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Staff
Union Carter
Community Organizer
Union Carter (she/her) is a graduate of Gonzaga University with a degree in Political Science with minors in Sociology and Leadership Studies. Previously, Union worked at the Washington Innocence Project and in the Unity Multicultural Education Center at Gonzaga University. She brings experience in Social Justice Programming as well as experience responding to racially motivated hate incidents when the BSU at Gonzaga was zoom-bomned with racial slurs during the pandemic. As an officer of the BSU, Union worked to educate the student body and hold the administration accountable for responding to the needs of Black students and buildng an inclusive environment on campus. Union is passionate about education, law, and creating a more equitable world. In her new role, she hopes to continue to listen and learn from her community while serving as a force to elevate the voices of the marginalized.
Shar Lichty
Development Director
Shar (they/she) received their BASW with a minor in Africana Education from EWU in June 2010. Following an internship and a year as an AmeriCorps/VISTA volunteer with PJALS, Shar joined the PJALS staff as Organizer in 2011. Shar was first introduced to PJALS in 2006 when the human rights club at SCC that she was involved with co-sponsored a death penalty awareness event with PJALS. That event directly led to Shar’s commitment to work on social justice issues. Shar moved into the Development Director position in 2020.
Bex Alena Lyonne
Digital Organizer
Bex (they/them) is a queer activist with a passion for social justice and community health. After a 6+ tenure working in healthcare as a clinical laboratory scientist, they received their Master’s Degree in Public Health in January 2023 and made the transition into community-centered work. Bex believes that social justice and public health are interconnected – our health is impacted well beyond our individual access to healthcare. It is impacted by our mental health, by our access to stable housing, by our access to food, by police violence, racism and other oppressive systems, and much more. Bex strives to advance community health and wellness through advocacy, organizing, and justice that is grounded in intersectionality and led by the communities in which the work is being done.
As the digital organizer for PJALS, Bex works to make education around social justice, oppressive systems, and the individual and community impacts of these systems more accessible to the community through social media, website management, and other means of communication. Bex connects with communications leaders at partner organizations to amplify community messages, events, news, and more. In their free time, Bex enjoys skiing, gardening, cooking, reading, and playing with their two adorable fur babies!
Liz Moore
Executive Director
With more than 25 years of experience, Liz Moore (she/her) knows social justice organizing and movement-building is both an art and a science.
After looking up “peace” in the phone book, Liz began her activism as a high school student. Liz has worked as a union and community organizer, educator, leader, and consultant. Her experience includes racial justice, worker rights, mass incarceration, anti-imperialism, and opposing white nationalism. She is passionate about grassroots leadership development and supporting youth as leaders.
Growing up in a working-class household, Liz’s family’s life transformed when her dad got a union job. As a kid and as an organizer, she experienced the impact and witnessed the power of regular people uniting with courage, determination, and strategy.
Liz is passionate about building a class-conscious, cross-racial, intergenerational, all-gender, rural-urban, bottom-up movement centered on the leadership of impacted people. In all that she does, Liz is fueled by the belief that everyday people have the power to build a just and nonviolent world.
While serving as Executive Director of the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane (PJALS) for over a decade, Liz quadrupled the budget and staff capacity while growing membership and strategic partnerships for successful campaigns.
As an educator, Liz has developed and led workshops on worker organizing, race and class, white allyship for racial justice, organizational development, strategic campaigns, and more. She is most proud of the SEIU United Healthcare Workers’ staff training program and PJALS’ Young Activist Leaders Program. People power happens when we come together with fire in the belly, shared values, a plan to win, authentic relationships, and the know-how to mobilize!
Liz’s accomplishments as a consultant include leading strategic planning with Committee on States and developing worksite leader curriculum and the Train the Trainer program for the California Federation of Teachers and New York State Nurses Association.
Liz lives on her family’s farm in Eastern Washington, where she loves time with her kids, the quiet and beauty of the prairie, caring and committed fellow organizers, and the excellent coffee shops of downtown Spokane.
