Members

Afifa Khaliq is the Director of Programs at SEIU Florida Public Services Union. She has been a part of a creative core team that is setting new trends and redefining labor, politics, economy, and social justice. Afifa is an unapologetic and proud Muslim. She is a founding member and secretary of the South Florida Muslim Federation. She is also the Chair of Emgage Florida, a Muslim civic engagement organization. Afifa is married, blessed with a son, and lives in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Jonathan (he/him) currently serves as a co-director for Central Florida Jobs With Justice. He has been involved in social justice organizing work for the last 10 years. First, as a student and organizer with the Student Labor Action Project chapter at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, and with the United States Student Association. He joined the Jobs With Justice network in 2014 as the membership organizer, working alongside FLIC staff and their various member groups throughout the state. Jonathan is a first-generation citizen, born to two parents that immigrated to the United States from The Bahamas via Uganda. He is also a big-time football fan, with his favorite team being Manchester City.

Christian Gonzalez-Orbegoso (he/they) is the proud North Florida Regional Director for Florida Rising. The son of immigrants from South America, who made Miami their home in the 1990s, Christian has been fighting for equity and justice throughout the state of FL through movement-building within communities of color, the state legislature, and the school system for the past 7 years.

Christian served as the esteemed Duval Organizer, Statewide Lead Organizer, and the Organizing Director for the 2018, 2020, and 2022 Florida for All statewide campaign to expand democracy and access to voting for low-propensity Black and Latinx voters. Highlights of these campaigns include the passage of Amendment 4 (2018), leading an organizational electoral outreach plan during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), and setting the stage for progressive wins across Jacksonville, Orlando and more (2023)! Prior to 2018, they dedicated two years of public service as an AmeriCorps Member/Lead with City Year, an international education non-profit fighting to close the achievement and graduation gap in underserved communities, mainly Title-1 funded Black and Latinx schools. While serving, they were a trainer for the New Politics Leadership Foundation, a non-profit centered on training and electing community members and servant leaders to run for public office.

Previously, the proud FL Gator lived and worked in Tallahassee, FL, with the Office of FL State Representative David Richardson, the first LGBTQ+ state elected official. Christian envisions the building of an intersectional, transformative, and progressive movement in Florida that will be representative of the new majority!

Trenise Bryant was raised in the Liberty City neighborhood in Miami, FL. Growing up, Trenise loved to play basketball and run track. Like many young girls, basketball and track wasn’t just a sport. As a survivor, sports helped Trenise during this time because it allowed her to be out of the house and be around her friends where she felt safe. Trenise went on to graduate from Miami Northwestern Senior high school and later started a decade of community activism and volunteering. She started volunteering at the Miami Workers Center in 2009 when she saw the need to give back to the community regarding Affordable Housing, even on a national level. Trenise was proud to serve her community as the past Board Chair of the Miami Workers Center (MWC) nonprofit, whose mission is to build the power and self-determination of south Florida’s most oppressed communities.

Through her passion for affordable housing, Women with Broken Heals was founded and has partnered with Smash to create the first community land trust in Liberty City. Its partnership would provide sustainable and preserved land that the community controls. Trenise is also part of the Dignity Coalition Steering committee member, advocating formerly incarcerated women to get feminine hygiene products in jail. Trenise is passionate about volunteering in the community where she grew up, especially for the Liberty Square public housing complex. Trenise strongly believes that housing is a human right and is fighting to make that right a reality. In her role as the Founder of Women with Broken Heals & CSSJ Miami, FL Chapter Coordinator Trenise has helped grow the Miami chapter, hosted dozens of healing activities, and played a crucial role in helping to bring the first Trauma Recovery Network to Miami Dade County. Through her advocacy with CSSJ and other community organizations, she has helped to pass several criminal justice and crime survivor-related legislative bills. Trenise also volunteer to make sure the un-documented community is safe and housed.

Lourdes Villanueva is Director of Farmworker Advocacy for Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA). She has worked for RCMA in various positions for almost 30 years, earning a college degree in the process. Ms. Villanueva is proud to come from a migrant farmworker family and wants to ensure that today’s children and families receive the same opportunities she did. She continues to promote the awareness and support of these families in local rural communities.

Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet (he/they) is the newly appointed Executive Director of Hope Community Center in Apopka.

In addition to managing day-to-day operations, leading 30 staff members, overseeing the management of seven programs, and increasing financial support for the 50-year-old organization; Felipe collaborates with community advocates, supporters, leaders, and organizations throughout Central Florida to drive the interconnectedness and synergy of Hope’s programs. His first-hand understanding of the immigrant experience, his vision, passion, and power of networks have refreshed Hope’s support, empowerment, and advocacy for immigrants and others who are tenacious and courageous in the face of all systems of oppression.

Before joining Hope, Felipe was the Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Sr Specialist for the Office of Multicultural Affairs at the City of Orlando. In this position, he proposed policy recommendations and programs; advocated for best practices on LGBTQ+ issues and immigrant and refugee affairs; and directed outreach to the Muslim, Brazilian, and Haitian communities to encourage greater participation in city services.

A proud immigrant from Brazil, Felipe came to Miami when he was only 14 years old. In 2010, he walked on the Trail of Dreams, a 1,500-mile walk from Miami to Washington, DC, to share immigrant youth stories and push for administrative relief for millions of undocumented immigrants. He also worked with Presente.org, an organization seeking to solve some of the most pressing issues impacting the Latino community through communication strategies.

