The Team

ABBY GOLDBERG

Founder & CEO

Abby is the Founder and CEO of Variant Strategies, a social impact strategy firm and production house. She has worked in partnership with governments, business leaders, artists, nonprofits, grassroots and world leaders to solve the world’s most pressing problems using a diverse arsenal of advocacy tools including photography, technology and video. Combined with her background in strategic legal advocacy and her ability to translate complex issues into engaging media, she has worked at the front lines of social impact for over 20 years. She has changed dozens of laws and policies, reallocated many millions of dollars in public funding and aid, saved hundreds of thousands of lives, promoted a range of social and environmental justice issues, and has written and spoken widely about human rights, technology, and storytelling. Learn more about her inspiring journey in her blog series titled "Why I Started Variant Strategies".

Abby is a social impact entrepreneur. She co-founded the Global Justice Center, A Human Right, the New Media Advocacy Project, and Variant Strategies. Abby was recognized by Google as “leading the new digital age” and by GovFresh as one of the Top 100 Women in Politics & Technology for developing the first mobile tool for coordinating responses to gender-based violence in Haiti’s camps. Abby served as a Judge at the International Human Rights Film Festival in Mexico City and has consulted for several UN entities, Wikipedia, and several other prominent organizations.

Leila Milgrim

Partner

Leila Milgrim is a seasoned creative strategist and mission-driven marketer with expertise in conceiving and executing dynamic cross-platform campaigns. Currently, she serves as the Global Executive Director of Creative Strategy at Condé Nast. Her extensive career traverses various industry categories and international landscapes, equipping her with a breadth of global perspectives. Leila is dedicated to purpose-led storytelling and consistently strives to pioneer innovative solutions that make a tangible impact. In parallel, she is pursuing a Master's degree at NYU's Center for Global Affairs, focusing on Global Futures, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Social Impact. Leila is also a writer with work featured in publications including Vogue, Condé Nast Traveler, SELF, InStyle, and more.

Lilly Resende

Intern

Based in Dexter, Michigan, Lilly Resende is currently a Marketing Program Intern at Variant Strategies. She is set to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Advertising Management from Michigan State University in December of this year. Specializing in market research and analysis, digital marketing, content creation, and graphic design, Lilly manages internal communications, designs and prepares marketing materials, conducts research, supports Abby, and creates engaging content for various digital platforms at Variant Strategies.

Advisory Board

Jorge Soto

Co-Founder and CTO of Justos

Jorge Soto is a successful technology entrepreneur with a strong commitment to social justice. He is a graduate of both Tec de Monterrey and Singularity University, and currently serves as co-founder and CTO of Justos, whose purpose is to create a safer and fairer world by making insurance simpler, faster and universally accessible. Prior to founding Justos, he co-founded Miroculus, CitiVox, and later joined the office of the Presidency of Mexico as the deputy general director of civic innovation. Jorge is an Endeavor entrepreneur, World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, Ashoka Fellow, World Economic Forum Global Shaper, Brookings Institute Fellow and MIT TR35.

YASMEEN TURAYHI

Tech agency founder, Startup founder, Filmmaker, 3x Author, Speaker, 3x Podcast Host

Yasmeen is the host of the show, “Gateways to Awakening”, focused on neuroscience, intuition, and consciousness produced by Hakawati. Currently, the show is in the top 2% of all podcasts listened to globally on Apple. She is on the Board of Directors of non-profit TechWadi and the author of three books including: Product Marketing Debunked and The Launch: A Product Marketer’s Guide and Breaking Into Product Marketing. Watch her TedX talk here.

She is the writer, narrator, and director of the audio miniseries, Hyphenated-Journey which chronicles her life growing up Iraqi-American. The show premiered at the top of the carousel on Apple in 2022 and was shortlisted in the category “Changing the World One Moment At a Time” at the International Women’s Podcast Awards in London 2023. Yasmee is the writer and executive producer of “A Star in the Desert”, a short fantastical drama about a boy who creates his own fantastical reality on the eve of the first Gulf War, which was selected as a finalist in over eight international film festivals, winning two audience awards for “best child actor”. She has a Master Certification in Intuition Medicine and runs an Intuition school called the Inner Knowing School (InnerKnowingSchool.com) for Executives and Creatives, where she teaches them how to tap into their intuition and master their energy instead of their time. She is the founder of the agency Modern Product and has launched over 200+ software products including climate tech startups, and others in the mental health and neurotech space. Yasmeen is often reflecting on the nature of reality and how she can be a steward of the planet, and to be of service to others.

BRIAN CONCANNON

Executive Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

Human rights lawyer and activist Brian Concannon is the Executive Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH). IJDH helps Haitian advocates bring their centuries-long struggle for justice to powerful countries abroad where too many decisions about Haitians’ rights are made. The Institute documents human rights violations, pursues litigation, engages with members of the US Congress and supports grassroots advocacy. Its current principal focus is stopping the US government’s propping up of Haiti’s corrupt, repressive and unconstitutional regime. Before founding IJDH in 2004, Brian lived and worked in Haiti for nine years, working with the United Nations, and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), IJDH’s sister organization. Along with his BAI and IJDH colleagues, Brian has worked on Haiti cases that have had a global impact, including the UN Cholera case, Haiti’s demand for restitution of its independence debt from France, the Jean-Claude Duvalier prosecution and the Raboteau Massacre trial.

Abby has collaborated many times with Brian, on a successful campaign to win a case against the UN for brining Cholera to Haiti, on another campaign to push for the use of expert witness testimony in Haiti, especially in cases of sexual violence, and counted on his support in her work with Haitian women.

Marie Eramithe Delva

Co-Founder and Secretary General, KOFAVIV | Founder, Med Hair Rescue

Marie Eramithe Delva is the Co-Founder and Secretary General of KOFAVIV (Women Supporting Women Survivors of Gender Based Violence) in Port Au Prince Haiti. In that role, Eramithe and her partner, Malya Villard, served hundreds of women survivors of gender based violence providing mental health, gynecological, and other services. She was a movement leader among grassroots populations in Haiti and her work, especially in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, led her to speak internationally on the situation of women in Haiti. She has spoken at the U.S. State Department, USAID, the Inter American Commission for human rights, and received numerous awards and honors for her courageous work. Due to her activism, Eramithe had to flee Haiti in 2014 and now lives in the U.S. with asylum status. She continues to lead KOFAVIV remotely and fight gender based violence in Haiti with her partner and co-founder, Malya Appilion Villard, who also is in the U.S. under asylum status. She also co-founded Med Hair Rescue, a coconut oil hair treatment, in 2023.

MICHAEL J. HIRSCHHORN

CEO & founder of Mebl

Michael J. Hirschhorn is CEO & founder of Mebl | Transforming Furniture, which supports changemakers across the furniture industry in transitioning to circular, equitable, climate-positive practices. From 1995 - 2014, Michael served as Executive Director of the International Human Rights Funders Group, the Coro New York Leadership Center and the Literacy Assistance Center, also in NYC. Prior, he was an Assistant to the Chancellor of the NYC Public Schools and a Visiting Non-Profit Executive at the Yale School of Management. Michael serves on the boards of Witness, Just Vision, the NY Immigration Coalition and of Documented, a non-profit news site covering NYC's immigrant communities. Earlier, he developed the Immigrant Civic Leadership Program at Coro New York. Michael received his BA from Yale University and his MBA & MSW from Columbia University. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Jimena Martinez, and they are proud parents of 20-year-old twins.

Emily Jacobi

Founder and Executive Director, Digital Democracy

Emily Jacobi, Executive Director & Founder, is passionate about leveraging technology to empower marginalized communities. Beginning her career as a youth journalist at the age of 13, she has led technology, media and research projects in Latin America, West Africa, Southeast Asia and the US. Prior to founding Digital Democracy, she worked for Internews Network, AllAfrica.com and as Assistant Bureau Director for Y-Press. Emily has presented on the intersection of technology, civic engagement and human rights to US Congress, the State Department, the United Nations, and numerous universities and technology conferences. Devoted to protecting the environment and democratizing the design process, at Digital Democracy Emily works with the staff and board, oversees strategic planning and development and works directly with grassroots partners to design programs and tools that empower marginalized communities to defend their rights.

Jimmie Briggs

Documentary Storyteller | Award-Winning Journalist | Author | Principal, Skoll Foundation

When Jimmie joined the Skoll Foundation in 2020, he had more than two decades of experience as a journalist, author, and activist. He was a co-founder and executive director emeritus of Man Up Campaign, a global initiative to activate youth to stop violence against women and girls. This led to his selection as the winner of the 2010 GQ Magazine “Better Men Better World” search, and as one of the Women’s eNews ‘21 Leaders for the 21st Century’. Jimmie has served as an adjunct professor of investigative journalism at the New School for Social Research and was a George A Miller Visiting Professor in the Department of African and African-American Studies at the University of Illinois: Champaign-Urbana.

For a decade, he has been an adjunct teacher of documentary journalism at the International Center of Photography. As a journalist, he has written for scores of publications following staff tenures at The Washington Post, The Village Voice, LIFE magazine, and others. He is a contributor to Vanity Fair magazine among other major outlets. The recipient of honors for his work as a journalist and advocate, he’s been a National Magazine Award finalist, recipient of honors from the Open Society Institute, National Association of Black Journalists, the Carter Center for Mental Health Journalism, the Congressional Black Caucus, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and the Freedom Center in Cincinnati, among many others. His 2005 book Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War took readers into the lives of war-affected children around the world in half a dozen countries. His next book project is an oral history of Ferguson, Missouri, in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in 2014. Jimmie is the principal at the Skoll Foundation. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors, in Philosophy, from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as a Medal of Distinction from Barnard College. He lives in Baltimore.

