Gender Justice
Meet our dedicated team of staff and board members.
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Gender Justice
Megan J. Peterson is the Executive Director of Gender Justice and Gender Justice Action and a seasoned leader in the gender equity and reproductive freedom movements. She was brought into Gender Justice by its founders in 2016 and in 2022 started the 501c4 sister organization, Gender Justice Action, to engage in political work. Under her leadership, Gender Justice has experienced significant growth and increased state, regional, and national impact. Previously, Megan was Deputy Director for the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) where she expanded its network of grassroots abortion funds, led coalition campaigns to repeal the Hyde Amendment, and significantly increased its donor and foundation funding.

Prior to her nine years with NNAF, Megan served as Director of Development and Communications for Pro-Choice Resources (now called Our Justice) in Minneapolis and as a patient advocate at Planned Parenthood in St. Paul. In college she worked with the National Organization for Women in Washington, DC, and the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (now called Legal Momentum). Megan lives in the St. Paul part of Minneapolis (Longfellow) with her pre-teen son and two dogs.

As Deputy Director at Gender Justice, Tana provides critical leadership management, shapes organizational culture, and guides work management processes.

From high-profile museums to start-up cooperatives, Tana has extensive experience in non-profit leadership, strategic planning, and project development. She has co-created a wide range of projects for creative and learning communities in New York, Boston, and Providence. After years working on the East Coast, Tana is back in her hometown of Minneapolis, creating art and action through public art-based policy engagement, and through the development of a network of artist-led worker cooperatives.

Tana is a collaborator in multiple Black-led and BIPOC-led movements. She is a member of the Black Liberation and Abolition Cohort, a group called together in the immediate aftermath of the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department. Tana is a member of the Subversive Sirens, a Minnesota-based synchronized swimming team committed to Black liberation, equity in swimming and the aquatic arts, radical body acceptance in athleticism, and queer visibility. She is a cohort member of Don’t You Feel It Too?, a public art action and form of movement meditation that transforms the self while taking action in the world.

Erin Maye Quade is known as someone who will run head-first into a challenge. She is a proven leader with extensive experience in the private, non-profit, and public sectors who believes in evidence based-solutions and in our collective ability to come together and solve problems.

Currently, Erin serves as a Minnesota State Senator and as a Special Projects Advisor at Gender Justice. During her run for Senate, Erin went into labor while giving a speech at the DFL caucus in April, sparking a national conversation on misogyny in politics. When she was elected in November 2022, she became one of the first three Black women to be elected to the Minnesota Senate. She is also the first out lesbian in the Minnesota Senate and the first Black mom in the State Senate. She was also the first LGBTQ person—and among the youngest—to be endorsed as the DFL candidate for Lt. Governor when she joined Erin Murphy’s ticket in 2018.

In just one term as a State Senator, Erin has successfully led initiatives to expand reproductive freedom, protect LGBTQ+ rights, safeguard election integrity, and promote literacy. In particular, Erin’s leadership on reproductive freedom inside and outside of the legislature has been critical to making Minnesota a national leader for abortion access. Erin built UnRestrict Minnesota, the biggest reproductive freedom coalition in the state, into a powerful force in state politics. Thanks to her leadership, the coalition won a court victory overturning most of Minnesota’s abortion restrictions, elected the state’s first-ever pro-reproductive freedom legislative majority, and passed historic legislation expanding and strengthening reproductive freedom throughout our state.

As a State Representative from 2017-2019, Erin wrote bills to increase funding for public schools and special education and quickly established herself as a candid and fierce advocate for Minnesotans championing paid family leave; expanding access to affordable child care; ending childhood hunger; eliminating gun violence; and investing in treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues. As a Democrat, she is proud to have successfully passed bills through a Republican controlled House.

Erin previously served as Advocacy Director for Gender Justice, working to advance gender equity through public education, legislative outreach, strategic partnerships and coalition-building. Through her work with Gender Justice and UnRestrict Minnesota, she led the largest reproductive health, rights, and justice coalition in the state of Minnesota from 2019 to 2022. In this role, she laid the groundwork for a statewide movement that successfully expanded access to abortion care in Minnesota in the year after Roe was overturned.

In 2018, Rep. Maye Quade founded the Childhood Hunger Caucus, a coalition of businesses, nonprofits and policymakers dedicated to ending childhood hunger in Minnesota.

Erin doesn’t back down from tough fights, even when others tell her to stand back. After legislation to prevent gun violence was blocked, Erin held a 24-hour sit-in on the House floor to protest inaction on the issue and shared stories of victims and survivors of gun violence.

