Nora is a fiercely passionate queer white woman dedicated to creating a world full of liberation and delight. She has been creatively resisting business as usual for over a decade, first as an activist and educator in the SF Bay Area at places like Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, the ACLU of Northern CA, and ACCESS - Women's Health Rights Coalition. In 2007, she was named Choice USA's Outstanding Organizer for her work defeating back-to-back parental notification initiatives in California. Nora has a Master's Degree from NYU in the Politics of Reproductive Freedom, a course of study which enabled her to think deeply about how to organize in the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Every summer, Nora escapes New York City for adventures by bicycle, most recently with the Spoke N' Heart collective. These bicycle trips are rooted in the belief that traveling by bicycle can be an incredible tool to spark personal growth and bring about social change. Nora is excited to continue deepening her understanding of privilege and power and what it means to be an ally through her work at PEP.
Mary Mahoney,Assistant Director
Mary started her career in social
justice as an Americorps VISTA in the South Bronx where she learned
about housing, community development, and urban struggle. She has been
at PEP for the past 3 years and has worked to raise the voices of young
people in the reproductive justice movement. She is a DONA trained birth
doula and founder and coordinator of The Doula Project. She has served
as a doula for more than a hundred people across the spectrum of pregnancy
and trained fellow doulas and activists on the doula model of care in
abortion clinic settings. Mary loves to meet and work with young people,
radical social justice activists, and all pregnant people. She lives
with her sister in Brooklyn where she spends her time talking about
astrology, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and playing with her cats..
Aim�e Thorne-Thomsen, Executive Director
Aim�e brings her passion as a social justice activist and her extensive experience in leadership and communications to her role as Executive Director of the Pro-Choice Public Education Project (PEP). Her work at PEP focuses on creating spaces for and elevating the voices of young women in the reproductive justice movement. Prior to joining PEP, she held senior management positions in the non-profit and private sectors. Aim�e sits on the Center for American Progress Women's Health Leadership Network, Board of Directors for Reproductive Health Technologies Project, the Board of Directors for Law Students for Reproductive Justice, the Steering Committee for Causes in Common, and the Editorial Board of Our Truths/Nuestras Verdades. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College, City University of New York.
Bianca M. Velez, Program Assistant
Bianca is a sophomore at Hunter College. She is a young, Puerto Rican woman from New York's Lower East Side, dedicated to issues involving social justice and young people. In working with PEP, Bianca hopes to learn more about the issues young women are facing in terms of their sexual and reproductive health in order to advance the leadership and empowerment of young women of color, LGBTQ and gender non-conforming young people in their communities and in their personal lives. Bianca's main focus is to reach out to young people to raise their voices in the RJ movement. Her interests also include feminism and sexual liberation, economic justice, and the mental and physical health of young people. Bianca loves reading and is a big fan of vampire novels.
