2022 Puentes Fellows

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Andrew Lewis (he/him/they) is a Public Service professional, and the son of a Peruvian immigrant mother. He is the first born in the United States on his mother’s side, and is a proud Peruvian-American Jew. Andrew is active in his Congregation and Community and serves on his local Neighborhood Council. Andrew is a graduate of UCLA where he studied Political Science. Andrew looks to build on and explore his identity as Latinx Jew and an advocate for his Community. 

Dr. Beverly Pincus (she/ella) is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with expertise in trauma treatment and Cross-Cultural Psychology, and a writer of personal essay and poetry. In 2020 she developed and launched “The Write Stuff" a workshop designed to stimulate creativity and work through writing blocks (which of course she also experiences!). A proud Colombian-American “Jewtina” Beverly works clinically mostly with the Spanish-speaking Latinx population, primarily in community mental health settings. She is involved with Social Justice work and provides pro bono psychological evaluations for asylum through Physicians for Human Rights; currently most of her work through PHR is on behalf of Latin American detainees at the border. Beverly is a member of the steering committee that established a Social Action Committee at her synagogue, Romemu, and represents the congregation on the Synagogue Coalition on the Refugee and Immigration Crisis (SCRIC). 

Cristina is a Latina picosita - muy tatuada y muy educada. Central Virginia's only multilingual heavily tattooed and Jewish library manager, Cristina (she/her) feels like she is coming full circle in her over 500 year history. Cristina's father's Sefardi Jewish ancestors left Spain for Nuevo Leon, Mexico as Crypto Jews. Eventually they became Catholic but the spirit remained and called through her in this generation. She came back to the faith, converted to Judaism, studied Hebrew, lived in Israel and is an active member of the Richmond, Virginia Jewish community. She is a member of Temple Beth-El and participates in the Jewish Federation of Richmond's Community Leadership Institute. She wants to help bring other Latinx community members who are interested in learning about their heritage, faith, ancestry resources and connections to each other as they follow their Jewish souls calling them back too. 

Elianna Bernstein (she/her) is a first-year grad school student getting a Master's in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She selected the mental health concentration within social work, more specifically child behavioral health. She is originally from California and is missing the sunshine, her family, and her cat! In her free time she enjoys taking walks, baking, mindfulness meditation, dabbling in printmaking and other artsy endeavors, and indulging in anything feline-related. She is from a Mexican/Jewish background and she looks forward to meeting a cohort of like-minded Latinx Jews! 

Jennifer Olissa Leshnower (she/her) was born in Bogotá, Colombia, raised in New York, and is a proud, Jewish Afro-Latina. A skilled facilitator and trainer, Jen has spent her career working with communities to harness their most powerful asset: their voices. Jennifer holds a Master of Public Administration and Master of Social Work from Columbia University and is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer that served in the Eastern Caribbean. She is a proud Oakland-ite, member of the Jewtina y Co. Advisory Board, and will be participating in this years cohort as the alumni presence and contributor in the program. 

Jon (he/his) merges his dedication to community building with his personal mission for LGBTQ+ rights and representation as Keshet's Director of Community Mobilization. Applying his own experiences, he revels in the opportunity to organize diverse communities through an intersectional Jewish lens. After graduating from Florida State University, Jon engaged his passions for the Jewish community and service as a Repair the World Fellow in Brooklyn, leading young professionals in hands-on service through Jewish values. After his time as a Fellow, he served as the Interim Director of the Jewish Volunteer Center at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, executing community-wide service events and organizing a young professional volunteer movement. He then went on to become the Program Manager for Repair the World Miami, launching Repair’s 6th Fellowship city and spearheading programs and partnerships through local and national initiatives. A South Florida native, Jon lives in Miami with his partner, Kevin. Outside of work he can be found relaxing at the beach, reading, volunteering, and using online menus to plan the meal before getting to the restaurant.

Kat Macías (they/them) is a fat queer and genderqueer Puerto Rican and Cuban Jew who has been involved in movements for liberation since 2011. Kat began organizing in college fighting for the safety of trans students and ultimately winning the addition of “gender identity” to the Non-Discrimination Anti-Harassment policy at the University of Georgia. They are an alumn of the Jewish Organizing Fellowship and have worked in the Jewish social justice field for the past 7 years at organizations like Keshet, Avodah, and Jewish Youth for Community Action. Kat believes that the core of liberation work is vulnerability, trust, radical hope, and ultimately spiritual transformation. They come from a long lineage of spiritual seekers and leaders who have moved through Taino, Afro-Caribbean, Catholic, Pentecostal, and Mormon religion, practice, and traditions. Following in this legacy, Kat converted to Judaism and has played an important part in shaping Jewish communities. Kat holds a M.Ed. in Social Justice Education and is trained as a Movement Chaplain and Spiritual Director. Kat’s heart sings when they dance while cooking in kitchens, have long porch talks with queer Southern Jews and when they are swept away in songs share through Let My People Sing.

Kiyomi Kowalski (she/her) is a Marine Corps veteran, anti-racism educator, and a social justice advocate. Kiyomi is certified in Diversity & Inclusion by Cornell University, and she earned her law degree from Southwestern University School of Law with a distinction in public service. She created, chaired, and supervised the Social Justice Collective and Anti-racism Task Force at Valley Outreach Synagogue in Calabasas where she produced numerous educational panels, discussions, and workshops that addressed three social justice initiatives: anti-racism, environmental justice, and fighting antisemitism from 2020 through 2021. In her time as the Social Justice Collective Chair, Kiyomi partnered with USC Casden Institute, Jewish Center for Justice, Hebrew Union College, Zachor Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, Zioness, and various other Jewish organizations and synagogues to bring the best social justice education to the local Jewish community. Kiyomi is a member of the 2021 Bend The Arc Selah Cohort 17 and a 2021 Uri L’Tzedek Torah in Action Summer Fellow. 

Melanie (she/her) is a Syrian-Argentinian Jew who immigrated to Toronto, Canada in her childhood. Intersectionality is at the core of her identity and it's often difficult to discern which cultural norms come from which part of her background. The Jewish community has provided Mélanie a home in all the spaces she's lived - Buenos Aires, Toronto, Waterloo, San Francisco and Seattle, and she's enjoyed building a community with Jews of multiple diverse backgrounds, giving myself and others the space to be themselves. More recently, Mélanie was a Federation Fellow and an AJC San Francisco board member. The other  passion in her life is work - where she aims to integrate more Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) into the energy grid by building distribution grid market software, as a Product Manager for General Electric.

Nate Looney (he/his) is an American Jewish University alum, agricultural entrepreneur, diversity strategist and US Army Veteran. He was part of rescue efforts during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and deployed to Iraq in 2008. Nate is a Wexner Field Fellow, a Bend the Arc Jeremiah alum and Selah JOC Cohort alum. Nate is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion in the Jewish community in addition to sustainability and innovation in agriculture. Nate is the Manager of Racial Justice Initiatives at Avodah, is a board member of the Jewish Multiracial Network, Urban Adamah and JQ International. He speaks publicly about intersectionality and diversity across multiple sectors. When not working, Nate can be found on the water, sailing, deep sea fishing or body surfing. 

Rachel Lipkin (she/her) was raised in New Jersey by two amazing parents. Her mother is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic and her father was raised in South Jersey by my Russian Jewish grandparents. She holds a Masters in Library and Information Sciences and has spent many years working in the public sector with at risk communities in Brooklyn, New Jersey, and California. She loves to travel, bake, cycle, and she is an avid reader! She currently lives in Dallas with her partner of 9 years and have recently found a beautiful Jewish community in Temple Emanu-El. 

Sonya Mendoza (she/her) is an anarchist organizer living on indigenous land. Born and raised in CA, she moved to Washington DC for college in 2001, where she became involved in movement organizing through the anti-war movement. Sonya is a facilitator, a planner of strategic targeted actions, a retired street outreach worker, and a professional dog walker and pet sitter. She also works part time at Nefesh, a radically inclusive synagogue based in Echo Park LA. Right now she is organizing with Never Again, and the Koreatown Popular Assembly, which is a rapid response network that responds to ICE raids in neighborhoods. But mostly she hangs out with her cats Bummer and Yucky and listens to metal and anime soundtracks. 

Violeta Stolpen (she/her) has over 10 years of experience in the social impact, community development, and sustainability spaces in various capacities – as an environmental scientist, a corporate social responsibility professional, a nonprofit program manager, and as a community development finance professional. Violeta currently serves as the Donations and Procurement lead volunteer for Jewish Family Services of Delaware in support of their refugee resettlement program. Prior, at Clearinghouse Community Development Financial Institution, she led the organization’s impact performance for all grants and chaired the company’s 8-person B Corporation Committee. With the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Violeta led an $8M grantmaking, public-private program to support American-based fashion designers’ efforts to address their social, economic, and environmental footprints. Violeta holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Geology from Bucknell University. She lives with her husband, Aaron, and her two sons, Elijah and Levi. In her spare time she likes baking challah and spending time with her growing family. 

Yvette (she/her) is a native Floridian. She holds a degree in sociology from Florida International University with a certification in Global Jewish Studies. Her passion for writing led her to a career as a grant writer in the higher education, non-profit, and corporate sectors. Yvette is an avid fitness and health enthusiast and in her spare time enjoys blogging, spending time with family, and traveling.