Monica Meyer has been leading organizing, activism, fundraising and policy advocacy on behalf of issues of equity and justice since 1992. Monica’s most recent job was working for LGBTQ liberation as the Executive Director of OutFront Minnesota. During Monica’s twenty years at OutFront Minnesota, she loved getting to work with thousands of justice-loving people fighting to make Minnesota more loving and equitable.

During this time, OutFront was involved in securing some key victories advancing LGBTQ equity including helping to form and lead Minnesotans United for All Families, the campaign to defeat a constitutional amendment banning same-sex couples from the right to marry and secure marriage equality through the Minnesota legislature. They also worked to pass one of the country’s strongest anti-bullying laws, a policy to secure trans inclusion in sports, and elect pro-equality candidates up and down the ballot.

Some of Monica’s recognition includes the Humphrey Institute’s Public Leadership Award, the Lynx’s Inspiring Women Award, HRC’s Brian Coyle Award, the Charlotte Striebel Award from MN NOW and the MN School Social Work Association’s Friend of Social Work Award.

Monica received her master’s degree in public policy from the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota, and her undergraduate degree from Hamline University. She lives in NE Minneapolis with her family and loves being close to so much great art and food.

Jess Braverman is the Legal Director at Gender Justice, where she ensures that our litigation strategy not only promotes the dignity of our clients, but also advances our mission of removing barriers to gender equity.

Jess came to Gender Justice from the Hennepin County Public Defender’s office. After representing hundreds of clients in felony matters in the Fourth District, she spearheaded the office’s Special Litigation Unit, where she focused on racial profiling in policing. Jess developed litigation that challenged racially discriminatory undercover marijuana sting operations, which ultimately led to the end of the sting operations and the dismissal of dozens of wrongful charges.

Jess attended NYU Law School, where she was an Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Fellow with a focus on LGBTQ rights. She has worked with organizations dedicated to LGBTQ and gender civil rights advocacy, access to health care, immigration advocacy and workers’ rights. After graduating, Jess worked at the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Project, representing young people in delinquency and child protection cases in Brooklyn, New York.

Minnesota Lawyer honored both Jess Braverman and Christy Hall as 2021 Attorneys of the Year, alongside our co-counsel ACLU of Minnesota and Stinson LLC, for our transformative victory in N.H. v. Anoka-Hennepin School District. In August of 2022, Jess was celebrated by the Minnesota Lynx for her work to both ensure trans women can participate in sports and litigation for abortion access. During their Women’s Health Night, they presented Jess with a signed basketball in recognition of her accomplishments. Jess has also earned the 2020 Equality & Justice Award from the Minnesota Lavender Bar Association.

Christina Sambor is the North Dakota State Director at Gender Justice, where she is working to develop a strategic presence in North Dakota to promote gender equity and protect the rights of North Dakotans. Christina is a licensed attorney. Prior to joining Gender Justice, she owned and operated her own law firm, focusing on family law, employment law, civil rights, and legislative advocacy. Christina has lobbied at the North Dakota State Legislature since 2015, advocating for vulnerable youth, victims of trafficking and domestic violence, unhoused individuals and the LGBTQ+ community. Through her lobbying and work with non-profits, Christina led efforts to strengthen laws that protect vulnerable North Dakotans, secured millions of dollars in funding to support direct service programs, and most recently led the fight against the wave of anti-trans legislation introduced in the 2023 ND legislative session.

Christina has her Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA, where she graduated cum laude and was a member of the Dispute Resolution Journal. She has obtained certificates in executive education from Harvard Kennedy School and the Georgetown School for Continuing Studies. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of North Dakota, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Christina served as a law clerk at the United States District Court in Bismarck, and was a 2014 Bush Foundation Fellow.

Brittany Stewart is a Senior Staff Attorney at Gender Justice. She earned her JD at UC Law San Francisco, before returning home to Oklahoma City to begin her legal career. In 2010, she was the first out transgender Oklahoman to run for political office. While she did not win that race, she helped normalize the participation of trans and non-binary people in Oklahoma politics and was named to Oklahoma magazine’s 40 Under 40 list.

Brittany helped advance equality for LGBT+ Oklahomans in legal cases ranging from free speech to employment discrimination. She was a key member of the legal team in Tudor v. Southeastern Oklahoma State University, the first sex discrimination case with a transgender plaintiff to be tried to a jury in federal court. Her work helped secure a unanimous jury verdict in favor of her client, with the jury awarding over $1 million for the discrimination. The verdict was later upheld by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Outside of law and politics, Brittany is a car and road trip enthusiast. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and their cat. In the last 10 years, she has been on road trips through all 48 contiguous states in the U.S. She is also a big sports fan, mostly of basketball, football, and IndyCar racing. Her favorite teams are the Oklahoma City Thunder, as well as the Vikings, Wolves, Lynx, and Wild.

With over 19 years of nonprofit leadership experience, Alissa is an adaptive and heart-connected strategist partnering with change agents in the nonprofit sector. Alissa loves advancing justice and equity and has deep experience in board governance, organizational development, coaching, strategy development, fundraising, and relationship-building. She is a geek about role clarity and distributed decision-making.

From 2010-2022, Alissa served as the Executive Director of Family Tree Clinic, a nationally recognized sexual health center in the Twin Cities. During her time at Family Tree she led growth and transformation culminating in an $8 million capital campaign establishing an innovative, trauma-informed, healing-focused LGBTQIA+ and sexual health center in the heart of Minneapolis.

From 2022-2024, Alissa served as President & CEO of The Bakken Museum, an internationally recognized Museum and change agent sparking inquiry-based mindsets and supporting inclusive participation in STEM. In 2024 Alissa was thrilled to join the team at Gender Justice Action as a Senior Advisor, Minnesotans for Equal Rights Campaign. In this contract role Alissa is supporting efforts to pass the Minnesota Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would offer everyone the strongest possible protections against discrimination based on race, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, or sex — including pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation — no matter who’s in power in state government.

Alissa received the Distinguished Citizen Award from Macalester College in 2023, was named TCB top 100 Minnesotans to Know in 2021 and received the Business of Pride award from Mpls/St. Paul Magazine in 2019 for her LGBTQIA+ health equity leadership. Alissa served as Board President of the Reproductive Health Alliance leading legislative strategy and partnering with government relations to advance a statewide reproductive health coalition agenda, and currently serves as Treasurer and member of the board of directors of The PFund Foundation, the only LGBTQ+ community foundation in the Upper Midwest. Alissa lives in Minneapolis, with her partner Crystal, two kids Ada & Perrin, and dogs Cookie & Ru.

Gabbi Pierce brings an extensive background of movement, non-profit, and community based work to her role as Communications Manager for Gender Justice. As a queer trans woman, she strives toward uplifting gender oppressed voices and struggles, and believes firmly that collective action has the power to motivate substantial change. In 2022, she served as the first trans member of the Minnesota AFL-CIO General Board where she fought for and represented trans and queer workers in the state. Prior to her work on trans labor issues, Gabbi was part of the national staff team of Sunrise Movement, where she ran internal communications for the movement’s thousands of grassroots climate organizers. Additionally, Gabbi spent a year deeply engaged in public service in Los Angeles while serving in her role as a Director at Large on her neighborhood council’s board, where she represented 65,000 community members and received certificates of congressional and municipal recognition. Across all of her work over the years, she has found that powerful and truthful human narratives can change hearts and minds, and drive social transformation. She hopes to use her work to help make that change real.

Board Vice Chair

Wintana Melekin brings more than a decade of expertise in spearheading impactful campaigns and leading diverse organizations. With an impressive track record, she has played a pivotal role in the electing over a dozen progressive candidates in Minnesota. Her contributions have been instrumental in historic achievements, including the election of the first openly Queer Black woman school board member, the first Black woman senator and the first Black immigrant to congress in the country. Moreover, she has been at the forefront of various policy initiatives, championing causes such as the $15 minimum wage and paid sick time in Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as successfully advocating for the restoration of voting rights for the 55,000 Minnesotans with felony convictions. She now leads World To Win, an organization solely focused on advancing justice in Minnesota.

Wintana’s journey as a community organizer began in 2012 when she helped to coordinate a protest for Trayvon Martin which became at the time the largest protest in Minnesota history. Her commitment to the principles of a representative democracy, where every voice is valued irrespective of race, religion, or sexual orientation, forms the foundation of her work. She is dedicated to infusing joy into the lives of others while tirelessly advocating for justice. Wintana leverages her skills as an organizer and entrepreneur as powerful tools for enhancing the well-being of her community and beyond.

Hetal Dalal is an assistant professor at Mitchell Hamline and has wide-ranging expertise in non-profit, tax, labor and employment, campaign finance, corporate governance, public interest law, as well as associated litigation and transactional skills. She has a longstanding interest in the link between rhetorical skills and the preservation of democratic values and a well-informed citizenry.

Hetal has served as in-house counsel for The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) and its predecessor organization, which she co-founded, from 2010-2020. This organization—which has 100 staff members, a $30 million budget, and affiliated community organizations with 600,000 members in 35 states—is one of the country’s leading organizations advocating for racial equality and economic justice. During her time at CPD, Hetal worked with founding organizers to help launch at least two dozen new community organizing endeavors.

Prior to 2010, Hetal worked in-house at ACORN, developed an independent immigration practice representing businesses and employees, and served as an Associate Attorney at Norton Rose Fulbright. Hetal graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School, where she was a board member of the Minnesota Justice Foundation and participated in the Immigration Law Clinic and the Criminal Defense Clinic, as well as the student-run Asylum Law Project. She clerked for the Honorable Kathleen A. Blatz, then Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. Before law school Hetal worked as a community organizer with the National Organizers Alliance and a union organizer (short-term) with UNITE-HERE.

Thomas Fiebiger has grown a legal career that centers advocacy for those without a voice. Through litigation, holding public office, and leading grassroots campaigns, he has spent the past 25 years defending and promoting the civil rights of working people in North Dakota and Minnesota.

He has sued the University of North Dakota, its President and Provost, the United States, the state of North Dakota (multiple times), the Catholic Church, landlords, and many employers, large and small, on a variety of discrimination theories.

Thomas’ legislative and advocacy efforts includes his sponsoring a bill to amend the North Dakota Human Rights Act to include sexual orientation, a successful effort to block an attempt to amend the ND Constitution to make religion an excuse to discriminate. In this effort, Thomas helped convince the six major newspapers to all come out against the Measure.

Thomas has spent the past five years in private practice at Fiebiger Law, focusing on labor and employment/civil rights law with his son—and law partner—Rolf. He is an ACLU member, and the father of a gay man who is an artist/entrepreneur and living in New York. Thomas’ wife of 44 years, Siri, is an OB/GYN, active in reproductive rights work, a former Planned Parent Board member, and active in lobbying issues with ACOG and the Minnesota Medical Association. He has two granddaughters who inspire him and keep him in the moment.

Melissa Harl recently retired from the University of Minnesota after a 38-year teaching career, as Professor Emerita of Classical and Near Eastern Studies. While at the ‘U’ she served in leadership roles for the Transgender Commission and on many other committees, most recently as a member of the Social Concerns committee of the University Senate.

Melissa has a lifelong interest in social justice, particularly as it relates to race, gender, violence, and education. As a college student she opposed the war in Viet Nam as a conscientious objector, with some personal consequences. In the 1980s she headed a committee of churches in aid of refugees from CIA-funded violence in Central America. More recently she served on the board of the Twenty Percent Theatre Company, a small but fierce organization centering the lives and art of women, especially queer and trans people of color. The murder of Philando Castile in her Falcon Heights neighborhood in July 2016 drove her into deeper engagement with efforts to oppose state-sanctioned violence. Currently she is active in work supporting families seeking asylum and other relief from religiously and racially based over-enforcement of immigration law, and serves on the board of her church, First Congregational Church of Minnesota, in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood of Minneapolis.

Binta Kanteh is a proud daughter of immigrants from Gambia and is the eldest of three children. Binta was born and raised in Minnesota, primarily in Eastside Saint Paul. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies concentrating in Immigration and Refugee studies from DePaul University. The immigration journey of Binta’s parents inspired her to pursue a life of service to assist individuals who have been historically disadvantaged and isolated. Binta currently serves as the Policy Director to Commissioner Angela Conley of Hennepin County. Her experience in public policy began at the Minnesota House of Representatives where she was a Legislative Assistant to several representatives and the Majority Leader of the House. Binta values the opportunity to develop policy ideas and initiatives that allow our governments to work better for the state’s residents. What Binta loves about this profession is that when resources are redistributed to take into account the harm that has been committed against certain communities, we can build toward an atoned tomorrow. She is also grateful for the opportunity to break down barriers that residents feel when trying to access government assistance and power. Binta is an alumna of the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Public Policy Fellowship Program, the Center for Policy Design’s Education Policy Fellowship, Minnesota International NGO Network Fellowship (MINN), the New Leaders Council Fellowship and was most recently a Public Leaders for Inclusion Council Fellow with America Indivisible. She enjoys painting, listening to podcasts, and trying new foods and teas whenever she gets the chance.

Joy is an Indigenous Abenaki granddaughter, niece, mother, auntie, midwife, and lawyer. She was born in South Minneapolis and has lived and worked most of her years in Minnesota. Joy understands the big responsibility she has been called into as one of the very few midwife-lawyers in the country. Walking in her great grandmother’s footsteps, Joy has worked hard to bridge Indigenous and western midwifery teachings and schooling to more effectively serve and advocate for birthing people and families. Joy worked for years alongside amazing colleagues to develop, lobby for, and pass one of the first direct entry midwifery license laws in the country. She has provided legislative testimony at both the state and national level addressing healthcare disparities, served by Governor appointment on a statewide maternity healthcare reform taskforce, worked as a legal fellow with the National Council of Urban Indian Health in Washington, D.C., and served in multiple leadership roles on the executive boards of both professional and community organizations. As an attorney, Joy focuses on serving Tribal governments and Native organizations with a focus on Tribal sovereignty, healthcare, and reproductive justice issues. In her spare time, Joy enjoys anything outside and especially in the north woods—winter camping/skiing/running/snowshoeing surrounded by trees cracking with the cold is her favorite.

Kori was born and raised in Minnesota and began her career through service as an AmeriCorps member with Peace First in Boston. Since then, her passion for and commitment to connecting communities to break barriers and achieve positive change has transformed her into a leader in the nonprofit and public sectors. Kori holds an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from Northeastern University and served as a Policy Fellow at the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs in 2015-2016. Additionally, she was a 2019 participant in the American Express social sector leadership cohort through the Center for Creative Leadership. Kori has dedicated her career to youth development and lifting up youth voices and currently works as the CEO of Camp Fire Minnesota. She is proud to lead the way in a number of important gender equity initiatives, including creating all-gender cabins for overnight camp programs in 2022, and expanding that program in 2023. Kori and her wife live happily in Minnesota with their two young sons and loves experiencing the outdoors with her family. Kori is an avid runner and fully embraces all seasons of Minnesota!

In 2004, Summra Shariff learned the true meaning of the word “cold” when she moved from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, excited to start law school. She was amazed to learn that humans can live, thrive, and have fun in temperatures well below zero. She also learned that to survive in Minnesota, you have to wear layers, find community, and make friends.

When she is not walking on frozen lakes, cooking spicy food, and spoiling her nieces, Summra serves as the Executive Director and President of Twin Cities Diversity in Practice (TCDIP) and the Wanton Injustice Legal Detail (WILD). Since taking on the position in 2018, Summra has built on the organization’s past successes by re-energizing and revamping programming at all levels to maximize TCDIP’s ability to attract, recruit, advance, and retain attorneys of color in the Twin Cities.

In 2020, Summra and the TCDIP Board, responded to the tragic murder of George Floyd by establishing the Wanton Injustice Legal Detail (WILD), an organization with bold vision of a Twin Cities community free from anti-Black racism and all forms of racism. WILD’s mission is to mobilize volunteer attorneys and legal professionals from TCDIP’s Member Organizations to partner with and support community organizations engaged in the work. Under Summra’s leadership, WILD continues to work in four focus areas – Rebuilding Access to Wealth in Black Communities, Community Safety, Education Equality, and Voting Rights.

Prior to her work with TCDIP, Summra worked with underrepresented groups, including with communities of color. For close to five years, she served as Diversity and Inclusion and Pro Bono Coordinator for a national law firm. She is a former long-term member of the Minnesota Justice Foundation’s Board and Executive Committee and a former board member for the Housing Justice Center. She also formerly held a leadership role with the Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Summra continues to be active in her community by serving on the boards of Gender Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court’s Legal Services Advisory Committee, ACLU of MN, Greater Twin Cities United Way, and the Hennepin Healthcare Foundation. She is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas School of Law and the University of Southern California.

Summra served as Chair of the Gender Justice Board of Directors from 2022-2023.

Joni Thome has been recognized locally and nationally for her work for employees and for others adversely affected by discrimination and hostility due to their protected status. Joni has worked for employees and students for over 30 years with unwavering commitment. She is a founder of the MN Lavender Bar Association and board member emeritus. She has also served on boards or worked otherwise as a volunteer for several organizations over the years including the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association, OutFront MN, Minnesota Aids Project, Cancer Legal Care, Seward Childcare Center and the MN Chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association. Joni has been named as SuperLawyer each year since 2005 and consistently received recognition as a Top 50 Woman Lawyer and Top 100 Lawyer in Minnesota. Joni co-taught Sexual Orientation in the Law at HUSL for several years. She is the recipient of community service awards from the MN Lavender Bar Association, MN NELA’s Karla Wahl Dedicated Advocacy Award and Cancer Legal Care’s service award. Most of all, Joni is known for her passion in the pursuit of justice for her clients and the greater good. Joni is a founding partner of Wanta Thome PLC and is a practicing MSBA Certified Employment Law Specialist.