Meet our new board members

Verónica Bernal

Home City:  Asunción - Paraguay

Camp Affiliation:  Mitakuña Rock Camp Paraguay 

Bio: Hello, my name is Verónica, aka Amotas! I’m an Afroparaguayan from the diaspora. I’ve been working with Mitakuña Rock Camp since 2019. Organizing workshops, concerts, and fairs for our camp, also as a bass, and keyboard instructor.

Before MRC I was involved with Kuña Fest, a festival dedicated to emphasizing women's music in the music scene.

I’m passionate about photography, fanzines, and everything related to collective and community work, as well as documentaries linked to all music genres.

I love to DJ punk and cumbia music, so that people feel free to express themselves through dance.

Home City:  Lima, Peru

Home City:  Lima, Peru
Camp Affiliation:  Warmi Rock Camp

Bio:  My name is Andrea, a 25-year-old bisexual woman. I was born in Lima, Peru, but my parents come from the provinces, so I consider myself mestiza. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Government with an interest in public management. The topics I aim to develop within my career are gender and education. I don't play any instruments, but I am passionate about music and what it conveys.

I am the first generation in my family to complete a university degree and one of the first to be able to engage in topics that I am passionate about, rather than just seeking to earn money—a privilege my parents did not have. I find this relevant because it fuels my interest in participating in initiatives like this, as well as being part of the Warmi Rock Camp.

Lavender Sedlock

Home City: Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Camp Affiliation:  Pittsburgh

Bio: Hi! My name is Lavender Sedlock (they/them) and I live in Pittsburgh, PA in the United States with my partner Audri and my 6 month old baby, Arjuna.

I have volunteered for Girls Rock Camp in Asheville and Pittsburgh, over the course of 6 or 7 years. I am a self taught musician and former music instructor. My favorite instruments to play are the drums, piano, ukulele, guitar, and vocals- but I also love eclectic, experimental, and culturally specific instruments. I have performed in the past as part of an all women and transgender band called Slagwomb in the Night. 

Currently, I work full time as the Trail Experience Coordinator for Friends of the Riverfront- a non-profit that builds, manages, and maintains the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Pittsburgh. In my full time job, I organize arts, educational, and recreational events and programs, fundraise and write grants, as well as manage a group of volunteer Trail Ambassadors. 

I am passionate about the therapeutic impact that music and arts can have on a person’s life. I also love the ways music and art provides a space for self expression, organizing political action, connecting to community, and allowing one another to maintain an authentic voice in a world where there can be a lot of pressure to repress our authentic selves. 

As a part of the board, I would like to take my experiences volunteering in camp, as an aunt to a camper, as a teacher, as an organizer and educator- to work towards sharing best practices for camp design and music education. I would like to help inspire creative fundraising. I would like to help support camps in the work to build an inclusive and effective program structure that serves girls, trans and non-binary youth participants. I also hope to focus on the voices of campers past and present- to learn about the camper experience and use camper feedback to collaborate with camp volunteers and organizers to ensure camps are centering the experiences of the youth in the programs.

I am excited to build friendships and networks with an international community, in order to work together to elevate Girls Rock so that it meets the needs of a changing world. I hope to be able to learn from the stories and experiences of others and help to make a difference!

Jess Garland

shE, Her, hers

is a Dallas-based singer-songwriter, recording artist, and performing artist. She is a multi-instrumentalist who combines harp and guitar loops to evoke her unique brand of ethereal avant-garde pop with celestial jazz tones. Garland has opened for Gingger Shankar and Madame Gandhi. She is a member of the bands Sunshine Village (These Machines Are Winning) and Ataraxia Trio +2. Garland is the co-producer of the film Their Lives Mattered: A Dialogue Honoring Stolen Lives by Dallas law enforcement, for which she also composed the live musical score. She is the executive producer and composer of the film Harp & Sol, honoring the lives and land affected by environmental racism by uplifting the voices of communities and organizations led by Black women. Garland is the President and Founding Director of Swan Strings, a 501c3 non-profit music education program. She is also the Executive Director for Girls Rock Dallas. Her debut single, Glow, is out now.

Mare Ralph

They, them, theirs

is from the homelands of Kiikaapoi, Peoria, Bodéwadmiakiwen, Miami, and Očeti Šakówiŋ. Like many queer and trans youth, they struggled throughout adolescence – with depression, substance abuse, and other self-destructive behavior. Music was a lifeline and a way to express and process complicated feelings. Their life revolved around playing music and touring until their band was in a van accident in 2009. While recovering, music took a backseat as they discovered other passions and graduated from DePaul University in 2014 with a degree in Secondary Education. They moved to Louisville, KY, and fell in love with rock camps, recognizing that their teenage experience makes them uniquely qualified to support girls, trans youth, and gender-expansive youth in finding their creative selves and feeling whole. Mare was a founding organizer with Girls Rock Louisville and filled various roles. While in Louisville, they also worked with disconnected youth as a teacher, advocate, and restorative justice facilitator. Mare has a Master’s in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. They are excited to be back home and organizing with Girls Rock! Chicago. Mare holds unrealistic expectations for the Chicago Bulls and lives in South Shore with their partner, dog, and too many cats.

