Juanica Fernandes, a native Floridian, serves as the Executive Director for State Voices Florida. Committed to serving progressive values and causes, her mission is to empower people and community organizations with tools to develop, monitor, implement, and improve effective outreach strategies to advance shared agendas and create permanent and lasting change.
Juanica was inspired to move from a career in banking and finance to public service and advocacy during the campaign for President Obama. During the campaign she coordinated several presidential visits and organized thousands of volunteers across Central Florida. For over a decade, Juanica has served in leadership positions on a host of campaigns and raised millions of dollars for candidates and various organizations.
Leonardo Placeres serves as the Deputy Executive Director for State Voices Florida. He has spent most of the past sixteen years as a Florida resident. After graduating from Dartmouth College with dual-degrees in Government and Quantitative Social Sciences in 2018, he served in a number of roles including the US Census Bureau where he worked as an IT Clerk resolving tickets and supporting operations.
After joining State Voices Florida as a Program Coordinator in 2020, he was promoted to Operations Manager in 2021. Since January 2023, he’s served as Deputy Executive Director responsible for day-to-day management of staff.
Tamara Ayon is a mother, musician, and passionate activist. She is a dedicated and resourceful leader with two decades of executive-level experience in the political and non-profit arenas and a proven record of fostering organizational growth and program development. She has expertise in fundraising, progressive advocacy, government affairs, business development, and relationship management, and has played a key role in multiple statewide and national campaigns, specializing in outreach to underrepresented communities.
As the State Program Director, she is responsible for determining the direction and focus of the programming Department, ensuring it aligns with the SVFL mission and long-term goals. This includes supervising all program team operations, determining content, strategic planning, budget planning, and providing effective and up to date training and programs for our partner network organizations. Additionally, as Program Director, she is responsible for communicating regularly with our partner network, identifying and facilitating opportunities for alliances and collaboration to expand the success of our mission, including large-scale voter registration Program oversight, Statewide Election Protection oversight, creating educational resources and training opportunities for partners and supporting progressive advocacy and coalition building across the State of Florida
Travis Brooks is the Data Director for State Voices Florida. He first entered the campaign world while studying computer science at UCF in 2008. Since then, he has racked up 12 years of experience in field/data within the state of Florida spanning presidential campaigns, super PACs, and local offices.
His primary focus for the last few years has been leveraging geospatial data and his software development background to improve targeting and strategic decisions for campaigns and civic engagement organizations.
Derrick C. Flemming joined State Voices Florida in its newly established position of Election Crisis Coordinator in 2023. He received his B.S. in Criminology/Criminal Justice with a minor in Legal Studies from Indiana State University. Derrick is a 2021 graduate of Thurgood Marshall School of Law and is an attorney by trade with experience in various areas of law including criminal, tax, and litigation. During law school Derrick interned at the Florida Department of Health in the Prosecution Services Unit.
He also has experience performing legislative and policy analysis work on behalf of organizations such as NAACP Houston Branch and the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats.
As Election Crisis Coordinator they are tasked with reviewing and analyzing the legislative, legal, and election landscape of Florida for any known or potential election crises. The Election Crisis Coordinator reports their findings to Table partners and coordinates workgroups and coalitions to take actions to thwart or mitigate the crisis.,
Larry Hannan is the communications director for State Voices Florida. He is focused on uplifting and educating partner organizations while working with state and national media to draw attention to the issues SVFL and it’s partners are involved in, including voting rights, reproductive and environmental justice and criminal justice reform.
Larry previously was a media strategist for the Southern Poverty Law Center where he advocated for criminal justice reform and economic justice in the Deep South pushing for decarceration, keeping children out of the adult criminal justice system, Medicaid expansion, the $15 minimum wage, minimum standards for rental properties and bail reform. Before entering the nonprofit world Larry was an award-winning journalist at the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville and the Naples Daily News.
Louis, a former operations manager and small business owner, joined State Voices Florida in April 2022 as QC Coordinator. Having been involved in C3 work and community activism in his home state of Connecticut for over two decades, the transition into this field made perfect sense. Since 2010, Louis has raised thousands of dollars for veteran affairs organizations, underprivileged children, unhoused persons, and those struggling with substance abuse issues.
As the Director of Quality Control, Louis is responsible for overseeing the processing of Voter Registration cards from the time of collection to the time they are delivered to an elections official. By utilizing Blocks software, we at SVFL can ensure that the information collected on VR cards is accurate, complete, and compliant with state and federal regulations. ,
Scherlie Dieujuste is a first-generation Haitian American and a Floridian native. Scherlie has been involved in community organizing since 2016 working as a Community Organizer with the Hillary Clinton campaign. She also worked with For Our Future Florida as a Deputy Regional Director, & was later promoted to a Deputy Canvass Program Director. Scherlie has a passion for her community, bridging the gap between people in need and resources that can help them.
Scherlie joined State Voices Florida in 2020 as a Program Coordinator and was subsequently promoted to Voter Registration Manager. As the Voter Registration Manager, Scherlie handles all things voter registration. She also runs a monthly Voter Registration Workgroup on the 1st Thursday of every month to support table partners across the state. Furthermore, Scherlie is responsible for developing educational resources and training opportunities for partners throughout Florida and supporting progressive advocacy and coalition-building. Her main goal is to help create an environment of change by empowering people to educate themselves on the laws and legislation through countless hours of work. ,
Sarah Jones joined as the Alignment Coordinator for the State Voices Florida team in August 2022. Sarah is a native Floridian and has worked in the finance industry for 15 years. In her previous role, Sarah oversaw ten student-run High School Branches and supervised over 250 students per year.
Over the years, Sarah developed a strong background in managing, building curriculums, instructing financial literacy courses, and training with a focus on compliance and organizational skills. In addition, Sarah’s many years working in a Credit Union (not-for-profit) gave her a deep appreciation for how nonprofits seek to improve our citizen’s quality of life, one program at a time. As the Alignment Coordinator, her focus is uplifting marginalized communities, organizing and facilitating training for partners, and acts as a liaison between coalition leads and table administration.
Enrick Joseph joined State Voices Florida in 2020. A graduate of the University of North Florida, he began working on campaigns with Organizing for America in 2012.
With his versatile professional background, ranging from engineering to the culinary arts, he brings an eye for precision and data-driven analytics to the team.
Boris Martinez has spent sixteen years in South and North Florida. He has worked in the educational system, analytical consulting, and civic engagement. He was involved in Civic Engagement at Miami Dade College as a Civic Ambassador assisting students looking for experiential learning opportunities.
Later he graduated from Florida State University with a master’s in applied economics. During his time in the program, he produced a capstone project for Broward College on the Economic Mobility of low-income students. Eventually joining State Voices Florida as a Data fellow in 2022 and is now working as a Data Associate.
