Testimonials

 

Katayoon is a visionary with a humble heart and strategic mind. A blessing to work with and a joy to be around. She is smart, strategic, grounded in best practices, extremely hard-working. Anyone who knows her has benefited from who she is as a professional and friend. 

-- Ana Yáñez-Correa, Deputy Director, Harris County Justice Administration Department

Katayoon is not just committed to racial justice advocacy, she lives it. As a critical strategic thought partner, Katayoon was essential in helping us advance a campaign to close New Jersey’s youth prisons, characterized by the worst racial disparities in America, and reinvest critical resources back into the communities most impacted by the system. Katayoon was critical to the campaign from the beginning, when we sought to center impacted young people in the work, and as we broadly engaged coalition partners. The campaign led to the historic announcement that two of the state’s youth prisons would close, and a legislative victory that will reinvest nearly $10 million into four cities directly impacted by youth incarceration. Katayoon is a tremendous partner. She is extremely smart and capable, thoughtful, strategic and warm. I welcome the chance to work with her again and recommend her highly to those who wish to make a deep impact. 

- Ryan P. Haygood, President and CEO, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice

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Katayoon is a social justice advocate working at the highest level. I had the good fortune to work with her when she was a director on our staff at the Public Welfare Foundation. I saw her in action day after day-–as a highly strategic grant maker; a deliberate coalition builder and collaborator with fellow funders and grantees alike; a superb writer, researcher, and speaker; and a knowledgeable resource on organizational management and operations. She gets the job at hand done, whatever it might be, with grace, unfailing commitment and competence, and a highly honed mix of skills.

-- Mary McClymont, former President and CEO, Public Welfare Foundation

I worked with Katayoon for nearly a decade. Her ability to frame an issue and strategically align tactics to advance our movement to end the prosecution, sentencing, and incarceration of youth as adults helped us get to unimagined wins. I frequently relied on her to connect me to unlikely allies, improve the clarity of our mission and goals and help me take out-of-the-box thinking to boots on the ground strategies.

-- Marcy Mistrett, former President and CEO, Campaign for Youth Justice

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​Katayoon is a skilled, analytical strategist, who possesses the sensibilities of a coach. She works in genuine partnership with others to develop winning solutions to complex problems. I couldn’t recommend her highly enough.

-- Shaena Fazal, Managing Director of Advocacy, Alliance for Safety and Justice

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Katayoon is the perfect strategic and operational partner. She is an exceptional writer, she is smart and strategic, and she gets along with everyone. With a long career focused on racial justice and equity, she understands the nuances of activism, advocacy and policy change. She is especially good at navigating difficult issues and complex political dynamics.

-- Seema Gajwani, Special Counsel for Juvenile Justice Reform and Chief of the Restorative Justice Section at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia