Ericka Echavarria, LMSW, JD, is an Associate Director of Field Education and Adjunct Faculty at Columbia University School of Social Work. She is dedicated to preparing social work professionals for justice-based practice, emphasizing a lens of power, race, oppression, and privilege. Ericka also incorporates contemplative practices for self-care and self-awareness, social justice advocacy, and ethical professionalism.

Before her role at CSSW, Ericka worked as a mitigation specialist and sentencing advocate, supporting clients in complex legal cases. She also served youth, children, and families in community-based agencies. With a Master’s in Social Work from Columbia University and a Juris Doctorate from Albany Law School, Ericka brings a diverse skill set to her work. As an Afro-Dominican mother and caregiver, she aims to inspire future social workers while leaving a legacy of love, courage, hope, and compassion.

Find out more about her work here.

Dominique Marie Brown is a dedicated educator and holistic practitioner, specializing in the wellbeing of women in the African diaspora. In her journey of grief and healing after the loss of her mother, she found a need for spaces that centered Black women’s wellbeing and wholeness, which inspired her work. With a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Miami University, Dominique develops anti-oppression curriculums, facilitates critical dialogues, and creates spaces that prioritize women of color.

Currently serving as the Director of Participatory Research + Community Wellbeing at Design Impact (DI), she is deeply committed to promoting womanist healing practices for and with Black women. Her expertise spans somatic movement, meditation, and contemplative practices, collaborating with various healing practitioners to address racialized trauma. Dominique is also a published academic, writer, traveler, and ardent supporter of grassroots community organizing. Her research interests encompass Cultural Studies, Contemplative Education, Critical Pedagogy, African Diaspora, Womanist Spirituality, Intersectional Feminism, and Decolonial Feminism.

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Sarina Rodrigues Saturn, PhD, was a faculty member at the University of Portland. She received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from New York University under the mentorship of Joseph LeDoux. Her dissertation focused on molecular, cellular, and behavioral studies of the amygdala, the key brain structure for emotional processing. She was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, under the guidance of Robert Sapolsky, where she investigated the role of stress hormones on the brain’s emotional circuitry. At the University of California, Berkeley, Saturn was a postdoctoral fellow in Dacher Keltner’s lab and here she began her attempts to bridge neuroscience and social psychology. Her research investigates the biology underlying positive emotions, and her goals are to illuminate the roots and development of social well-being. 

Sarina Saturn (née Rodrigues) is an experienced neuroscientist, educator, parent, researcher, mentor, and community builder devoted to health equity, social justice, and belonging for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), 2SLGBTQIA+ (Trans and Queer), disabled, and other people from non-dominant identities who have been historically excluded from guiding decisions or norms that impact their well-being. Sarina is a Chamoru and Indian queer femme and prolific scholar-activist whose expertise centers on intersectional advocacy, antiracism, feminism, and the neuroscience and psychology underlying emotions, intergenerational trauma, compassion, coping, affirmation, healing, and post-traumatic growth.

Find out more about her work here. 

Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu is a psychologist at Stanford University, exploring human development through mindfulness, Asian wisdom, science, and compassion. As an author, speaker, and workshop leader, he merges diverse cultural heritages, combining Japanese, Irish-American, Buddhist, Shinto, Celtic, and Catholic influences. With a background in early childhood education, East Asian medicine, and mindfulness, he received his doctorate from Harvard University, studying multicultural mindfulness. Over five decades, his work has spanned topics like human development, transformative learning, cultural diversity, and healing. Stephen is dedicated to blending traditional wisdom and modern science in his teaching, research, and clinical practice, promoting holistic healing and personal transformation. Currently, he’s a faculty member at CARE: Center for Asian Health Research and Education at Stanford University.

Find out more about his work here. 

Crystal Fleming is a renowned scholar whose research focuses on the ways in which individuals of African descent conceptualize and respond to racial oppression across various national contexts. Her influential work includes the book “Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France” (Temple University Press, 2017), which applies critical race theory to advance our understanding of racism in France and Europe. This book draws on ethnographic data, archival research, and in-depth interviews with French activists and descendants of slaves to explore how social actors construct racial temporality through collective memories and commemorations of enslavement and abolition.

Fleming’s second book, “How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide” (Beacon Press, 2018), combines public sociology, memoir, critical race theory, and satire to debunk common misconceptions about racism.

In her current research projects, Crystal Fleming extends her work on racism and anti-racism by further investigating the dynamics of global white supremacy and anti-blackness in both France and the United States. She also explores the intersection of spirituality, racial temporality, and intersectionality by examining the experiences of non-white minorities with mindfulness and contemplative practices.

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Edgardo Ramirez is a doctoral student/researcher in Clinical Psychology and a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow with over 10 years of community-engaged research experience. As a first-generation, Latinx with immigrant roots, Edgardo aspires to conduct research that centers the lived experiences of underserved communities confronting health-related adversities, specifically cancer. Through leveraging theoretical frameworks that consider how unique sociocultural processes and environmental contexts interact within these communities to shape physical and psychological health, Edgardo hopes to develop interventions that promote integrative healthcare among Latinx communities. Edgardo also has experience as an instructor and mentor for first-generation students of color, and is committed to becoming a scholar-activist and educator/mentor who leverages his lived experience to serve the greater community.

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Felipe Mercado is a committed scholar and educator who is passionate about advancing inclusive, anti-racist scholarship, science, and education. He is excited to apply for the Global Majority Leadership and Mentorship program to deepen his understanding of mindfulness and compassion practices and learn how to incorporate them into his work. He believes that a focus on compassion, mindfulness, and well-being is essential to achieving equity and justice in all aspects of his work. Felipe plans to use what he learns through the program to create tailored workshops and trainings for different communities, integrate it into his research and teaching, and make a positive impact in the world. He just completed a book on poverty and compassion, titled “A Journey to Compassion: Standing Firm in the Face of Pain.”

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Dr. Mahlobo is a multicultural psychologist and mindfulness practitioner dedicated to rewriting the narrative around Black youth by centering their flourishing. As a researcher, Christa has found that culturally salient mindfulness and arts and humanities interventions are crucial in increasing flourishing, especially for Black Americans who face daily mind-body impacts of racism. With an interest in exploring how mindfulness practices can be adapted to meet the unique needs of the Black community, Christa is excited to deepen her knowledge and skills through the Global Majority Leadership and Mentorship program. Through this program, Christa hopes to cultivate culturally salient and equitable mindfulness programs and use her research to make a positive impact in her local community.

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Rui Seabra Machado is a Brazilian of African descent, hailing from Salvador-Bahia, the city with the largest Afro-Brazilian community. While living in Uruguaiana, Rio Grande do Sul, Rui has been dedicated to helping his community through contemplative practices, especially for vulnerable children. He is married to his beloved wife Gláucia and has a daughter, Maria Clara. Rui is completing his thesis this year, which showcases the positive effects of contemplation on teachers and students within the Brazilian educational system. His goal is to nurture collaborative contemplative research with compassionate interventions involving other university campuses to combat discrimination and prejudice. Participating in the mentoring program will enable Rui to prepare himself better to share his knowledge with his community and propose a collaborative research project to implement centers of contemplative practice in universities and public schools.

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Mansi Brat is an academic dedicated to promoting social justice and anti-racist action. Her current research lines include mindfulness-based programs, anti-racist scholarship, counselor professional identity and advocacy, postmodernist theories, and contemplative sciences. She is particularly interested in examining how mindfulness-based programs support social justice activism in counseling practitioners, supervisors, and trainees. Mansi is also focused on developing a line of scholarship on children and youth raised in marginalized families and their lack of access to mental health care and social integration skills. Her teaching and mentorship focus on encouraging students to connect and apply their knowledge to their lived experiences, promoting social justice among historically disenfranchised groups. She intentionally creates coursework that contextualizes how the information students are learning is applicable to their daily lives and how an understanding of multiculturalism is crucial for providing social justice-informed mental health services.

Learn more about her work here