About The TJC

Community

The Tahirih Justice Center is committed to creating a diverse community of support for women seeking refuge from gender-based persecution. Many of Tahirih's staff and Directors are immigrants, recent descendants of immigrants or members of other minority groups, including African-Americans, Africans, first generation Italian Americans, and Persian Americans. The volunteer corps includes immigrant women from Kenya, Senegal, Iran, and Pakistan as well as European and African-American women.

Layli Miller-Muro, Esq., Executive Director
Prior to joining Tahirih as Executive Director in 2001, Layli Miller-Muro was an attorney at the law firm of Arnold & Porter where she practiced international litigation and maintained a substantial pro bono practice. Prior to joining Arnold & Porter, Mrs. Miller-Muro was an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of Justice, Board of Immigration Appeals. She co-authored the book, Do They Hear You When You Cry (Delacorte Press 1998) with former client, Fauziya Kassindja, which details the story of a young woman's flight from female genital mutilation and her historical impact on U.S. law as the first woman to receive asylum on that basis. The author of numerous articles on female genital mutilation, immigration law, and human rights abuses against women, Mrs. Miller-Muro is frequently asked to lecture at universities and conferences throughout the world as well as serve as an expert on those subjects to media sources. She is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mrs. Miller-Muro received her J.D. (summa cum laude) and M.A. (international relations) from American University and B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa) from Agnes Scott College.
Layli Miller-Muro's Biographical Statement

LEGAL SERVICES

Rená E. Cutlip-Mason, Esq., Director of Legal Services Ms. Cutlip-Mason started at the Tahirih Justice Center as a Staff Attorney in 2004, advancing to Managing Immigration Attorney in 2006 and Director of Legal Services in 2007. Prior to joining Tahirih, Ms. Cutlip-Mason was the Immigration Program Director at La Esperanza Community Center in Georgetown, DE. The Immigration Program at La Esperanza helps its surrounding community with filing paperwork with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, community outreach, and work for systemic change in immigration law. Previously, Ms. Cutlip-Mason was an attorney with Farmworker Legal Services (FLS), a division of Legal Services of South Central Michigan. Through her work at FLS, Ms. Cutlip-Mason represented farmworkers in matters concerning immigration, labor, public benefits and housing law. As a law student, Ms. Cutlip-Mason interned at two small immigration law firms in Boston specializing in business immigration and removal defense. However, Ms. Cutlip-Mason’s interest in immigration law stems from her experience as an Americorp volunteer with Catholic Charities, Immigration Counseling Services in Dallas, TX. Ms. Cutlip-Mason holds her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Spanish from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA and her Juris Doctor from Northeastern University in Boston, MA. She has lived in both the Dominican Republic and Chile and is fluent in Spanish.

Nirupa Narayan, Esq., Managing Immigration Attorney Nirupa Narayan joined the Tahirih Justice Center as Managing Immigration Attorney in December 2007. Prior to joining Tahirih, Ms. Narayan worked as the Senior Staff Attorney with the Survivor Services Department of Boat People SOS (BPSOS). At BPSOS, she represented immigrant survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. Ms. Narayan also provided training and technical assistance to the 15 branch offices of BPSOS, domestic violence and immigration service providers, pro bono attorneys, courts and law enforcement. Before joining BPSOS, she taught courses on human rights and the US legal system for a semester at two universities in Nanjing, China. Ms. Narayan previously worked as a staff attorney with the Family Law unit and AIDS Legal Project of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society where she handled family, housing, wills and estates, consumer and public benefits law cases. She holds a LL.M degree in International Legal Studies from American University's Washington College of Law and a J.D. degree from New York Law School.

Razan Jamil Fayez, Esq., Managing Family Law Attorney Razan Jamil Fayez received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as her M.P.A. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. While in law school, Ms. Fayez was the recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, for which she developed a pro bono program for law students and lawyers to represent victims of domestic violence in protective order hearings. Her project was selected as pro bono project of the year. Prior to entering law school, Ms. Fayez worked for the Noor al-Hussein Foundation, working to improve the lives of Jordanian women. Ms. Fayez is fluent in Arabic.

