Meet Anat

 Director of Collaboration

Originally from Long Island, New York and currently living in Brooklyn, Anthony Torres is focused on building political power for movements aimed at deepening democracy while tackling our crisis of climate change, social inequality, and rising authoritarianism. 

Anthony is the Director of Collaboration at ASO Communications, where he leads on building strategic partnerships and projects with movement allies. He is also currently co-creating a new movement project for truth and reconciliation in America, and most recently served as the Communications and Political Director for By the People, the grassroots national campaign to impeach and remove Trump. Immediately prior, he fought for a Green New Deal and transformative international trade policies as the Campaign Strategist for Sierra Club's Living Economy Program. He is a proud unionist, having been a leader of the Progressive Workers Union, and has delivered recommendations to the EPA as a member of their Youth Perspectives on Climate Justice Workgroup. 

Anthony believes our movements must act as a united, cross-class, multiracial front for progressive change and has been named as a Top 50 Fixer by Grist and a Brower Youth Award winner for his efforts toward that goal. He is a 25 year old queer Latinx man who loves history and maps, enjoys hiking new trails and exploring new cities, and talks political strategy and messaging on the dance floor.  

Director of Narrative

Jillian Marcellus crafts narratives to realize the future we deserve. They believe in messaging grounded in long-term vision and communications strategies based in transformative media organizing.

Prior to joining ASO Communications, they served as Director of Communications at Transgender Law Center (TLC), the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. In five years at TLC, they focused on authentic, effective, and ethical storytelling to expand public narratives around gender and center the leadership and experiences of trans people of color. With a multiracial cohort of nonbinary leaders across the country, they led a first-of-its-kind research project to explore new messaging frameworks for gender.

Jillian honed a professional passion for storytelling that advances racial and gender justice as Communications Manager at GSA Network, a national LGBTQ and racial justice youth leadership organization. Previously, they fought for a more inclusive media landscape at the Women’s Media Center. Jillian earned a BA in English from Barnard College and studied Victorian literature and history at Oxford University on their path to challenging injustice through storytelling.

A nonbinary white queer Jew from New York, Jillian lives in Oakland, CA with their wife and young child. 

Outreach & Logistics Manager

Alona Sistrunk develops and maintains platforms that amplify the reach of ASO Communications’ research and the Brave New Words podcast (via social media, email updates, and website correspondence). Internally, she helps senior staff streamline business processes so that they may prioritize better serving our allies and fighting for the issues we care about. 

Her work at ASO Communications follows a long, demonstrated commitment to progressive causes. She served as the ACLU of Missouri’s Communications and Development Associate before, during and after the Ferguson Uprising; there, she supported the litigation and legislative teams’ efforts to protect protestors’ and the media’s free speech rights, win the fight for marriage equality, and end racial profiling in policing in the state. With the National Employment Law Project in Washington, D.C., Alona had the privilege of promoting and raising funds to sustain many workers’ rights initiatives, including “Ban-the-Box” and living wage campaigns.  She supported the MacArthur Justice Center at St. Louis’ legal team in their fight for criminal justice reform as their Civil Rights Litigation Specialist.  

Alona is a St. Louis American Foundation 2018 Young Leader Award recipient and proud graduate of Howard University (B.A. Sociology) and the New Leaders’ Council Fellowship (2017; St. Louis Chapter).