Gabriella “Guitar Gabby” Logan

She, her, hers

is an Atlanta Native and proud graduate of Spelman College and Vermont Law School. Her background in environmental and music law fueled her desire to start and manage the international Black female touring collective, Guitar Gabby & The TxLips Band, LLC. Logan believes it is important for artists to be well-rounded and versed in many areas of the music business, thus inspiring women worldwide to be an unstoppable force. She is a writer for Guitar World Magazine, the Diversity Editor for Guitar Girl Magazine, and the Board Chair of Girls Rock Asheville.

Sol Bembibre

she, her, hers

is a writer, musician, lesbian, and educator. She was born in Buenos Aires (Querandíes original land). Currently, she is one of the board members of Chicas Amplificadas, Argentina, and was a volunteer in Girls Rock Camp Brazil. She has been working as an educator for the last 12 years and, likewise, advocating in different social justice programs. As a musician, she had been playing with Las Fantásticas Pupés for almost 10 years.

Jei Jones

She, her, hers

has worked within the nonprofit sector for the last ten years, lending her talents to organizations like Play Cousins Collective and the Academy of Music Production and Education. She has been active within Louisville's social justice spaces by supporting Louisville groups like Political Education for Liberation and being a resource for young activists interested in learning how to mobilize people for a cause. Jei also sits on the steering committee for DOVE Delegates, a pilot project offering an alternative to police intervention for individuals experiencing mental health crises.

For the past five years, Jei served on leadership bodies for her greater musical community by sitting on the Caucus Advisory Council for the Girls Rock Camp Alliance. As a CAC Leader, Jei has worked with the GRCA to create year-round caucus spaces, facilitating workshops on inter-organizational and communal mutual aid. She collaborated with the People of Color Caucus to create GRCA-specific tools to measure DEI effectiveness within the GRCA membership organization. Jei has also helped build tools and frameworks for shifting organizational ecosystems interested in creating empathetic and dynamic inclusive policies, procedures, and workplaces within their respective org using Big Data tools for social change. As a leader on the Caucus Advisory Council, she has also functioned as a member of a team of consultants for organizations that may be in danger of destabilization or dissolution by providing tools and suggestions on how to stabilize their organization.

Jei is currently the Executive Director of INTech Foundation, an organization dedicated to inspiring girls to be part of the next generation of technologists by creating innovative tech solutions for social good.

Billie Mari Grant

she, her, hers

is a contextually radical, queer, faith-aware, Black woman rumored to “run on giggles and glitter.” Living and organizing in the Hudson Valley (on land stolen from the Lenape, Mohican, and Wappinger people), she works as a cultural consultant both locally and internationally and has been engaged in organizing and activism for nearly two decades. 

As of 2021, she has volunteered for 21 camps, including Omaha Girls Rock where she has volunteered as a drum instructor, band coach, and workshop lead since 2013, and Hudson Valley AMPS, the rock camp she co-founded in 2021. Beyond working with individual camps, Billie wants to impact Rock Camp as a community. Committed to youth-centered work, she uses her unique lens to educate, rally, and advocate while empowering young folks to do the same.

Her likes include baking elaborate (ideally miniature) desserts and singing impromptu jingles about her more mundane tasks. Her dislikes include willful ignorance and being “nice.”
 Billie's nights are often spent writing postcards to pals, cuddling with Winston Caldwell (her pup), or reading young adult fiction with an excessively pretentious microbrew.

Brooke Harris

she, her, hers

lives, works, and organizes in Waawiyaataanong, the original name of the occupied Anishinaabe land now known as Detroit, MI. Brooke has spent most of her career as an educator: from after-school programs to teaching middle and high school English to a brief stint in student affairs at her alma mater. She now works as a Democracy for All Coordinator with the Michigan LCV Education Fund. She completed her undergraduate studies in English and secondary teacher certification at the University of Michigan and received a master’s degree in Social Justice from Marygrove College. Brooke first experienced community organizing and positive change working with grassroots education activists. With her sister, she co-founded Hollaback! Detroit, a local branch of an international organization dedicated to ending street harassment. When not working or volunteering, she can be found snuggling with her three large rescue dogs and a rotating cast of foster cats, reading, or binging something on Netflix.

Tanya Palit Husain

She, Her, Hers

They, Them, Theirs

is a musician, teaching artist and community organizer based in Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A. Tanya has organized with several GRCA-affiliated organizations, most closely with Boston Raising Powerful Musicians (formerly known as Girls Rock! Campaign Boston). She has 15+ years of nonprofit and research experience, and is a seasoned living room dance party DJ. Tanya dreams of shredding guitar like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, singing truth to power like Buffy St. Marie and Nina Simone, and spreading joy like Missy Elliott. 

Aleeya Wilson

she, her, hers

is a writer and musician from Denver Colorado. Aleeya has been involved with Girls Rock Denver for 10 years, first as a camper, then as GRD’s first camper to volunteer. Involved with GRCA since 2019, Aleeya is interested in moving GRCA towards a more sustainable and equitable future.

Natalia Vajda Viacava

she, her, hers

is a Peruvian guitarist and sound technician born and raised in Lima. She divides her time between being a full-time music instructor, organizing rock camp, playing with Mercury Toys, and being the rocker mom of Amaro, her 7-year-old son. In 2015, she co-founded Warmi Rock Camp Perú after volunteering at Willie Mae Rock Camp in NYC where she was inspired and encouraged to participate in her first GRCA conference, becoming a regular attendee since then.