For nearly a decade, Scott served as a public defender in Brooklyn, representing people charged with crimes who couldn’t afford an attorney, but also long shared his perspective as a public defender outside of court in a variety of media to shift the narrative and drive systemic change. 

While practicing, Scott co-founded the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, which freed thousands of people caged pretrial solely because they couldn’t afford to buy their freedom. After years of practice, Scott was appointed Director of Policy leading creative defender advocacy, as well as design and implementation of multiple new media advocacy films and campaigns, including We Have Rights (immigration nationally), Justice is Blindfolded(laws that allowed prosecutors to withhold evidence in New York), Power of Prosecutors (national Get Out the Vote effort for DA races); and Perpetual Punishment (collateral consequences nationwide). 

Scott founded and now Executive Directs Zealous to build on the successes of the model developed at Brooklyn Defender Services and the promise of non-traditional legal advocacy, media and movements for defenders, social justice leaders, communities, and artists. Scott speaks widely, lectures at law schools and universities, advises companies and organizations on criminal justice media projects and campaigns, and his work and commentary are regularly featured in a range of major national and local outlets. Scott serves as Lecturer-In-Law at Columbia University Law School.

Demetrius is a father, husband, community organizer, public speaker, prison advocate, and artist. Demetrius' work has been featured in prison art exhibits throughout Michigan. While living in Michigan, Demetrius worked with campaign development, direct prison advocacy, collaboration efforts, and restorative practices. He worked directly with incarcerated citizens utilizing his own experience through his successful navigation of the commutation process in Michigan. In his role as Deputy Executive Director at Zealous, Demetrius will lead the administration, programs, and strategic plan of the organization. He will also direct on-the-ground projects and partnerships, leading internal development, culture, and support efforts for the Zealous team.

Crystal is an attorney, social media strategist, and social justice advocate. Prior to Zealous, Crystal worked on indigent defense cases in Oregon, provided legal support to protesters, and developed social media strategies to amplify justice issues and shift the narrative on how they are discussed. As Managing Director, she leads Zealous’s multi-disciplinary work across the country with social justice practitioners, people directly impacted by the criminal legal system, organizers, and artists working to end mass criminalization. Crystal is also a member of the Oregon Justice Resource Center’s Lawyers’ Committee, which provides amicus assistance to cases in Oregon that present significant social justice issues.

Alexz has spent her legal career serving as a public defender in New York City and Detroit. During her time as a public defender, she also played an integral role in a number of projects outside of the courtroom which include Know Your Rights training for both New York immigrant communities and also for Detroit youth, educating on Certificates of Relief from Civil Disabilities for those directly impacted, advocating for discovery reform in Albany, New York, and promoting data integrity in public defender office settings.

As Director of Defender Initiatives, Alexz serves as the point-person for public defender offices in which Zealous is working to establish internal processes, policies and training on non-traditional advocacy. She also collaborates with the organization's communications practice to amplify public defender voices, co-develops and co-teaches law school curriculum and supervises law school clinical projects.

Olayemi Olurin is a movement lawyer, political commentator, writer, and abolitionist thinker. Olurin is Bahamian Nigerian, and was born and raised in Nassau, The Bahamas, where she lived until she moved to America in 2008. She received her JD from St. John’s University School of Law and her BA from Ohio University where she studied Political Science, African American Studies; and Law, Justice & Culture. Olurin is a public defender at The Legal Aid Society in NYC, where she represents people who cannot afford representation, who unfortunately and uncoincidentally, make up the vast majority of the people churned through the criminal system. Olurin educates people about systemic racism, abolition, and why we should divest from the prison industrial complex.  She’s a prominent voice in the movement to decarcerate and close Rikers, an infamous pre-trial detention center in NYC where 18 people have died in the last year. She’s been published in Teen Vogue, The Grio, NewsOne, and appeared on many media outlets like The Hill, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, iHeartRadio, NPR, Yahoo News, VOA News, Brut Media, BNC, The Real News Network, The Law & Crime Network, and more.  She releases essays monthly on olurinatti, where she critically analyzes different issues of our time.

As a Public Defender, Olayemi believes that advocacy must extend beyond the courtroom if we want to shift social consciousness and create real change. Olayemi takes that perspective into her role as Director of Media Advocacy where she works with advocates and movements to support their messages.

Jacqueline “Jacq” Williams is a mother, organizer, birth worker, and abolitionist. She is the co-founder of the Michigan Prison Doula Initiative and consults as a strategist with several campaigns against isolation and confinement, including the Open MI Door Campaign and the Federal Anti-Solitary Task Force. As Prison Program Director for Zealous, Jacq designs curriculums, immersive programs, and expansive arts/advocacy projects with people inside prisons. 

