Program Director
Amanda Blaugher serves as the Program Director for the Take Back The Night Foundation and is the Assistant Director of Residence Life at Penn State Harrisburg. Amanda oversees national campaigns such as 10 Points of Light and Respect My Red for the Take Back The Night Foundation. She works with school, colleges, and communities to help them organize their walks, runs, vigils and other programming components. She is the Conference Program Coordinator for Respect is Red: The International Summit to End Sexual Violence. Amanda works tirelessly to assist event holders around the globe with planning and organizing their walks, runs, vigils and educational programs. Holding a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Shippensburg University, Amanda has been committed to raising awareness about all forms of sexual violence since she was a college student, at which time she created a Women’s Empowerment Program that oversaw all programming efforts on campus around sexual violence and healthy relationships. She has presented to over 200,000 students and professionals at more than 100 colleges, universities, military bases, corporations, non-profits and high schools across the country on sexual
violence and healthy relationships.
Advocacy and Resource Director
Karla Vierthaler is the Advocacy and Resource Director for National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC). She supports the provision of technical assistance to the nation on a wide range of sexual violence prevention and intervention topics. She has been an advocate in the in the movement to end sexual violence for eighteen years. Ms. Vierthaler previously worked for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, where she developed training and technical assistance resources addressing sexual violence in populations historically underserved, including adults in later life.
Program Coordinator
Maryna Bencharska serves as a Program Coordinator at Take Back The Night Foundation. Maryna was born in Ukraine and graduated from Kirovograd National Technical University’s electrical engineering program. Her zeal for knowledge, self-improvement, and desire to aid women worldwide inspired her to pursue an education in America. Maryna’s goal is to bring a fresh stream of ideas to the foundation and share her unique international view, experience and passion.
Intern
Anna Beyer grew up in Wenham, Massachusetts and now attends Westminster College in Salt Lake City. She is majoring in Public Health because she values the population’s health and wellbeing. She aspires to make an impact in our society by educating others on ways that can create a cohesive and respectful social environment. In her free time, Anna enjoys spending quality time with family, traveling, and being outdoors.
Intern
Catherine de Lacoste-Azizi is a junior at The Agnes Irwin School in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. She is an avid advocate for women’s rights both within her community and beyond and is eager to learn from fellow advocates at the ISESV. She resides on Agnes Irwin’s Council for Advancement of Girls, focusing especially on the Girls Council Advancement Network. She is also an intern and ambassador for GenHERation, through which she toured the nation to host leadership workshops for high school girls last summer. Catherine also enjoys performing in her school musicals and singing with her a cappella group, the Bel Cantos, as well as running cross country and track. She is incredibly excited to be volunteering for the ISESV and to raise her voice against the horror of sexual violence.
Intern
Erica Zenn is recent graduate of Cornell University where she earned a degree in American Studies. While she is currently volunteering with the “Respect My Red” campaign, promoting respectful and consented physical contact for all people, in the past she has volunteered at the Association to Benefit Children (ABC) and Reading is Fundamental (RIF). Erica has traveled to places like South Africa, China, Sri Lanka, and Japan to volunteer with children using jumping rope as a vehicle for social change. Through her experiences and her studies, she has become a staunch human rights supporter. Erica is thrilled about the opportunity to be a part of the International Summit to End Sexual Violence because of the surplus of positive, strong, and committed individuals she has met thus far, and she truly believes in the power of knowledge and education in the realm of ending sexual violence.
Intern
Gloria Fortuna is a rising sophomore at Davidson College from Long Island, New York. As a member of the executive board of the Rape Awareness Committee at Davidson, she has played an active role in the planning of Take Back the Night, as well as other programs and events on campus, such as a school-wide “Consent Week” with a full week of events to promote sex positivity, healthy sexual relationships, and the importance of consent. She is also a Chidsey Fellow in the Chidsey Center for Leadership Development, as well as a member of 1972, a club that addresses other women’s issues around campus.
