team bios

Benny Del Castillo

[she/they]

Benny Del Castillo is the Engagement Manager at NVRDC. In this role, Benny provides programmatic support for the Engagement team, primarily focusing on community and client engagement in order to increase access to services as well as create further space for survivor healing and justice. 

Prior to this role, Benny was a Bilingual Advocate at NVRDC, responding to the hospital providing support for sexual assault survivors and providing case management to all crime victims such as domestic violence and homicide survivors. Benny has worked in the field of power-based violence response and prevention beginning in college and has worked at a domestic violence safe house, hotline, and roles focused on education, advocacy and outreach. Currently, Benny has her LICSW and is a practicing trauma therapist, primarily working with sexual assault survivors. 

She obtained her Bachelor's degree in Women and Gender Studies from Rutgers University and her Masters in Social Work from the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

Gilda Goldental-Stoecker

[she/her]

Gilda Goldental-Stoecker is the Bilingual Advocacy Manager at NVRDC. In this role, Gilda is responsible for providing supervision and managerial support to the Advocacy Team, interfacing with partner agencies, and creating and developing procedures and strategies for survivor services. Prior to becoming the Advocacy Manager, Gilda served survivors as a Senior Advocate, providing crisis response and case management services. Previously, Gilda worked in nonprofit and philanthropy management, civil rights and civil liberties policy, and immigrant and refugee rights. Gilda has also worked with survivors through volunteer survivor support, hotline operations, and university sexual assault prevention related outreach, education, advocacy and leadership.

Heba Estafanous

[she/her/hers]

Heba Estafanous is a Managing Attorney at NVRDC. In this role, she mentors and co-counsels with pro bono attorneys to represent survivors of crime in civil protection order proceedings, on-campus Title IX hearings, and in criminal cases. Heba joined NVRDC as an Equal Justice Works Fellow in 2018. Since then she has served as a Staff Attorney and Legal Clinic Coordinator, where she developed a medical legal partnership to assist crime victims in a local hospital. Heba has also presented at national conferences such as the National Crime Victims' Law Institute's annual Crime Victim Law Conference.

Prior to joining NVRDC, Heba was a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Marisa Demeo, and later, to the Honorable Hiram Puig-Lugo at the District of Columbia Superior Court.  Before her clerkships, Heba pioneered the development of the Cyber-Violence Project, a George Washington University Law School clinical program that provides legal assistance to survivors of cyber-stalking, cyber-harassment, and non-consensual pornography.

Heba received her B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin, and her J.D., with honors, from the George Washington University Law School. She is fluent in Arabic and licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia.

Jasmine Marquez

[she/her/ella]

Jasmine Marquez is the Bilingual Advocacy Manager at Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC). In this role, Jasmine provides individualized client support to the advocacy team using our trauma-informed care aimed to focus on addressing short term and long term goals for survivors of all crime. Jasmine also assists the Program Director in research, education, and implementation of best practices for victim services while also providing assistance to advocates with client advocacy, case management, referrals to Mental Health services, linkage to stable housing, referrals to legal assistance, and all other supportive services as needed.

Prior to becoming an Advocacy Manager, Jasmine worked with direct client services as a Senior Advocate assisting survivors with providing crisis response and on-going case management services. Jasmine also worked  closely with law enforcement agencies, attorney's, colleges/universities, and health and welfare agencies to advocate for the survivors' needs. Previously, Jasmine worked for a nonprofit organization advocating for survivors of Intimate Partner Violence through short-long term crisis intervention, safety planning, and assisting survivors navigate the judicial system by referring to legal partners and assisting with filing Civil Protection Orders. Jasmine obtained her B.A from University of Maryland. Languages spoken (other than English): Spanish.

Jennifer Jackson

[she/her/hers]

Jennifer Jackson is the Operations and Human Resources Manager at  Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC). Jennifer has been with NVRDC since 2018 and brought with her over 20 years of learning & development, human resources, and administrative experience. As the Operations and Human Resources Manager, quality control and process improvement are ways Jennifer supports the daily operations. Prior to NVRDC, Jennifer served as a Learning and Development Specialist in the communications industry achieving certification in Adult Learning Theory.

