2019-2020 Board
Julian Morimoto — Co-President
Iman Mohamed — Co-President
Jessica Sawadogo — Treasurer
2017-2018 Board
Salomé Gómez Upegui, Co-Founder and President, is a Colombian Lawyer from Universidad de Los Andes currently pursuing an LLM degree at Harvard Law School. Before her LLM studies, Salomé worked with Colombian lawyer Catalina Botero on freedom of expression and access to information issues, and as a legal researcher for the Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP), in Bogotá, Colombia. She was also a part-time law professor at Universidad de Los Andes, where she taught courses on freedom of expression, film & discrimination, and gender, law & public policy. Salome is Student Attorney at the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School.
Rhuta Deobagkar, Co-Founder and Vice-President, is completing her LLM at Harvard Law School, with a concentration in International Human Rights. Having obtained her primary law degree at Gujarat National Law University, Rhuta worked as an employment lawyer at Trilegal, a top-tier Indian law firm. In addition to her regular revenue-driven work, she initiated setting up a policy and pro bono team within the firm. She enjoys participating in various volunteer efforts, ranging from working with rescue animals to conducting computer literacy classes. Rhuta is interested in addressing human rights issues through grassroots level work as well as public policy initiatives.
Priyanka Naidoo, Co-Founder and Community Manager, is currently doing her LL.M. at Harvard Law School, with a focus on Cyber Law. She is also completing her LL.M. at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) in International Criminal Law. Before coming to Harvard Law School, Priyanka clerked for Judge Malcolm Wallis of the Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa and worked as a candidate attorney for the global law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright. She also serves as the Secretary for the Harvard African Law Association, and the Interview Editor for Harvard Kennedy School’s Africa Policy Journal. She works as a clinical student at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic.
Mihret Woldesemait, Co-Founder and Treasurer, is a 2L at Harvard Law School. She immigrated from Ethiopia to Nashville, TN at the age of 11. She attended Duke University, where she majored in International Comparative Studies with a concentration on Africa. She also studied abroad in Jordan, Turkey, and India. Prior to law school, she served in the Peace Corps as a Community Development and Health Volunteer in Namibia. The summer after her 1L she worked as a Legal Intern at the Women’s Legal Center in Cape Town, South Africa. Her own experience as an immigrant, growing up in the south, and her global studies have truly enriched her desire to create a space for dialogue and collaboration between the global south.
Marzieh Tofighi Darian, Co-Founder and Secretary, is an S.J.D candidate at Harvard Law School. Her research focuses on proportionality as an interpretive method to be used by constitutional courts in countries with intra-religious divisions (or societies divided along religious-secular lines) as a way to increase internal and democratic deliberation, to prevent total capture by one social force, and to produce a more moderate and accommodating jurisprudence. In 2012, she was involved with the Center for Constitutional Transition where she, as a researcher, worked on issues related to constitutional design for Arab Spring countries. She specialized in International Legal Studies for her LL.M degrees from Harvard Law School and New York University Law School.