This year was my first SRF — not just as an attendee but as someone stepping into the responsibility of carrying it forward. I joined Americans United because I believe in the power of collective gatherings, not just to learn or organize but to shift culture. And I believe SRF has the potential to do just that — if we’re willing to continue to stretch.
As a proud Black, Haitian-Dominican American woman from Newark, N.J. — queer, a first-generation college graduate and the daughter of immigrants — I come to this work not as a traditional event planner but as someone shaped by movements. These movements taught me that how we build matters as much as what we build. SRF 2025 gave us glimpses of what’s possible. The energy in the room was real. People were ready to connect, to challenge Christian Nationalism and to imagine better.
There were moments that anchored me. Watching Tatiana Chance, a brilliant young Black woman, accept the David Norr Youth Activist Award reminded me of what’s possible when we trust and invest in new leadership. She told me afterward that seeing me on stage made her feel empowered — and the truth is, her presence did the same for me. That exchange is a reminder of what SRF should always strive to be: reciprocal, affirming and rooted in possibility.
Hearing April Ajoy’s keynote brought people back to purpose. All around me were signs that this work isn’t just about pushing back but building forward.
As part of this year’s recap, I invited a small group of AU staff members — many of them young, new to SRF and deeply rooted in the communities we hope to reflect better — to share their reflections. These are the voices that will shape the future of SRF. Their perspectives are honest, personal and grounded in their work behind the scenes and in the rooms where it happened.
As I take the lead on SRF 2026, my commitment is clear: to continue to build an experience that is spacious, bold and expansive of the voices that have always been at the heart of this fight — Black, Indigenous, queer, disabled, working-class, immigrant and nonreligious people who have been pushing for freedom long before it was popular to do so.
SRF must be more than a stage — a mirror and a megaphone — a place to rest, resist and reimagine.
We’re just getting started!