A graduate of Miami-Dade College with an Associate of Arts in International Relations and a bachelor’s degree in Business Studies with a Minor in Economics from St. Thomas University, Felipe was also Co-Director of GetEQUAL, a national social justice LGBTQ organization; served as the Deputy Managing Director at United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth network in the country; and worked at ThoughtWorks, a multinational software company, working at the Office of Social Change Initiatives as the Director of Strategic Partnerships.

Felipe is happily married to Luis Sousa-Lazaballet (he/him) and together they have a beautiful puppy, Cosito.

He is also on the board of Blisscares Healthcare, co-chair of Orlando’s WorldPride 2026 bid, and chair of the One Orlando Alliance board of directors.

Ethan was raised in a multicultural household by an immigrant mother and a second-generation American father. Always interested in learning about other people and their history and customs, he graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor’s in International Studies, where he focused his research on Latin America. After graduating, he spent a year in Panama with the Peace Corps before being evacuated at the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Upon his return, he looked for ways to work within the community he was raised and has been working with the Rural Women’s Health Project as the Immigrant Programs Manager, where he helps to advocate and fight for a more inclusive community for the immigrant population in Gainesville and Alachua.

With her bubbly personality, Yesica Ramirez is our General Coordinator. Being a migrant herself, Yesica has struggled like any other migrant. She left her home and family in Michoacan, Mexico, home of the migrating Monarch butterflies. The Monarch butterflies start their 3,000 mile (about the width of the United States) migration from Canada and the United States and end up in Michoacan, Mexico.

As to leaving her home and arriving in Apopka, Florida, the first job Yesica took was as a plant nursery worker; she lasted six years there. Then, Yesica took several other jobs such as housekeeping and dishwasher. But during the years Yesica worked at the plant nursery, she had no clue about pesticides and wondered what and how she had gotten rashes on her arms and hands. She later became pregnant with her third child; her baby was born with a lot of complications. Upon birth, the baby needed to get the skull cut to get the head molded. Another long-term complication is the child has severe eczema with cold and hot weather. Throughout the time when the community members were active, fed up, and had a hint of hope for immigration reform, Yesica, along with members of the community, marched in one of FWAF’s marches in 2006. That was her introduction to the Farmworker Association of Florida. Yesica would later volunteer at another FWAF’s marches by picking up trash. When Yesica’s third child was seven months old, Yesica was invited as FWAF’s receptionist. As she became more involved with FWAF, she went on understanding and making sense of a lot of stuff such as the rashes on her hands and arms, and her child’s health complications. It made sense that during the six years she worked at the plant nursery, the smell of Clorox and alcohol would affect her pregnancy. Yesica would make this mixture with no protective gear, meaning no masks or gloves, explaining the rashes on her hands and arms. When the Apopka office had a vacant spot for the Area Organizer position, Yesica was invited to apply with only having completed middle school in Michoacan and not knowing any English. Now understanding and speaking English, Yesica has been fighting for social justice with FWAF for 12 years. She is now FWAF’s first woman General Coordinator.

Charlene Francois is a child of Haitian immigrants, born and raised in the US. Charlene is dynamic: In addition to her role as the Worker-Owned Business Program Manager at Catalyst Miami, she is an artist who expresses through writing and dance.

She is a former member of the Haitian folklore dance troupe, Tradisyon Lakou Lakay, led by Weislande “Yanui” Cesar and was a performer in Miami New Drama’s production of Create Dangerously, a play adapted from the novel by Edwidge Danticat.

Charlene knows firsthand that authentic creative expression and economic stability are the pillars of a healthy and thriving society. This understanding motivates her to educate individuals about the potential of worker-owned businesses to create opportunities for better wages, work conditions, and personal empowerment. She is determined to redefine and reintroduce the idea of collective, prosperous, and sustainable business ownership, especially to those who have lost hope in it. She is optimistic about our ability to work towards a more equitable tomorrow and to live alongside one another in solidarity, respect, and reverence for one another.

Charlene is a graduate of Columbia University in the City of New York (BA, 2017), a participant of the agroecology course El Josco Bravo (Mayaguez, PR), and conversational in both Haitian Creole and Spanish. She understands her travels and experiences to have prepared her perfectly for where she is now, in Miami, where she strives to serve as a bridge between cultures.

Margarette Nerette is currently the Vice-President of 1199 SEIU Florida. Her union represents about 30,000 Healthcare workers in the State of Florida. She has over 20 years of experience in organizing, social justice, advocacy and representing workers. 

Born in Haiti, Margarette started her career with unions in her country after the end of the dictatorship regime in the 80s.  She then became a member of the political movement “Solidarite Ant Jèn (SAJ) Veye Yo”.  After she moved in the United States in 1993, she became immensely engaged in the Haitian community of Miami.  She was among those who expended SAJ Veye Yo in the Haitian Diaspora. 

In the U.S, as a single mother of three, Margarette entered the medical field as a CNA where she started working in a nursing home.  This is how she joined 1199SEIU as a member in 1999.  A year later, she became the union’s delegate of her nursing home. In 2004, she was selected as the Member Organizer (MO) for Local11 which had merged with 32BJ. Due to her leadership and organizing skills, Margarette got promoted very fast within the union’s leadership team: from Member Organizer, to Organizer and to Lead Organizer.  In 2015, she was elected as Vice-President for the Nursing Home Division.

Margarette Nerette is the co-founder of the Miramar Haitian-American Residents and Business Owners (MHARBO) founded in 2019.  She is currently serving as the Advisor of the Board for MHARBO. 

Margarette is a hard working woman passionate about justice, equality and good job for all workers.  Despite her busy schedule, she dedicates her free time to advocate on behalf of her beloved country, Haiti.