Meet the Team
As members of marginalized communities, we find ourselves equipt to do the necessary work of centering and working with the people most left out of reproductive care. We’re committed to the necessary work of unpacking our own bias in pursuit of equitable access.
kimika ross
she/they
Co-founder and Co-Executive Director
kimika is a Black, Queer, Feminist dedicated to advancing racial and reproductive justice. As a passionate HR professional, community and political organizer, she believes in embodying and living out your values and working for the benefit and advancement of Black, Indigenous and communities of color everywhere. She received an undergraduate degree from Northeastern University and a Master’s in Public Policy from Simmons University. Originally from Georgia, kimika has past the last 15 years in New England where they spend obscene amounts of time drinking coffee, reading and playing with their fur babies!
feyla mcnamara
she/they
Co-founder and Co-Executive Director
feyla mcnamara (Mohawk/Mi’kmaw) is a queer parent committed to the core values of reproductive justice: that it is our right to choose if and when we birth children, and our right to nurture children in safe and healthy environments. feyla is fiercely dedicated to approaching abortion funding holistically, and dreams of physical spaces throughout our communities where we can offer abortions and other reproductive health services, childcare, healthy food options, and education.
feyla entered movement spaces as a student organizer for the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in the early 2000s. She feels blessed to have been mentored by a badass group of Queer and BIPOC leaders who validated her thinking on oppressive systems through the lens of intersectionality; feyla swears these opportunities as a teenager saved her life. These experiences are foundational to how she views the world, with an emphasis on amplifying the voices of young people to create lasting change.
She enjoys reading to her family, binge watching television shows the rest of the world has already seen, and beading. She lives in Holyoke, MA where she can be found outside going “This is nice.”
Kelli Early
he/they
Director of Fundraising and Community Development
Kelli is a southerner who comes to Tides with roots in abortion funding, non-profit fundraising, and political campaign development. Kelli’s ardor for reproductive justice work stems from his own abortion story and their time working for grassroots nonprofits that advance health equity, abortion access, as well as voting rights. In 2015, Kelli began working with reproductive advocacy organizations to promote abortion storytelling and to distribute stigma-free sex education on college campuses. This experience would lead Kelli to lobbying in Washington D.C., hosting abortion storytelling events, and taking calls at abortion funds for over 7 years to date.
During their time volunteering at abortion funds, they have heard firsthand the barriers to abortion that people face. Kelli has also seen the beauties, and struggles, faced by people working within health access. At Tides, he dreams of building campaigns and collaborations that empower people seeking care, and support the leadership of those working towards reproductive justice.
Cara Callahan
she/her
Co-founder and Director of Intake
Cara is a lifelong supporter of abortion and bodily autonomy. She is an abortion story teller and fierce advocate for reproductive justice. Cara spent a decade working for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts where she reshaped and reimagined how abortion funds could show up for patients. Cara was given the Shannon Lowney award for compassionate care in 2017 and again in 2022. Cara was an integral part of the organizing and winning of the election campaign for PPLM’s unionization with SEIU 1199. She sat on the bargaining committee for 7 months before departing to work for Tides full time. Cara dreams of a world where abortion funds are no longer needed but in the meantime her work with Tides aims to ensure that no one is ever turned away from abortion services due to an inability to pay.
She's been features several times in press, including: