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We are a culturally and politically diverse team committed to elevating the voices and visions of those around us.
Lucy Morse Roberts is an educator by training and specializes in creating effective, transformative programs for diverse, multicultural communities. She and her Hui International co-workers focus their parent education programming on evidence-based parenting practices, self-reflection, ACEs, and on building skills of resilience. Prior to working with Hui International, Lucy served as the Executive Director of Lead4Tomorrow’s Family Hui program where she redesigned their Bloom curriculum to be ACEs informed, resilience-focused, and multiculturally appropriate. She expanded the program statewide and internationally. Additionally, Lucy co-founded the Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, and the non-profit ArtReach Orlando. Lucy served as co-chair of Resilient Yolo and the California Essentials for Childhood Equity Committee. She is currently on the State of California Child Welfare Council’s Prevention and Early Intervention Committee. In 2016, she was named Yolo County Public Health Hero and in 2018 was named one of US Congressman John Garamendi’s Women of the Year.
Arezoo coordinates Hui International’s programming in Afghanistan. She has worked with Hui International Executive Director, Lucy Morse Roberts, to coordinate Family Hui programming throughout California. Arezoo deeply understands the importance of social connections in strengthening families and building resilience. She focuses on building strong, supportive communities wherever she goes and created an extensive Afghan ohana by connecting Afghan families in California and in Afghanistan. She is fluent in Dari/Farsi and English. She is the mother of two.
Allison is an MBA student at UC Davis. Having served in the Southern California school system as a high school chemistry teacher, she is shifting into the emerging field of women’s health equity. Allison has a particular passion for supporting the perinatal and postpartum experience through integrated solutions that draw on both modern and traditional approaches to health. In her free time, she is an avid Pilates practitioner, walker, and occasional bachata dancer.
Kailas Dhond is a recent graduate of Imperial College London and holds a master’s degree in biomedical research. He has prior experience researching maternal and fetal cytomegalovirus infection, as well as working with remote monitoring technology for chronic illness management.
A student at Davis Senior High, Rowan is the intern for the social media face of CalGalsMedia. Currently armed with a love for the arts of all kinds, she is focused on reaching this nonprofit’s audience in engaging and creative ways. As she navigates the modern generation, she hopes to invite as many peers as she can into this field of public outreach. When she doesn’t have a barbell in hand, you can usually find her writing, reading and consuming copious amounts of literature and coffee. In the past couple years, Rowan has spent her time volunteering with the Davis Arts Center, The Yolo County Health Department, and CommunityCatAdvocates. If you were to visit the Harper Junior High gym room, you would also encounter one of her murals. Most likely to be found with traces of paint on her face.
Regan serves as a public/private partnership consultant. Prior to her current position, Regan was with UC Davis Health (Sacramento campus) with their patient experience team. Regan has spent 12 years with First 5 Yolo Children and Families Commission where she was the Early Learning Specialist which included overseeing the Family Hui Community Grant in Yolo County. Regan has spent her career in human services including Planned Parenthood, California Breast and Cervical Cancer Detection Program, and the CA State Office of Foster Care Ombudsperson. She is active in the community and she serves on numerous local and statewide Commissions and Boards as well as volunteering with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and Foster and Kinship Care and Education (FKCE).
Rachel Allen is a life-long educator and practitioner who inspires and supports others as they practice and educate for peace and justice in their work and personal lives. She is a tenured Professor of Humanities and is Co-founder and Director of the Valencia College Peace and Justice Institute. Rachel presented at a High-Level Forum on creating credible pathways to peace at the United Nations in 2018. She was recently recognized as a Social Justice Game Changer by the Orlando Magic and was noted as one of the people making a difference in Central Florida by the Orlando Sentinel. Rachel serves on multiple committees in Orlando that focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion with the goal of creating a resilient community where all are valued and all can thrive. Rachel is an advocate for women’s rights and opportunities and is a proud parent of two children; they live in Maitland, Florida.
Jade Noelani is first and foremost a Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian), whose work in non-profit and academic spaces seeks to bring an indigenous lens to research and advocacy. In addition to their cultural perspective, Jade leverages their extensive experience as a psychology researcher, data analyst, and science communicator to support ongoing efforts to improve outcomes for marginalized communities. Jade first began working with Hui International's CEO, Lucy Morse Roberts, in March of 2020 to formally evaluate the outcomes of the Family Hui program (see Zhuang et al. 2023) while studying at The University of California Davis. A strong advocate for making science publicly accessible, they have since transitioned to a data analyst role for the University of California’s Office of the President’s California Digital Library. In this role, they helped make more than 13,000 UC authored research articles openly accessible between 2022-2023 alone.
"Mahalo nui loa to my indigenous cousins who carry on the work of their ancestors tending to the land I live and work on."
Karla Russek, MD is a surgeon from Mexico living in Davis, California. Karla finished medical school and surgery residency while in Mexico, being the first female surgeon to graduate from the program in more than 20 years. She has published extensively and has authored several chapters in surgical textbooks, wrote dozens of research articles published in the medical literature, and presented at surgical meetings around the world. She is no longer practicing surgery but has a passion for prevention of disease, a holistic approach to health, and trying to make a positive impact around her. More recently she has worked with education and non-profit organizations. While living in the Bay Area, she was involved with Stanford University to develop the nutritional curriculum for education and worked with the Mountain View Day Worker Center developing educational nutrition programs in Spanish for the region’s day workers. Karla is passionate about immigration, being an immigrant herself, and understands the difficulties women face in mostly male-dominated professions. Karla enjoys traveling and learning about different cultures. She is fluent in Spanish, English and Italian.
Muzhgan Fakhri is the mother of 4 beautiful kids, two boys and two wonderful girls which are 12 years and younger. Additionally, she is an accomplished women’s rights activist with a law degree from Kabul University, the premier state institution in Afghanistan. She most recently earned a MA in Comparative Law from the University of San Diego School of Law. Before coming to the United States, she served as a women’s rights attorney and assisted the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) and Attorney General’s Office staff with victim service providers and investigators. She is fluent in Persian/Farsi/Dari & understands Pashto. Muzhgan aims to inspire, educate, and empower, women and girls here in California and around the world.
Kevin Tsai is a freelance web creative with over two years of experience delivering custom websites for non-profits and small businesses. Aside from being the freelance creative that built this site, he's a product designer at JP Morgan Chase. When he's not building websites or the future of financial tech, he can be found street performing the violin. You can reach Kevin at his email here.
With almost 40 years of experience as a graphic designer, art director and illustrator,
Laurel has managed a variety of national and international projects during the course of her career. For Hui International, her expertise has been especially useful in regards to
identity, teaching manuals, learning activities, publications, and marketing. She is a
valuable resource combining conceptual thinking with an original aesthetic to create
vibrant and accessible visual communication.