Elaine de Leon Ahn joined Tahirih in 2019. As Director of Communications, Elaine leads the organization’s efforts to leverage the power of storytelling, public relations, and marketing to support and advocate for immigrant survivors of gender-based violence. Prior to joining Tahirih, Elaine served as Communications Director at various nonprofit policy and advocacy organizations including Young Invincibles, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the Death Penalty Information Center. She has also served as an Account Manager at Vanguard Communications in Washington, D.C., where she helped build, launch, and manage multifaceted national public education and awareness campaigns. Elaine also served on the Board of Directors of Share, a national organization that serves families who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss, and has been featured in publications about pregnancy and infant loss. Elaine has lived in Cairo, Egypt where she worked with a local organization providing a broad range of services to refugees from Africa.

I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of an organization that takes a holistic approach to serving immigrant survivors of gender-based violence – an organization that recognizes that wider, systemic change is needed while it is actively working to meet the needs of each person who comes through our doors. As a Filipino immigrant, I am inspired by Tahirih’s commitment to center the voices of immigrant survivors, and I am committed to letting that guide the work I do as a communicator for the organization.

Education: M.A. in Strategic Communications, American University; Masters in Theological Studies, Wesley Theological Seminary

Hometown: Fairfax, VA