Student Alums

Aaruba Ayesha graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts in Education and a minor in Cognitive Science. In her senior year, she joined the TRHT Center as an undergraduate intern, and this opportunity developed her interest in serving communities of color and studying mental health. Aaruba recently graduated from Boston University, where she completed her Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling & Behavioral Medicine. Her professional plans are to continue working with migrant and refugee communities to promote mental health and healing.

Mady Clahane graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts in both Human Development and Family Studies and Psychology, with a minor in Social and Economic Justice. Mady joined the TRHT Center team as an intern during the summer before her senior year. She is currently a second-year law student at the UNC School of Law, where she is on the UNC Law Pro Bono Board and the president of UNC Law Students Against Sexual and Domestic Violence. Her professional goal is to continue using her skills to advocate for marginalized communities.

Lorayna Hinton is an undergraduate studying Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. Her academic interests include social justice, Spanish, writing, psychology, and philosophy.

Anders Liman is a graduate student studying Tech Ethics & Science Policy at Duke Science & Society. Prior to joining Duke, he did some software development and consulting work. Anders went to North Carolina State University where he studied computer science and mathematics.

Desiree graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts in Education and a minor in African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, and first joined the TRHT team as an intern during her final undergraduate semester. She is a second-year student at Duke Divinity School pursuing her Master’s in Divinity. Desiree is passionate about working in the community. She believes in the importance of racial healing as exemplified by the work of the TRHT center. Desiree plans to be an advocate for marginalized communities in her future work.

Laura Navarro is a political economy student at Duke Kunshan University. She specializes in economic development in conflict-afflicted regions. Recently, as a Kirchner Food Fellow, she has focused her work on finding ways to tackle food security and social inequality through impact investment. As a Bass Connections fellow, Laura aims to use her training in economics and political science to understand the historical origins of racial inequality and find ways to break the social, economic, and political cycles that perpetuate it.

Ekene Osakwe completed her Masters in Global Health at the Duke Global Health Institute in 2023. She worked at the Duke TRHT Center as a graduate student intern and helped develop the TRHT Framework Instructor’s Workshop. Her unique experience as an international student inspired her interest in creating inclusive spaces in an academic environment like Duke to help students from all backgrounds feel a sense of belonging.

Carmen Rudd graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Family Studies and a second degree in Psychology. She is currently pursuing a Master of Social Work degree at UNC Charlotte, graduating in May of 2024. In her senior year, Carmen joined the TRHT team as an undergraduate intern. She greatly values the experience she gained and continuously uses TRHT principles in her work. Her goal is to become a licensed clinical social worker, who provides mental health services to marginalized youth.

Megan Stanley is a social worker and organizer from Durham, NC. She received her master’s degree in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2020. She currently serves as the College Readiness & Success Coordinator at Student U, where she supports first-generation college students and imagines new learning environments to address educational equity in our communities. Megan has served as a racial healing program coordinator at the Duke TRHT Center, a community educator and curriculum developer to preserve local civil rights history and as a racial equity and justice facilitator.

Phil Stillman graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2023 with a master’s degree in social work after having done their first-year field placement at the Duke TRHT Center. They are now an outpatient psychotherapist at Three Oaks Behavioral Health and Wellness in Durham, NC, where they work primarily with queer and trans clients on the important processes of healing from discrimination, invalidation, and personal and intergenerational trauma. Phil credits the Center for transforming their understanding of how we can speak about shared suffering and heal from culturally inflicted wounds.

Violet Wang is an undergraduate at Duke University double majoring in Economics and Public Policy with a minor in Computer Science. She is originally from Petaluma, California. After participating in a racial healing circle, Violet felt immediately connected to the TRHT initiative and hopes that more people will have this same opportunity. In the future, Violet aspires to explore careers in law and business.