Jesse Teverbaugh
Jesse Teverbaugh is director of student and alumni affairs at Cara, which helps men and women affected by poverty to get and keep good jobs, and in the process, hope and self-esteem. A 17-year Cara veteran, Teverbaugh oversees the learning experience for Cara’s 1,500 candidates annually in their journey to employment. A graduate of Cara himself, he has worked as a trainer and as a director in Cara’s flagship social enterprise, Cleanslate. Teverbaugh often shares his perspective on the power of transformation, the role of mental health in Cara’s work, and the effects of incarceration, with The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and others. He was featured in The Reader as a Chicagoan to Know and was the 2011 National Association for MultiEthnicity in Communications (NAMIC) Unsung Hero. He is past president of the Greater Roseland Chamber of Commerce and has served on the advisory board for the business administration program at MacCormac College.
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LaSaia Wade LaSaia Wade is the founder and Executive Director of Brave Space Alliance. An open Afro-Puerto Rican Indigenous Trans Woman, LaSaia is the founder of the Tennessee Transgender Justice Project (TNTJ). She is also a member of Chicago’s Trans Gender Nonconforming Collective (TGNC). She was the central organizer for the Trans Liberation Protest Chicago, the largest march for trans rights in Midwest history, and is the first Trans woman in Illinois history to be honored in Women’s History Month. She graduated from Murfreesboro Tennessee State in 2012 with an MBA in Business Management and has 10-plus years experience in organizing and advocacy work with Black, Indigenous, Trans and gender-nonconforming people around the world. LaSaia is the owner of Mystical Bee Hive in Chicago.