Donna P. Hall

MPH, MBA

Donna P. Hall's distinguished career began in public health, evolving through impactful roles at Kaiser Hospital, The American Lung Association, and leading to significant positions at notable organizations like The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation. Her academic journey at Stanford University laid the groundwork for her strategic expertise, guiding her through various leadership roles. Hall's most transformative contribution was as President & CEO of The Women Donors Network (WDN) from 2002 to 2022, where she led the organization to national prominence in progressive philanthropy, expanding its membership and establishing a robust grantmaking program with an annual budget of approximately $20 million.

Upon retiring in December 2022, Hall embarked on a consulting and mentoring path, applying her extensive experience in strategic planning, program development, and philanthropy to support organizations aligned with her values. Her post-retirement work includes significant projects with Women of the World Endowment and Equal Rights Advocates, among others. Hall's legacy includes her tenure on various nonprofit boards, demonstrating her unwavering commitment to social change, women's rights, and health, cementing her status as a visionary leader in the nonprofit sector.Abby has collaborated on multiple projects with Donna.

Benjamin Cox

Benjamin Cox is the founder of Red Square Pictures, a New York-based film production company whose clients encompass a diverse field of both long- and short-form content creators. In narrative work, Mr. Cox’s feature film Better Off Single, an NYC dating comedy that he produced, wrote and directed starring Aaron Tveit, Abby Elliott, Lauren Miller Rogen, Kal Penn, Chris Elliott, Lewis Black and Annaleigh Ashford, was released theatrically in the fall of 2016. Another feature project that Mr. Cox produced, Change in the Air, received a fall 2018 theatrical release. An ethereal dramedy directed by Dianne Dreyer, Change in the Air stars Mary Beth Hurt, Aidan Quinn, Rachel Brosnahan, Macy Gray, M. Emmet Walsh and Olympia Dukakis.

His latest feature film, The Mimic, a dark comedy about a non-violent sociopath, recently completed principal photography. Produced by Mr. Cox, The Mimic stars Thomas Sadoski, Jake Robinson, Gina Gershon, Tammy Blanchard, Austin Pendleton and Jessica Walter. Mr. Cox’s upcoming narrative projects include episodic drama Fortune Sun, an opulent modern-day retelling of an ancient Chinese legend; and Patton Generations, an epic miniseries chronicling the American warrior family from colonial Revolutionaries to the WWII battlefield genius of General George S. Patton.
In the commercial/fashion space, a fashion film that Mr. Cox produced, wrote and directed, David Gandy’s Goodnight, was created in collaboration with Dark Harbor Stories (David Schwimmer’s production company) and finished in second place at the 2014 Fashion Film Awards held during the Cannes Film Festival. Roman Polanski’s fashion film, A Therapy, finished in first place, while projects finishing behind Mr. Cox’s included fashion films directed by Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Baz Luhrmann and Martin Scorsese.
Mr. Cox’s Red Square Pictures clients include Above Average, Aquascutum, Ann Taylor, BBC Worldwide, Bionda Castana, CBX, Estée Lauder, InStyle, Kroger, Land ‘O Lakes, Naturalizer, Planned Parenthood, Refinery 29, ShopRite, SS+K, Symphony Commerce, Time Inc., USAID, Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance and Walgreens. His Red Square Pictures work has been featured in publications counting BuzzFeed, Collider, Daily Mail, Deadline Hollywood, Elle UK, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Gotham Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, The Huffington Post, Indiewire, InStyle, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, Nylon, Playbill, Variety and Vogue UK, among others. On the broadcast side, Mr. Cox’s Red Square Pictures work has also been featured by Access Hollywood Live, Entertainment Tonight, Indie Film Hustle, KTLA Entertainment Hollywood, Sirius XM and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
A member of BAFTA New York, Mr. Cox has studied writing at Columbia Journalism School and filmmaking at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Galia Benartzi

Co-founder of Bancor and featured in Forbes and Glamour Magazine

Galia Benartzi is the co-founder of Bancor, the world’s first open-source protocol ensuring on-chain liquidity between any blockchain-based asset. More than $2 billion in token conversions have been processed via Bancor, as the protocol impacts organizations and people across the globe, from blockchain teams to real-world communities issuing local currencies. Galia was recognized by Forbes and Glamour Magazine as a leading woman in crypto; she has been featured on BloombergTV and CNBC, and she has a spoken at the United Nations, TEDx and the Oslo Freedom Forum on topics ranging from global monetary design to blockchain-based sustainable development. Previously, Galia was a Venture Partner at Founders Fund, co-creator of the Reality trip series by the Schusterman Foundation, and Producer of Bretton Woods +75.

Noah Waxman

CEO & founder of Cactus

A natural-born disruptor, Noah is a serial entrepreneur, experienced brand strategist, award-winning designer, and problem solver. As Founder & CEO of Cactus, Noah partners with healthcare visionaries around the globe to design and build the health and wellness companies of tomorrow. This work includes collaborations with Mount Sinai, Mayo Clinic, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, AdventHealth, Wellstar, and cutting-edge health & wellness brands like CLMBR, Ever/Body, and Canyon Ranch.