-binary students. A frequent collaborator with Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction, Brian J remains a sought-after trainer and consultant for Wisconsin’s K-12 school.
Rae
Communications and Development Manager
Rae was born and raised in Dundalk, a working class port town located outside the city limits of Baltimore. Her backyard was a playground of towering factory stacks puffing chemicals from the local steel mill. She knew beauty in the grandeur of industrial-sized unpacking cranes. At sunset, their metal necks would shine and reflect off the Chesapeake and dissolve into the smoky orange glow of the sky. This is where she first learned that beauty and danger can be one in the same.
Katie
Bilingual and Middle School Resource Coordinator
Katie (she/her) is excited to be a part of the GSAFE team as the Bilingual and Middle School Resource Coordinator. Before stepping into this role, Katie led district-wide LGBTQIA+ advocacy efforts for the Madison Metropolitan School District. Prior to that, she worked as a classroom teacher at Sherman Middle School on the northside of Madison, as well as a GSA Advisor and School Based Leadership Team member. Katie felt drawn to work with GSAFE to continue her work around advocacy in education, and she is driven by the urgent need for LGBTQIA+ youth of color to see themselves represented in leadership and feel supported as they navigate their identities. The work of the Bilingual and Middle School Resource Coordinator involves providing students in school districts across the state with bilingual resources and curriculum. The Resource Coordinator’s work also aims to develop leadership opportunities that are accessible and representative for middle school youth.
Katie is a Milwaukee native and moved to Madison to attend Edgewood College. She holds a degree in K-12 Education and has experience teaching Spanish at all levels, as well as ESL in the U.S and abroad. Katie is a queer woman and an Indian-adoptee. In her free time, Katie loves walking her two dogs Pippa and Phoebe, hiking, kayaking, writing, traveling and painting. Katie would also proudly consider herself a podcast and documentary nerd. Reach out anytime – she would love to hear from you!
Quentin
Education and Advocacy Coordinator
Quentin is a native of Florida, where he grew up in a family full of educators. From an early age, he understood the importance of academics, leadership, and making a difference for those that came after. During his undergrad years, Quentin became a member of a plethora of student organizations, including the Debate team that he founded and served as President, and eventually advisor. But it wasn’t until he served as a hall director that he knew education, and leadership was his true passion. After a few years serving as a Hall Director and Director of Residence Life and Housing, Quentin served as the Dean of Students at Virginia Union University. While in this role, he created two major leadership programs (The Talented Tenth, and VCAAM: Virginia College for African American Men) that focused on developing and nurturing black male freshmen on campus, and upperclassmen student leaders. Quentin plans to pursue Law School, where he intends to specialize in civil rights, and support BIPOC and LGBTQ+ groups through education, leadership, and policy.
Evelyn Gildrie Voyles
Special Assistant to the Laramie Project
Evy Gildrie-Voyles has worked as a theater teacher, director and actor for 15 years before becoming an early childhood educator in 2009. Positions include: assistant education director at Magnet Theater Company in Trenton Nj, actor and teaching artist for Shoestring Theater in New Brunswick New Jersey, actor and teaching artist for the Roxy Regional Theater inClarksville Tn. Most recently she taught theater and directed youth productions for MadCAP (Madison Creative Arts program) for 7 years in Madison. She has also been an artist in
residence at John Muir Elementary school and Edgewood Middle School in Madison. She has a BA in Theater and English from Oberlin College and a Masters in Theater from the University of Illinois -Urbana Champaign. It was through her students at MadCAP that she became aware of
GSAFE and their mission. She served as a member of GSAFE’s board of directors from 2016-2019. Theater helped her be loud and assertive in a world that expected her to be quiet and
mild. She is passionate about helping young people grow through creative expression into their
truest most compassionate and powerful selves.
Maren
Social Work Field Student
Maren (she/her) is an advanced generalist student at the UW-Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work with a focus area in health policy and administration. She has a strong passion for LGBTQ+ advocacy and creating safe and affirming spaces, which drew her toward pursuing a field placement with GSAFE. In the past, she has worked as a residence hall director for first-year students at Luther College, and completed a previous field placement with The Project of the Quad Cities, a community-based nonprofit organization serving people living with HIV and the LGBTQ+ community.
Cameron
Fall 2022 Policy and Advocacy Intern
Cameron Yonan is a senior attending UW-Madison studying Political Science and Public Policy. Cameron specializes in legislative and policy research, outreach, and communications. Cameron’s main objective with GSAFE is to expand educational resources for educators, families, and youth to understand their political rights and constitutional protections.
Cameron identifies as nonbinary and queer and is a lifelong Wisconsinite dedicated to public service and advocacy for LGBTQ individuals.
Fun fact: Cameron can play five instruments (woodwind and double reed families)