Allison Medina, M.S.W., Managing Social Worker Allison Medina received her Master in Social Work from Boston University. As a student intern, she worked at the International Institute of Boston, where she did a combination of case management and trauma counseling for refugees, asylum seekers, asylees, and undocumented immigrants. Prior to graduate school, Ms. Medina served two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar, East Africa and 5 months working in a refugee camp in Guinea, West Africa. Ms. Medina received her B.A. in English and French from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Ms. Medina's responsibilities at the Tahirih Justice center include networking with other social service providers, assisting clients in finding psychiatrists, social workers, doctors, housing and public benefits and further developing the social service program. Ms. Medina is proficient in French and is a native of Baltimore, MD.

Daria Fisher Page, Esq., Staff Attorney Daria Fisher Page received her J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Michigan Law School, and her B.A. from Yale University. Most recently, Ms. Fisher Page worked as a lawyer for the US Department of Justice, where she represented the government in immigration matters before the federal Courts of Appeals. She has experience representing asylum-seekers in South Africa, through the University of Cape Town Refugee Rights Project, and in Egypt, at Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance, where she was the head of the unaccompanied minors team. Additionally, Ms. Fisher Page was a member of the legal team representing the plaintiffs in Aguinda v. ChevronTexaco, an environmental class action in Ecuador, and was a Visiting Professor at the Universidad San Frandisco de Quito, where she lectured on refugee law and human rights. While in law school, Ms. Fisher Page received the Jane L. Mixer Award for Advancement of Social Justice, a Clara Belfield and Henry Bates Fellowship, and the Michigan Fellowship in Refugee and Asylum Law.

Mark Haufrect, Esq., Staff Attorney Prior to joining Tahirih, Mr. Haufrect was a bilingual Family and Public Benefits attorney in the Latino Parent Project at Bread for the City in Washington, DC. At Bread for the City, Mr. Haufrect specialized in representing Spanish-speaking survivors of domestic violence in family law matters, such as obtaining civil protection orders. Previously, Mr. Haufrect interned at the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition where he helped represent detained immigrants on asylum cases, and he participated in the International Human Rights Clinic at American University as a student attorney. As part of the clinic, Mr. Haufrect represented a woman fleeing child sexual abuse from Costa Rica. His work on this case and other accomplishments resulted in his being awarded the 2006 Frederick B. Abramson Public Interest Fellowship Award for his exemplification of commitment to public interest law. Mr. Haufrect holds his Bachelors degree in International Studies from Kenyan College in Gambier, Ohio and his Juris Doctor and MA in International Affairs from American University in Washington, DC. Mr. Haufrect has lived in Argentina, Ecuador, and Russia. He is fluent in Spanish and has a working knowledge of Russian.

Mazna Hussain, Esq., New Voices Fellow and Staff Attorney Mazna Hussain received her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School (GW). The recipient of a New Voices Fellowship to work at Tahirih, Ms. Hussain now focuses on fighting gender-based violence in the U.S. Muslim community. While in law school, Ms. Hussain interned at Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE), clerked at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and was a student attorney in GW's Domestic Violence Project and International Human Rights Clinic. Her coursework research into the phenomenon of honor killings culminated in an article printed in the Spring 2006 edition of the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, entitled, "'Take My Riches and Give Me Justice:' A Contextual Analysis of Pakistan's Honor Crimes Legislation." Ms. Hussain also qualified as a member of the GW moot court team that went on to win the Mid-Atlantic Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition and then advanced to the International Rounds of the Competition as a U.S. representative. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Albert H. Grenadier Award for excellence in oral advocacy. Ms. Hussain received her B.A. in English with a minor in Psychology from the George Washington University. She is fluent in Urdu and Hindi.

Natalie Nanasi, Esq., Equal Justice Works Fellow and Staff Attorney Natalie Nanasi's work at Tahirih focuses on client applications for U visas and engendering the implementation of federal regulations for the U visa. Ms. Nanasi received her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2006. While in law school, she successfully represented a Guatemalan asylum seeker and earned a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies from Georgetown University. She also worked with HIV positive immigrants at the Whitman Walker Clinic and received an Equal Justice Foundation Fellowship for her work at the South Asia Human Rights and Documentation Center in New Delhi, India. Prior to law school, Ms. Nanasi served as a rape crisis counselor and worked with single teenage mothers at a transitional residence facility in Boston. Prior to joining Tahirih, she was the law clerk to the Honorable Judge Lynn Leibovitz of the District of Columbia Superior Court. Ms. Nanasi is proficient in Spanish and fluent in Hungarian.