Jessee Lyons

[she/her/hers]

Jessee Lyons is a Managing Attorney for the Legal Program at NVRDC, where she supervises legal staff and casework representing survivors in civil protection order and anti-stalking order cases, Title IX campus proceedings, and asserting their crime victim’s rights in criminal proceedings. Prior to joining NVRDC, Jessee was a Supervising Attorney with the Maryland Center for Legal Assistance (a subsidiary of Maryland Legal Aid) where she supervised brief advice walk-in centers. She also has extensive litigation experience in the areas of mortgage lending and financial services. Jessee graduated with a B.A./B.S. from The George Washington University, an M.S. from Hood College, and a J.D. from The George Washington University School of Law. Jessee is licensed to practice law in DC (active) and Maryland (active).

Keisha Lonon

[she/her]

Keisha Lonon is a Project Manager for Restorative Justice & TROV at NVRDC. In this role, she provides RJ training, creates and develops innovative systems to connect with the community, and provides restorative support to staff (professional development). In addition, she provides resources for survivors of elder abuse, financial exploitation.  Lonon attended RJ advance training at Colorado State University (Certified Restorative Justice Trainer and Practitioner) and has a Masters in Forensic Psychology.

Prior to becoming the Project Manager, Lonon was a Senior Advisor and Senior Advocate for gun violence and sexual assault. Lonon’s career working with survivors of crime began while working with Georgia Bureau Investigation in the Child Exploitation and Computer Crime Unit. Lonon worked hands on with survivors of a variety of crime types, including surviving family members of homicide victims, gun violence survivors, survivors of child sexual abuse, identity theft, elder abuse, carjacking, burglary, and robbery.

DC Councilman Brandon Todd, nominated Lonon to be on his Health Advisory Board Member for sexual assault and human trafficking. Lonon trained many on detecting and communicating with human trafficking victims. Lonon is an Author, Keynote Speaker and Emotional Life Coach.

Kristin Eliason

[she/her/hers]

Kristin Eliason, Esq. is the Head of Services at Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC), a nonprofit organization in the District of Columbia that provides holistic, trauma-informed, survivor-centered services to people who have experienced crime in the District. In her role, Kristin oversees NVRDC’s Legal Services, Crisis Response, Case Management, and Advocacy Services, Therapeutic Services, the Victim Legal Network of DC, and various restorative justice programs.

Kristin’s career working with survivors of crime began while attending the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, where she served as a student attorney in the Families and the Law Clinic representing survivors of domestic violence in various legal proceedings. Kristin has more than 13 years of experience representing survivors of crime, with the early part of her career spent serving survivors of intimate partner violence, dating violence, sexual violence, and stalking. In early 2013, Kristin was hired as one of NVRDC’s first two staff attorneys, tasked with both representing clients and building out NVRDC’s Legal Services Program. As a result of her leadership and dedication to quality, trauma-informed legal services, Kristin has occupied a variety of supervisory positions at NVRDC, including senior attorney, supervising attorney, and Director of Strategic and Legal Advocacy. In addition to her continued representation of survivors of sexual violence, intimate partner and dating violence, and stalking, Kristin’s client and litigation experience since starting at NVRDC have included working with survivors of a variety of crime types, including surviving family members of homicide victims, gun violence survivors, survivors of child sexual abuse, identity theft, elder abuse, carjacking, burglary, and robbery. Kristin’s areas of practice have focused on Protective Order and Anti-Stalking Order matters, higher education misconduct proceedings under Title IX and the Clery Act, and the representation of crime victims in the assertion of their rights in criminal legal matters.

During her tenure at NVRDC, Kristin has pushed for the rights of crime victims through policy advocacy and strategic litigation, working with members of the DC Council and United States Congress to effect change through legislation and has served on various committees and coordinated community response groups, including the DC Superior Court’s criminal rules advisory committee, the DC Sexual Assault Advocate Credentialing Project Steering Committee, the Victim Assistance Network, and the District’s Sexual Assault Response Team (SART). From 2015 to 2020 Kristin served as a member of the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence Legal Advocacy group, which was instrumental in the major overhaul of the District’s Intrafamily Offenses Act in 2021. In 2023, Kristin was appointed by Chief Judge Josey-Herring to serve on the Crime Victims Compensation Advisory Commission and Appeals Board.

To expand the number of attorneys who provide free representation to survivors, Kristin has conducted CLE and pro bono trainings for law firm attorneys, including national and local training and CLEs on crime victims' rights. Kristin serves as a trainer for the DC Forensic Nurse Examiners and the District’s Sexual Assault Crisis Response credentialing program. Kristin has served on various rulemaking committees, including the VAWA Negotiated Rulemaking Committee’s Stalking Subcommittee and the DC Superior Court’s Criminal Rules Advisory Committee. Kristin also participates in peer review sessions of grant applications submitted to the Office on Violence Against Women. In 2013, Kristin was selected to travel to Fiji as part of the ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative Pacific Fellow’s Women’s Rights Program.

Kristin’s passion for ensuring marginalized and oppressed people have access to the support and resources they need after experiencing crime which led her to being part of the Rainbow Response Coalition’s steering committee which designed a holistic district-wide healthy relationships education and outreach campaign for the LGBTQIA+ communities in the District. Kristin has served as a participant on various steering committees and roundtables conducted by the American Bar Association, including a 2022 roundtable on to assist in the creation of materials to assist prosecutors with jury selection in cases with LGBTQIA+ victims. Kristin also serves on Ayuda’s Language Access Program’s Advisory Board and was a peer reviewer during the development of the Breaking the Silence training manual which is used by Ayuda for training interpreters working with victim service providers. Kristin is passionate about providing survivors of crime with options outside of the traditional legal avenues and oversees NVRDC’s various restorative justice projects.

Prior to joining NVRDC, Kristin was an attorney with House of Ruth Maryland's Protection Order Advocacy and Representation Project where she represented survivors of intimate partner and dating violence in protection and peace order litigation and staffed legal clinics in Maryland’s Montgomery and Prince George’s County courthouses. Kristin also served as law clerk to Magistrate Judges Janet Albert and Mary Grace Rook with the DC Superior Court. Kristin received her B.A. from the College of William and Mary and her J.D. at the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law. Kristin is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia (active), and Maryland (active). Kristin serves as a part-time professor at the George Washington University where she teaches about victimology, victims, and the criminal legal system. Kristin received the 2022 Washington Council of Lawyers Legal Services Award for her extraordinary contributions to the District’s public-interest law community.

Kris Klassen

[she/her/hers]

Kris Klassen is the Advocacy Director for NVRDC, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the advocacy and case management program. Kris joined NVRDC as an advocate and later transitioned to the role of Manager of Advocacy where she provided administrative support and coverage to the program director and team.

Prior to her work at NVRDC, Kris volunteered with the DC Rape Crisis Center, providing direct services to survivors of sexual assault, their families, and friends and with the Collective Action for Safe Spaces in DC, where she co-facilitated anti-street harassment and bystander intervention trainings to share tools and resources for combating street harassment. Kris was a Program Manager for the National Cooperative Business Association managing projects in Latin America, South East Asia and East Africa, to strengthen individuals and their communities through socioeconomic empowerment. Kris also worked at the Pan American Development Foundation as a Program Coordinator providing training and technical assistance to civil society groups advocating for women's rights in Latin America. She received her B.A. from American University.

Languages Spoken (other than English): Spanish

Lee Swanson

[they/them/theirs]

Lee Swanson is the Victim Legal Network of DC Managing Attorney. In this role, they coordinate the Victim Legal Network of DC, NVRDC’s referral network that helps victims access legal assistance from more than twenty-five member organizations in the District of Columbia.

Prior to joining NVRDC, Lee worked as a brief services attorney with DC's Children's Law Center, where they assisted families with legal issues related to a child's disability or medical condition. Lee has also led trainings on disability justice; provided legal assistance to immigrant youth; conducted faith-based advocacy on economic and racial justice issues for the Unitarian Universalist Association; served low-income immigrants in North Carolina as an AmeriCorps ACCESS volunteer; and worked in various bookstores and libraries. Lee earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Comparative Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Juris Doctor from Northeastern University School of Law, where they were a Public Interest Law Scholar.

Lindsey Silverberg

[she/her/hers]

Lindsey Silverberg is the Deputy Director at Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC). In this capacity, Lindsey works to ensure seamless delivery of survivor services in the acute crisis response, advocacy and case management, legal, and therapeutic programs. Her responsibilities range from building infrastructure and support for direct service staff, to educating the local and national community about trauma, and thinking big with NVRDC's Executive Director on how to help survivors achieve survivor-defined justice. Lindsey joined NVRDC as one of the first full time staff members in 2012, as an advocate providing hospital accompaniment for sexual assault survivors, attending court, and offering direct advocacy support to survivors of crime. She received her B.A. from the University of Maryland and her M.A. from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Megan Challender

[she/her/hers]

Megan Challender is a Managing Attorney AT Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC). In her role, Megan supervises the legal services staff and their casework. 

Prior to joining NVRDC, Megan was the Managing Attorney at Break the Cycle, a local legal services program serving youth survivors of dating violence, ages 13-24. When Break the Cycle made the decision to end its legal services program, Megan worked with NVRDC to transition this critical legal services program to NVRDC and continue these services to youth survivors.

Megan previously worked as a Supervising Attorney at Maryland Legal Aid in a high-volume brief advice program in Prince George's County. Megan was a Clinical Legal Fellow in the Women's Law and Public Policy Fellowship Program at Georgetown University Law Center where she taught and supervised third-year law students in the Domestic Violence Clinic. Megan also previously served as a legal intern, Staff Attorney, and Senior Staff Attorney at Break the Cycle.

Megan brings a background in community organizing, program management, and campaigns to her work. Megan holds a Bachelors in Political Science and Women's Studies from Kansas State University, a JD from the University of the District of Columbia, and an LLM in Advocacy from Georgetown University Law Center.

Megan is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia (active) and Maryland (active).

Merry O'Brien

[she/her/hers]

Merry O'Brien, MSW is NVRDC's Head of Finances & Operations. For the past twenty years, she has worked in the nonprofit field, over a decade of which has been spent in the victims' rights and services field. Merry is experienced with the administration of grant awards, provision of fiscal and programmatic oversight and training to grantees, capacity development, coalition coordination, staff and volunteer training, grant writing, project management, organizational budgeting, and financial forecasting.

Merry manages over a dozen federal, DC, and foundation grants each year, while continually building and diversifying NVRDC's grant funding. During her tenure, NVRDC's budget has increased from $300,000 supporting a small staff to $3,800,000 supporting a staff of over 40 FTE.

For seven years at NVRDC, Merry additionally served as its Elder Justice Coordinator. She founded and coordinated DC TROV: The District's Collaborative Training & Response to Older Victims. DC TROV brings together NVRDC, AARP's Legal Counsel for the Elderly, DC Metropolitan Police Department, the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, and Adult Protective Services to increase awareness, training, and service to elder abuse victims in DC. She also created NVRDC's Identity Theft Assistance Project (ITAP), which works to increase the community's ability to meet the needs of identity theft and fraud victims, providing training to victim advocates, attorneys, and law enforcement officials in Maryland and DC.

Additionally, Merry serves as an OVCTTAC Consultant, works to advance the rights of elder abuse survivors through coordinating advocacy to the DC Council, and has presented to national audiences at conferences including those hosted by the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC), the American Society on Aging (ASA), and the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA).