As Regional Director, Jacq works with local partners to envision and support impactful campaigns and projects that serve the community. After spending years as an environmental justice organizer, she is now a homesteader living reciprocally on a small piece of land in Michigan.

Pallavi is an multidisciplinary designer with a robust background in Architecture. A graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art with a specialization in Strategic Branding and Environmental Graphic Design, she emphasizes conceptual design thinking to create experiences that promote user interaction and understanding. 

At Zealous, she is leading the design team creative visual and experience design across national and local campaigns, events and trainings, on and offline media advocacy, and technical support initiatives across the country.

Tanya Lozano is a self-proclaimed struggle kid, organizer, community architect, Chicago Magazine’s Chicagoan of the year 2020, Redcross hero for social justice impact 2021, cook county awardee of the excellence in youth community outreach 2021, and above all mother of 2 bi-racial children. Lozano wakes up every day ready to serve. Niece of Slain latino activist, Rudy Lozano, daughter of Immigration Activist Emma Lozano and Chicago activist Reverend Slim Coleman.

Tanya is the lead Chicago Organizer for Zealous, founder and CEO of Healthy Hood Chicago, member of the We Got Us coalition, the west side United community advisory council, the Southwest environmental Justice alliance and the pilsen faith table initiative.

Asia Johnson is a writer, storyteller, and filmmaker who has worked with several organizations in the criminal justice reform space, including The Bail Project, cut50, Shakespeare in Prison, Prison Creative Arts Program, Hamtramck Free School, and the Michigan Prison Doula Initiative. Asia is a 2019 Right of Return Fellow, 2019 Room Project Fellow, and 2021 Brennan Center for Justice Fellow. Her Chapbook, An Exorcism, was released in 2018 and her upcoming directorial debut, Out of Place, will be released in 2022.

Asia is a student at University of Michigan-Dearborn where she studies Criminal Justice and Film and is the Senior Associate of Storytelling and Local Organizing at Zealous. When Asia isn’t helping to uplift the stories of those impacted by the criminal legal system and making her dream of a world without cages come true, she is writing poetry.

Esul Burton is a recent graduate of the University of Cambridge, where they were an MPhil candidate in Political Thought and Intellectual History. Previously, they received their BA in Political Science from Yale College, where they worked at the Connecticut Bail Fund and served as a research assistant for Professor Judith Resnik at Yale Law School.

At Zealous, Esul supports the team on a range of campaigns, and partnerships by maintaining a firm grasp on local and national policy priorities, as well as the partner and coalition landscapes Zealous supports.

Kelsey is a creative with a passion to empower, provoke thought, and drive change. With experience in branding, web design, product design, medical design, and advertising she is well-versed in design processes. She believes good design only happens when the audience feels connected through empathy, ethos, and storytelling.

At Zealous, she is a senior designer and works on visual and experience design for campaigns, events, and trainings, as well as, digital and print work.

Khue graduated from Yale College where she received a BA in Political Science and a BA in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. She is also a Yale Journalism Scholar. Before Zealous, Khue worked as a journalist specializing in community journalism. As a Gwen Ifill Fellow at Austin’s PBS Station, she produced multimedia content regarding immigration, women in male-dominated workplaces, and community organizing groups, Khue also practiced solutions journalism on responses to social problems in city hall, community-oriented stories, and religion at the Flint Beat, a nonprofit news outlet that serves as an effective watchdog over local government. She has also done work at the Yale Prison Education Initiative, by providing research support and transcribing works made by incarcerated students in Connecticut prisons enrolled in Yale College courses.

At Zealous, Khue supports all Zealous staff in maximizing impact on projects by maintaining a firm and current grasp on all local and national policy priorities, partner and coalition landscapes, policies and legal issues. 

Davis graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in journalism and political science. Before Zealous, Davis worked as a client advocate with the Office of Defense Services in Wilmington, Delaware. His work as a journalist has appeared in the Texas Tribune, the Half Moon Bay Review, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

As Truth and Justice Associate, Davis supports Zealous work at the intersection of journalism and justice, working alongside journalists, public defenders, advocates and people with direct experience to topple the imbalance of power in criminal justice media.

Iishe is a visual artist, community organizer, afrofuturist, and abolitionist. She recently graduated from Scripps College with a BA in Media Studies, and spent most of her time studying media theory, race, and digital art. During her time at Scripps, Iishe co-founded Nobody Fails at Scripps, a mutual aid organization led by a collective of 40+ students to combat the inequitable effects of the pandemic. 

As a Creative Communications Associate, Iishe supports the team in developing and launching social media plans, toolkits, creative design strategies, and illustration projects to uplift and amplify the critical messages and content of Zealous.