Marissa Wikes, Program Administrative Assistant Marissa Wikes received her Bachelor of Arts from Sweet Briar College (magna cum laude) in May of 2007, where she majored in Spanish and minored in Latin American Studies. During her time at Sweet Briar, she volunteered with the Nelson County Migrant Education Program where she specialized in working one-on-one with ESL students for after school tutoring. She was a Phi Beta Kappa scholar and member of Sigma Delta Pi, National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society. Upon receiving the Mr. and Mrs. Marshall A. Acuff International Scholarship, she had the opportunity to spend a year studying abroad at the Universidad de Guanajuato in Guanajuato, Mexico. While there, she served as a volunteer at a battered women and children's shelter and completed domestic violence training. She has worked as a Spanish tutor, a volunteer at the Mexican Cultural Institute of Washington, DC, and a tour guide at the Art Museum of the Americas. Ms. Wikes is fluent in Spanish.

Laura Macrorie, Paralegal
Laura Macrorie received her Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude) from Georgetown University in 2006. While at Georgetown, she majored in Spanish, minored in government, undertook several research projects focused on women’s rights, international asylum, and gender issues, and studied at the Universidad de Sevilla in Seville, Spain. Prior to joining Tahirih, Ms. Macrorie worked as a paralegal at McKee Nelson LLP, a large corporate law firm in Washington, DC, where she supported the attorneys and partners in the firm’s capital markets and securitization sectors. Ms. Macrorie is also an active athlete and has worked as a tennis instructor and children’s summer camp counselor at the McLean Swim and Tennis Club in McLean, VA. She is fluent in Spanish and has a working knowledge of French.

Mona Moayad, Paralegal and Baha'i Service Fellow Mona Moayad received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where she double majored in government and sociology (magna cum laude). During her time at the University of Texas, she completed original research on the policy implications of the Medicaid healthcare system on minority women and children in Texas and also studied abroad in Spain. Ms. Moayad is also an alumni of the Washington Semester Program through American University. While in the program, she completed original research on immigration policy changes towards international students in the post-9/11 world and interned with the Protection Project at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Prior to attending college, Ms. Moayad interned with the United Nations Baha'i International Community Office in New York. She is fluent in Farsi and proficient in Spanish.

Negin Avaregan, Paralegal and Baha'i Service Fellow Negin Avaregan received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2007 from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she majored in Psychology. While there, Ms. Avaregan was a Research Assistant for the Globalization Research Center - Africa. She was also a Youth Ambassador to China for the Pacific Rim's Institute for Development and Education in 2006. Prior to attending UCLA, Ms. Avaregan spent one year volunteering in Haifa, Israel at the Baha'i World Center's Office of Legal Affairs. She is fluent in Farsi.

PUBLIC POLICY

Jeanne Smoot, Esq., Director of Public Policy
Prior to joining the Tahirih Justice Center, Jeanne Smoot was the Program Manager of the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR). Ms. Smoot’s responsibilities included curriculum design for an intensive seminar for senior-level humanitarian and human rights professionals on the challenges posed to humanitarian organizations in current conflicts, taking the African Great Lakes region as a case study. Prior to HPCR, Ms. Smoot was a litigation associate in the law firm of Mintz, Levin. While in private practice her pro bono activities included the representation of a young woman from Rwanda seeking political asylum and the defense of a survivor of domestic violence against a retaliatory restraining order taken out by her abuser. Ms. Smoot received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her Master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1999. While in graduate school she volunteered with the Battered Women’s Advocacy Project as well as with the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association on a legislative reform campaign, working to secure a presumption against awarding custody of children to a battering spouse. In the summer of 1998, Ms. Smoot served as a legal intern in the office of the Honorable David J. Scheffer, then the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues at the US Department of State. Before law school, she was a project assistant for Conflict Management Group, an international non-profit engaged in peace building and negotiation training. Ms. Smoot graduated magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard College in 1994 with an A.B. in Anthropology, participating in the course of her studies in excavations in Jordan, Israel, Thailand and Siberia.

DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Allyn B. Summa, M.A., Director of Development and Communications Prior to joining Tahirih in 2004, Allyn Summa served on the Board of Directors for the Tahirih Justice Center while she was working as the Vice President of Kircher Interactive (now known as Fixation Marketing). During her time at Kircher, Ms. Summa served as Tahirih’s account executive for all of Kircher’s pro bono work for Tahirih. Her experience includes marketing and communication strategy, strategic media planning, and online strategy, planning and development. Prior to working with Kircher, Ms. Summa worked supporting the online efforts of two internet publications, Traffic World and Air Cargo World, and she also worked in George Mason University's IT department on several major Web redesign projects. Ms. Summa holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico and a Master's degree from George Mason University in literature.

Ivi Kolasi, Grants Manager Ivi Kolasi received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia in 2005, double majoring in economics and religious studies. During her time at UVA, Ms. Kolasi was most actively involved in the Children of Abraham Institute - a student group that practiced scriptural reasoning in an effort to create meaningful conversation among members of the Judaic, Christian, and Muslim faiths - and the African Drumming and Dancing Music Ensemble. Ms. Kolasi previously interned for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She also regularly participates in community service projects and has volunteered for the International Rescue Committee, the Washington Literacy Council, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and Alternative Spring Break-New Orleans. Ms. Kolasi is a native of Tirana, Albania and has lived in Virginia for over 10 years. She is fluent in Albanian and proficient in French.

Jenny Nuber, Major Gifts Manager Jenny Nuber joined the Tahirih Justice Center in January 2008 as the Major Gifts Manager. Ms. Nuber received her B.A. from the State University of New York College at Geneseo in 2002 with a double major in Political Science and International Relations concentrating in gender studies. In 2004, she went on to Political Science graduate work at the University of Buffalo focusing on International Human Rights Law. Prior to joining Tahirih, Ms. Nuber worked as the grants manager for the House Of Ruth Maryland, a comprehensive domestic violence agency based in Baltimore.

Subin Varghese, Donor Outreach Assistant Subin G. Varghese received his BA (Phi Beta Kappa) in government and the Plan II Honors Program, and received his BBA in management and the Business Honors Program from The University of Texas at Austin. During that time, Mr. Varghese spent a semester studying management at the Universitá Commerciale Luigi Bocconi in Milan, Italy. In addition, he studied peace and conflict resolution at American University through the Washington Semester program, which included an overseas practicum in Northern Ireland and an internship at the Tahirih Justice Center. Building upon his interest in strategy management and peace studies, Mr. Varghese wrote his undergraduate thesis on effective implementation of educational initiatives used in Northern Ireland to foster social reconciliation.

ADMINISTRATION

Maeve O'Higgins, M.B.A., Director of Operations Maeve O'Higgins received her M.B.A., with a concentration in Finance and International Business, from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining Tahirih, Ms. O'Higgins was an Executive Manager at MCI and a Director at Nextel Communications, where her experience spanned order processing, billing, financial reporting, budgeting, and customer service improvement. Ms. O'Higgins also spent two years on the Management Team at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, where she had ownership for order processing and warehouse management, in addition to financial and payroll systems. Ms. O'Higgins serves on the advisory board of the East African Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children and she is also Treasurer of McKinley Elementary School's Parent-Teacher Association. Ms. O'Higgins has a working knowledge of French and German.

Peggy Carrington, Finance Associate Prior to joining the Tahirih Justice Center, Peggy Carrington was Controller at PlanEcon, Inc., an econometrics firm specializing in the economies of Russia, the former Soviet republics, and Eastern Europe. For the last 10 years, she has managed the accounting for another nonprofit, St. Charles Borromeo Philippine Medical Mission, which supports health care initiatives for the poor in the Philippines. Mrs. Carrington graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in Russian Area Studies. She has a working knowledge of Russian.

Katherine Manuell, Administrative Assistant Katherine Manuell received her Bachelor of Arts degree in May 2007 from American University (magna cum laude) in Washington, DC, where she majored in International Relations and minored in Spanish. During her time at American University, she studied and interned in Madrid for over a year. She also participated in a service-learning trip to Guatemala to meet with local farmers and study the impact of fair trade coffee. She was a peer educator and treasurer for The Naked Truth, as well as a member of Student Senate, Golden Key Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, American University Animal Rights Effort, and Sigma Iota Rho. Ms. Manuell served as a policy intern with Women Work, for whom she published an article about women's equity in the workforce. She is well-traveled, speaks fluent Spanish, and is certified in Spanish translation.