Previously, in her position as Director of Special Grants at at the Maryland Crime Victims' Resource Center, Merry was responsible for administering millions of dollars in federal grants and providing technical assistance and oversight to sub grantees around the country. She served as Director for the National Identity Theft Victims Assistance Network, supported by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) at the U.S. Department of Justice, Director for the HOPE II grants to victim service programs targeting underserved victims, host of the 2010 National Day of Remembrance for Homicide Victims Public Forum, and founder and chair of the PEACE Coalition, a multidisciplinary group in Maryland dedicated to preventing and responding to elder abuse victims.

Prior to this role, Merry was involved with several projects at the nonprofit Elder Law of Michigan which strove to improve seniors' access to food, medical coverage, and safety from abuse. Merry earned her Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan, where she received the Geriatric Scholars Award, and focused on nonprofit management.

Naida Henao

[she/her/ella]

Naida Henao, Esq. is the Head of Engagement at Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC). Naida joined NVRDC as a Bilingual Staff Attorney in 2016 and represented survivors/victims of crime in criminal cases (as a crime victims’ rights attorney), civil protection orders, and Title IX proceedings on college campuses and universities. In 2017, she became NVRDC’s Strategic Advocacy Counsel and took on legislative advocacy responsibilities in addition to her legal work, which included the introduction of, and advocacy for, various pieces of legislation before the DC Council and Congress.

Now, as Head of Engagement, Naida continues to oversee NVRDC’s legislative advocacy, but also works collaboratively with NVRDC staff and leadership to increase survivors’ access to justice by coordinating the organization’s Pro Bono Program, fundraising, outreach and communications efforts as well. As part of Naida’s role, she trains a variety of audiences on topics related to victimization and trauma, including attorneys, law enforcement, nonprofit staff, and community members.

Prior to joining NVRDC, Naida clerked for the Honorable Timothy Lydon at Mercer County Superior Courthouse, Criminal Part. She graduated from American University’s Washington College of Law in 2014. Naida is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia (active).

Shannarese Sims, MA, LPC

[she/her/hers]

Shannarese (Reesie) Sims is the Director of Therapeutic Services at Network for Victim Recovery of DC. She holds a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Bowie State University and practices as a Licensed Professional Counselor. Reesie's interest in anti-violence work began as an undergraduate at The Ohio State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Ecology/Community Health. After relocating to Washington, DC, Reesie worked at various victim service organizations and has accumulated over nine years of experience working with survivors of power-based violence. Her professional experience includes survivor-centered program development, crisis intervention and response, and sexual assault support services. She joined NVRDC in 2019 and in 2021, developed a therapy program to expand support for survivors of violence. In her role, Reesie oversees all operations and activities for the Therapeutic Services Program, supervises therapeutic support staff, carries a caseload of therapy clients, facilitates support groups, and maintains a comprehensive therapy resource guide for community referrals.Reesie strives to address the wellbeing of trauma survivors and remains steadfast in her commitment to eradicate power-based violence through advocacy, education, and trauma-informed services.

Sasha Drobnick

[she/her/hers]

Sasha Drobnick is the Appellate Litigation Director at Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC). Prior to joining NVRDC, Sasha served as Legal Director and Interim Executive Director for the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP), a national non-profit providing pro bono appellate advocacy and representation to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. In 2022, DV LEAP merged into NVRDC, where Sasha now leads the organization’s growing appellate program that provides pro bono representation to survivors and amicus advocacy on their behalf in D.C. and nationally.

Sasha’s passion for using the appellate process to make the laws better protect survivors was shaped by her experience as a trial attorney representing low-income clients in family law and domestic violence cases.

Before becoming a litigator, Sasha worked extensively in South Africa to promote Black

women’s equal access to higher education for the American Council on Education, then directed two fellowship programs providing women access to post-graduate education opportunities in the U.S. at the American Association of University Women. Sasha received her B.A. from Georgetown University and her J.D. from the New York University School of Law.