Design Justice Network - Staff

Our staff help implement high-level strategy from the Design Justice Network Steering Committee and support the growth and flourishing of the Design Justice Network! We have one contract staff: Rene Joy, Communications Specialist, joined DJN in the summer of 2022 to support the Network’s people and Principles as a collaborative storyteller and community organizer.

The Design Justice Network is guided by a Steering Committee. The Steering Committee sets high-level strategy, determines the overall network structure, approves the budget, maintains information about the DJN’s structure, and reviews and approves new Working Groups and Local Nodes.

Rene Joy

Communications Specialist, Rene Joy is a writer, artist, tabletop gamer, and peer support specialist focused on social justice, equity and trauma recovery. Her practice is informed by her lived experience as a trauma survivor and systems thinker, helping others safely connect deeply personal moments with powerful universal movements through shared language and collaborative storytelling. She regularly partners with regional or project-based initiatives to elevate the power of those most impacted by inequitable systems in service of better worlds, brighter futures and liberation for all.

Visit renejoy.me to learn more about her work.

Communications Specialist - Responsibilities

Network Communications

  • Create and Release Monthly Newsletter

  • Promotion of Node, WG, and Network Programming & Campaigns

  • Send Network Announcements

  • Manage Staff & SC requests

  • Respond to Occasional Social Media Request

  • Website Updates

  • Platform Engagement

SC & Staff Network Support

  • Special / Responsive Network Communication, Announcements & Statements

    • Drafting, Presenting to SC and Sharing with Network

  • Add Comms Updates to SC Agenda

    • Coordinator Report: Reporting back to Steering Committee [.5hr]

    • Generating a bi-weekly report 3 days in advance of the Steering Committee meetings

    • Communications Updates

    • Calls for Support

  • Attend Steering Committee Meetings

Communication System & Communications Plan for 2023

  • Produce a report on our current communication systems

  • Produce a Communications Plan for 2023

Staff email address: comms@designjustice.org

Past Contractors

Victoria Barnett

Victoria Barnett is a digital graphic designer, facilitator, community organizer, and collaborator at the service of social justice initiatives. She works with and for community organizations to pull on their own creativity and resilience, to create designs that are accessible, collaborative, and needed. Her work is based on the Principles of Design Justice, a network that she has supported as a volunteer, a Steering Committee member, and served as part-time as contract staff. She supports and is active in various community groups based in Tkaronto (Toronto, ON).

You can see more about her here: victoriabarnett.com

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Taylor Simone

Special Projects Manager, Taylor Simone is an artist, organizer, graphic designer, and educator from Metro Detroit. Simone also is the director of Exodus: School of Expression, an alternative space for Bipoc educators and artists to deepen their practice. Her work with the Design Justice Network started in 2015 as a network gathering attendee and volunteer. She received her BFA in Graphic Design from Eastern Michigan University in 2015 and her MFA in Visual Communication from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2019.

Learn more about my practice here.