Ripple Conference 2023

Reproductive Justice Across Faith Traditions
Saturday, February 18 at 6:30 pm, in McKinnon Hall, our panel will also be part of the wInterfaith series.

Three of our panelists will be Rev. Brandee Jasmine Mimitzraiem, Director of Institutional Engagement and Public Theology for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Dr. Keeli Gailes, a physical therapist who works in the specialty setting of pelvic health and preventative healthcare, and Hillary Zaken, Interim Assistant Dean of Multifaith Engagement at Elon University. Learn more about the panelists below!

Rev. Brandee Jasmine Mimitzraiem:
As RCRC’s Director of Institutional Engagement and Public Theology, Rev. Brandee Jasmine leads efforts to move outside of strictly-Christian spaces and into reproductive justice (RJ) spaces, incorporating a diverse and multi-faith strategy into our work. Rev. Brandee Jasmine was ordained an itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2003 and has pastored congregations in Utah, Kansas, and Nebraska. She prioritizes the well-being within the real-lived experiences of Black Queer women and children, and works to create and sustain safe places across the intersectional realities of race, sexuality, gender expression, and class within the Church and in communities. She has two donor-conceived sons and two dogs (she calls them “models of pastoral leadership”), all of whom keep life full of laughter. Rev. Brandee Jasmine is a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

Dr. Keeli Gailes
Dr. Gailes is a physical therapist who specializes in pelvic health. As such, she regularly works with pregnant and post-partum individuals as well as those who have been affected by sexual violence. She is passionate about the issue of access to quality healthcare, be it for reproductive health or otherwise. As such, she founded a non-profit in 2021 to address the issues that keep our healthcare system from providing equitable access to quality healthcare for all. The non-profit, Health for the People, has a mission "To include all voices in healthcare reform and assist those currently left behind in order to improve quality healthcare access now and later."