Our entire organization is volunteer run, so the ACT board would like to acknowledge and thank ALL of our volunteers and supporters who keep us moving forward!
Erika Lee Executive Director
erika@activecompassiontransforms.org
Erika’s passion for Africa was ignited while studying abroad in Prague, where she became more educated and interested in the socioeconomic relationship between Africa and the rest of the world. Her studies on African culture along with AIDS and its impact on the world economy were the catalyst for her world vision. In the summer of 2008, Erika finally had the chance to visit Cape Town and the Cape Flats of South Africa where she witnessed firsthand the effects of disease, unemployment, and poverty on the country. During the time spent with the students and staff of School of Hope, the vision and blueprint for the interACT program was birthed. Upon her return to New York, Erika embarked on her mission to bridge the gap between the United States and South Africa by creating the ACT (Active Compassion Transforms) organization. She became certified as a mentoring supervisor through Big Brothers Big Sisters and Fordham University and utilized her networks and other resources to help. Compelled to touch the lives of others and make a difference in the world, Erika has undertaken an intercontinental mentorship program focusing on transforming lives both in South Africa and here in the United States.
Erika holds a bachelors degree in Economics and Asian Pacific American Studies from New York University. She has worked in and achieved success in a vast array of industries; from finance, IT consulting, hospitality and tourism, to fashion and entertainment. No matter where in the world she may find herself, Erika has always made time for volunteering and has been involved with children and youth programs as a tutor, mentor, or volunteer. In July 2008, she was honored by the City Council of New York for her team leading a children’s reading program in Corona, Queens with NY Cares. She is currently a member of the NY Cares Queens Leadership Council, serves as a tour guide for youth groups for Joshua Expeditions, and trains teams of people to travel with her to South Africa.
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Carol Liu Marketing Director
marketing@activecompassiontransforms.org
Carol’s interest in mentoring began when she spent a summer with underprivileged high school students on a Navajo Indian reservation in Chinle, Arizona. Through that trip, she saw the importance of role models in the lives of youth, especially for those surrounded by poverty, drug abuse, high drop out rates, and broken families and relationships. Since that experience, Carol has served as counselor at a camp for inner city youth with Chinese Christian Herald Crusades, volunteered with youth and immigrant families through Hope for New York, led community service projects at her workplaces, and mentored and taught English to college students at Xiamen University in China. She was also a mentor to a high school junior through Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, and was one of the mentors in the first year of the interACT program. She leads Vision Church’s global missions team, which supports missionaries and relief organizations in the U.S., China, India, and Guatemala. Carol holds a B.S. in Finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a M.S. in Management of Risk from St. John University’s Tobin School of Business. She is currently an associate in the risk management department at Goldman Sachs.
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Maryknoll Tauro Education Director
education@activecompassiontransforms.org
Maryknoll came to New York from Manila, Philippines in 2004. When the vision for ACT was birthed, Maryknoll was swept off her feet. Her heart for mentoring stems from the fact that she is a product of one herself. Hailing from a poverty-stricken background, she has seen and experienced firsthand the value of having a guide to walk with you through unknown paths and help unlock one’s unrealized potentials. She is also currently involved with Gifted Hands, a non-profit organization based in the city, geared towards assisting, improving and touching the lives of the community through art. She serves as director of their weekly scrapbooking program at the Clinton Family Inn (a women’s shelter located in Manhattan). She is, at the same time, assisting in developing a mentoring program for women in crisis situations living in shelters and crisis pregnancy centers. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Nursing from the University of the Philippines and currently works as a rehabilitation nurse for New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell and she loves fried chicken and rice.
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Michael Harris Development Director
development@activecompassiontransforms.org
Michael grew up in Detroit during a period when it was known as the most violent/dangerous city in the world. His life, however, was positively impacted by caring people and he seeks to make a similar impact for others. He ardently believes in mentoring due to a particular high school mentor that profoundly affected his life. Michael brings extensive volunteer/non-profit leadership experience to ACT. In undergrad he was elected National Communications Chair for the National Society of Black Engineers (nation’s largest student-run organization) and served in leadership roles in campus organizations. For the past four years, Michael has been the NY Cares Team Leader for a laptop tutoring program at a Harlem charter school. Michael holds a BS Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. He obtained his MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and says, Go Heels! Michael also completed graduate studies at Handelshögskolan (Stockholm School of Economics) in Sweden. He is a CFA Level III Candidate with work experience in equity portfolio management and corporate asset/business valuation for M&A transactions.
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