Intern
Hilary graduated with honors from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2008 with a B.S. in Political Science (Legal Studies) and a minor in History. She moved to Ledyard in 2011 because her husband was stationed there. After her husband left the Navy, they loved Connecticut enough that they decided to stay. Hilary has been working as the Bette Giesing Negotiators Team assistant since May 2015. She has two cats, and she enjoys reading and spending time with her family.
Intern
Kellianne Hickey is a 2016 graduate of Loyola University Maryland and a New Canaan, CT native. She double-majored in Global Studies and Political Science with a minor in Spanish and studied abroad in Alcalá de Henares, Spain her junior year. For her senior seminar project, she worked with administrators to spread awareness of Title IX rights on campus, through programming events, a new website, and a short video. An active member of Take Back the Night at Loyola, Kellianne hopes to pursue a career in law advocating for survivors of sexual violence. She currently works as a Project Manager with Campus Outreach Services.
Intern
Intern
Renata has degree in Data Processing but likes to work with people. She has experience in auditing, security information and las job worked in a big bank in Brazil awareness employees and society in how to prevent frauds, risks of social medias and high exposes of private information. She decided to spend her time and experience to helping people in this great cause to end sexual violence. She lives in NY but she is Brazilian, marriage and has two wonderful kids.
Intern
Taylor Hendrickson is scheduled to graduate from Breck School in Golden Valley, Minnesota in June 2016. Passionate about human rights and women’s issues, Taylor became involved in the Summit to End Sexual Violence when she approached Katie Koestner after Ms. Koestner spoke at her school. Taylor plans to study International Relations at university, and hopes to work abroad after completing her education.
Intern
Tierra Barber is an Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development at Baylor University. She oversees the personal development of student-athletes in the areas of college and professional transition, leadership, career development, and community service. The program offers growth and enhancement opportunities for all 550 Baylor student-athletes. She began her professional career in Student-Athlete Services at Baylor, her alma mater, in August of 2004 starting as the Study Hall and Tutor Coordinator. She then served as an Academic Advisor before transitioning into Student-Athlete Development.
Barber graduated from Baylor University with both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Health Science Studies and Exercise Physiology, respectively. She is a former member of the Baylor Track and Field Team, and served as an academic counselor graduate assistant for Student-Athlete Services.
Barber is also involved with student-athlete development on a national level. She serves as a floating member of the NCAA Task Force Teams, member of the N4A Student-Athlete Development and Membership committees, has served as the Chair of the N4A Life Skills Committee and Board of Directors. Barber has facilitated the NCAA Career in Sports and Leadership Forums, has presented at N4A national convention, NCAA Life Skills Symposium and NFL Prep 100, and is a graduate of the 2011 NCAA Leadership Institute and completed the Athlete Development Professional Certification Program with The Wharton School.
Being passionate about holistic health and living, Barber is the co-owner of OMJ (Oh My Juice, LLC), a local juice shop in Waco, Tx. She also offers private health coaching services, which focuses on achieving healthier lifestyles through spirit-mind-body integration and yoga.
Intern
Tom is a Psychotherapist, a College Professor, and a Developmental and Prevention Educator. He has taught courses on Adolescent and Young Adult Development at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for over 20 years. He is the author of Sexual Civility – The Hot New College Romance, and Passionate About Prevention.
During his 25-plus years as a psychotherapist and faculty he created an effective model for helping youth understand and navigate their own development. He has trained therapists, educators, students, and parents all over the United States to use his Asynchronous (uneven) Development Model to assess the needs of youth, and help them set life goals.
A few years ago Tom left his full-time counseling position at the university to found YoungAndWiser, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides life education for teens and twenty-somethings. The organization’s staff and trained college interns conduct instructional and mentoring groups on a range of topics which include, social skills, sexual assault, alcohol and drug misuse, bullying and hazing, healthy relationship, and college success.
He is married, has four children, two dogs, and resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee.