Alicia Ley, co-executive Director

Alicia is a visionary leader dedicated to creating transformative spaces where survivors of trafficking take the lead in shaping the movement. As Co-Executive Director at Survivor Alliance, she steers initiatives that center survivor leadership, build organizational capacity, and drive systemic change. Drawing from her lived experience and a decade of leadership in the anti-trafficking sector, Alicia blends fiery passion with deep relationships to challenge systemic injustices. Her work spans program development, coalition building, and trauma-informed approaches that elevate survivors as experts and decision-makers. Committed to uniting survivors and allies, she works to dismantle barriers rooted in racism, sexism, and colonialism, fostering resilient, inclusive communities. Alicia is dedicated to amplifying the voices of those historically excluded, ensuring that survivor leadership shapes lasting, meaningful change.

Narit Gessler Dahan, co-executive Director

Narit Gessler Dahan is a mission-driven advocate for human rights with over 15 years of experience in nonprofit administration, program design, and project management. Throughout her career, Narit has dedicated herself to empowering rights-based organizations and making a meaningful impact in the lives of survivors. As an active member and advocate within Survivor Alliance for the past several years, Narit has worked closely with the community as an ally and champion.

Previously, Narit held roles as the Senior Partnership Manager at United Way Worldwide's Center to Combat Human Trafficking and the Director of Development at Free the Slaves, where she was responsible for designing and implementing global anti-trafficking initiatives. Beyond her professional qualifications, Narit holds dual Masters degrees from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in International Policy Studies (specialized in human rights, norms, and justice) and Business Administration for International Management. In her free time, Narit can usually be found reading a book, exploring the great outdoors, and spending quality time with her family (and cats).

Ben Goldberg, Operations Manager

Ben Goldberg is an operations and project management professional with extensive experience supporting mission-driven organizations. Most recently at Freedom House, an organization dedicated to defending democracy globally, he led complex, cross-functional initiatives including space planning, organizational values development, and policy creation as the Business Operations Officer. Previously, at America’s Promise Alliance, an alliance of youth-serving nonprofits, Ben served as Operations Manager, driving improvements in fundraising operations, contract management, and internal systems design. While in school, he interned at organizations such as Save the Children and the ONE Campaign, gaining experience in global policy, development, and event coordination.

Ben brings a collaborative, equity-driven approach to his work and excels at streamlining systems, supporting employee engagement, and managing strategic change. He holds a B.A. in International Affairs and Geography from the George Washington University, graduating magna cum laude. In his free time, Ben is an avid reader and reality TV watcher, a subpar but passionate baker, and a lover of live music.

kathy givens, Leadership Academy Program Manager

Kathy Givens is a wife, mother, writer, speaker, and consultant in the anti-trafficking field.  Throughout her career, she has demonstrated unwavering dedication to raising awareness and implementing effective strategies to combat human trafficking and gender-based violence. Some of her former roles include being program director, where she designed and managed a trauma-informed curriculum for adults who identified as survivors of trafficking; director of outreach, where she launched a youth-focused awareness program in a new city; and co-founder, where she designed a unique mentorship program for individuals who identified as survivors of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. With a deep commitment to inclusivity, Kathy actively engages in meaningful conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion as a consultant. She is devoted to navigating complex social justice issues with empathy, empowerment, and a call to action. Kathy often jokes that her favorite language is poetry. She loves attending poetry shows, reading books, and spending time with her family. 

Eva Karra Swan , Programs Assistant

Eva has a background in marketing, leadership, and international community development (Australia, Tasmania, Greece, Germany, Albania, South Africa, UK). She has worked in the humanitarian, anti-human trafficking, gender-based violence, and migration sectors as a program manager, coordinator, practitioner, consultant (training, technical assistance, quality improvement, organizational processes, public speaking), and researcher. With over a decade of experience, she has led teams, managed complex projects, and built strong partnerships with local and international organizations and government authorities. Her work is human rights-based, trauma-informed, person-centered, and guided by cultural humility and public health principles. Eva has had the privilege of working with survivors of trafficking, torture, gender-based violence, refugees, unaccompanied minors, youth, and at-risk communities, and has been shaped and inspired by the reality of resilience and post-traumatic growth.

Eva earned her MA in Human Trafficking, Modern Slavery, Migration, and Organized Crime with Distinction from St. Mary's University, London. Her thesis, "Vicarious Trauma: Exploring the Lived Experience of Professionals Working with Survivors of Human Trafficking: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis using the Framework of Embodiment," led to the development of training, workshops, and consultation pathways for organizations. Eva is passionate about bringing innovation and excellence through servant-leadership, strategic partnerships, and quality improvement. She has also obtained her PMP Project Management Professional Qualification from the Project Management Institute. Eva considers human rights, anti-human trafficking, and gender-based violence, including program development and systemic change, her life's vocation. Originally from Greece, Eva loves connecting with others around tables and meals where everyone has the space to share their story. She also believes that food (both making and enjoying it) should be recognized as an official love language!

Christabelle Robinson, Programs Assistant

Christabelle (she/they) is a lived experience professional, award-winning advocate, and strategic communicator working at the intersection of survivor leadership, disability justice, and ethical storytelling. She is deeply committed to transforming how survivors are engaged, not as symbols of trauma, but as skilled leaders, strategists, and changemakers.

With a pen in one hand and her luggage often in the other, Christabelle builds trauma-informed, survivor-centered spaces across movements and borders. Her work spans curriculum development, public speaking, training design, policy advocacy, and program implementation, all rooted in equity, accessibility, and collective power. She’s especially known for creating tools and frameworks that support ethical survivor engagement, equitable partnerships, and narratives that honor complexity without sensationalism.

Christabelle’s storytelling and communication strategies have helped NGOs and private companies shift toward inclusive, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive content. She brings a strong writing background to every project she leads, crafting everything from curricula and reports to speeches, newsletters, and social media campaigns that resonate and mobilize.

Her leadership has been recognized nationally: she is a recipient of the 2025 Freedom Award, named one of New Jersey’s Most Impactful Survivor Leaders of 2023, and was a 2025 Liberator Awards nominee.

Outside of work, Christabelle finds joy in the small and surprising, as a mother, caring for her beloved pet snake, exploring new places (and the snacks that come with them), thrifting for hidden gems, making art, and writing her first book(!) one page at a time.

minh dang, CO-Founder & Founding Executive Director

Minh Dang, MSW, PhD is the Executive Director of Survivor Alliance, an international NGO that empowers survivors to be leaders in their own communities. She is also a Research Fellow and Lead in Survivor Scholarship and Wellbeing at the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab. Her doctoral thesis, Wellbeing in our own Words: Survivors of slavery defining wellbeing, emphasizes the importance of moving beyond psychopathy when discussing survivors’ mental health and focusing on wellbeing. Minh was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area region of California and is a proud two-time UC Berkeley alum. Minh earned her B.A. in Sociology and Masters in Social Welfare, with an emphasis on Community Mental Health. Minh loves the outdoors, is a fan of farmers' markets, and the person making silly faces at your child in the supermarket. You will rarely find her without a journal or post-it notes, and hopes that someone will pay her to launch a stationery line called Minhspiration.

sharon hawkins-leyden, LCSW

Sharon Hawkins Leyden, MSW, LCSW has more than 38 years of experience working with transitional age youth, adults, and seniors with significant vulnerabilities.  She has been licensed as a Clinical Social Worker in the state of California for the past 21 years.  She has worked predominantly with issues pertaining to trauma from sexual exploitation, placement into the foster care system, isolation, poverty, systemic racism, and chronic homelessness. Throughout her career, her work has focused on three primary issues: raising people out of poverty, helping people re-author stories of trauma, and working for equality of access through social justice practices.

Read more about Sharon here!

Aims Babich

Aims Babich (they/them) is a lived experience consultant, trainer, and speaker on sex and labor trafficking, who approaches their work from a sex-work affirming and anti-oppressive lens. They have been working in various roles at Survivor Alliance since 2021, currently including: Lead Trainer for Survivor Alliance’s training series, Facilitator and Student Coach in the Survivor Leadership Academy, and Curriculum Developer. Aims also supports survivors through mentorship at You Are More Than, and has served on a number of task forces and advisory councils, striving to bring voice and representation to LGBQ+, transgender, and sex working survivors.

In addition, Aims currently works in the mental health and alternative healthcare fields, with an emphasis on supporting the LGBQ+/TGNCI community, individuals living with eating disorders, survivors of violence, and marginalized folx. They take a holistic approach in their work through community-based care, trauma-informed care, harm reduction, and mutual aid. Babich also owns a small business where they practice massage therapy and somatic bodywork.

Amie Rainfish | Consultant, training developer, facilitator

Amie is a professional consultant with extensive experience in the anti-trafficking field, specializing in training, technical assistance (TTA), and program development for organizations serving victims of human trafficking. With a strong focus on solution-based approaches, she builds realistic expectations, fosters long-term strategic planning, and develops effective frameworks for program delivery. Amie has supported Survivor Alliance’s mission as a prior staff member and as a consultant since 2020, she is skilled at facilitating open dialogue between survivor-led and ally-led organizations, addressing power dynamics, and promoting equitable collaboration to strengthen partnerships and improve service delivery. Her work is rooted in actionable strategies, sustainable outcomes, and advancing trauma-informed, survivor-centered practices. 

As an active Lived Experience Subject Matter Consultant, Amie regularly collaborates with consultants and organizations tackling complex challenges in the anti-trafficking sector. She brings over 20 years of experience as a capacity builder, consultant, instructor, advocate, and activist, working across legal, medical, governmental, academic, non-governmental, and faith-based sectors. Amie’s approach emphasizes diversity, inclusion, accessibility, reparation, and repair as essential principles for driving meaningful community engagement and systemic change. Her expertise, combined with empathy and strategic insight, supports organizations in achieving clarity, purpose, and measurable impact.