Ellis Benson
Youth Organizer
Ellis (she/her) is currently a junior at Lewis and Clark High School and was born and raised in Spokane.
She has been passionate about social justice issues since a young age and views her YALP internship as a great outlet for learning and building community. Ellis is looking forward to meeting more organizers and building a greater connection to Spokane organizers during her time as an intern.
She enjoys making art, playing guitar, and playing Fallout New Vegas with her sister.
Pascal Bostic
Youth Organizer
Pascal Bostic’s (they/them/theirs) passion for art and activism guides their day-to-day life. As a strong believer in the power of narratives, storytelling, and political education, they hope to share their experiences as a queer and nonbinary Filipino-American through film and photography. Drawing inspiration from films such as Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), Sorry to Bother You (2018), and Nope (2022), Pascal’s goal is to create meaningful films that lead to critical and reflective societal conversations.
Currently a student in Spokane Falls Community College’s Digital Filmmaking program, Pascal continues to expand their knowledge of the practical and creative aspects of filmmaking. After they graduate from SFCC, their plan is to transfer to a four-year university to further explore film.
In their spare time, Pascal enjoys going on hikes, spending time with their two cats, and cooking meals for others. However, don’t ask them about their first time making sinigang. (It was a disaster.)
Naghmana Ahmed-Sherazi
Naghmana (she/her) moved to Spokane in 2012 with her son. Coming from a bustling metropolis like Houston with its varied and diverse micro-cultural communities, she finds it interesting to see people’s reactions when they met her or her son in Spokane. She welcomes any questions about her faith, culture, ethnicity, race, language, and education. She has so far loved living in Spokane with its four seasons and unique landscape. Originally from Karachi, Pakistan, she has had the good fortune of travelling since an early, and has been educated on four different continents, and considers herself a global citizen. Naghmana is an active member of the Spokane Islamic Center, Spokane Women Together, Muslims for Community Action and Support, Asian Pacific Islander Coalition Spokane, and other organizations. Naghmana was the co-chair of No Discrimination Spokane, the coalition that defeated the anti-immigrant profiling initiative in 2017.
Ayaka Dohi
Co-Chair
Ayaka (she/her) graduated from Gonzaga University in 2013 and from PJALS’ Young Activist Leaders Program in 2016. She is the Director for Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Whitworth University. Ayaka is a member of PJALS’ Fundraising and Sustainability Committee.
Gian Mitchell
Gian (he/him) became a part of the PJALS community in 2017 through YALP. Since then, he’s been a part of the SURJ committee, Fundraising & Sustainability Committee, and had the privilege of peacekeeping at multiple community events. Gian interned with PJALS in the summer of 2020 while earning his BA in Peace Studies at Whitworth University. While at Whitworth, he served as the Treasurer of Whitworth’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action club for two years and was a student athlete on Whitworth’s Cheer Team. Graduating in 2021, Gian is currently working for a local law firm that helps people with disabilities apply for social security disability benefits. In his free time, he loves to listen to audiobooks, (slowly) walk his adorable elderly dog, and catch up with friends.
Yasi Naraghi
Yasi (she/her) is a graduate of the University of Washington, having received her PhD in 2018. Her scholarship focuses on ethics and totalitarian regimes, making her eager to talk at length about fascism and anti-fascist movements. She moved to Spokane two years ago to teach at Gonzaga.
Heather Wallace
Secretary
Heather (she/her) is a Senior Program Manager of Equity and Engagement at Better Health Together. As an unabashed feminist and social justice warrior, Heather is especially interested in social and economic policies that recognize the unpaid labor of women in society and eliminating the ways in which power and violence are used against women. Heather has previously worked in the fields of child advocacy and a restorative justice juvenile corrections program. Heather has degrees in Sociology from Whitman College and a Master’s in Communication and Leadership studies with research in community dialogue from Gonzaga. has lived in all the Pacific Northwest states and moved back to Spokane in 2002 with her three daughters. In 2020 she welcomed a granddaughter to the family—the newest feminist to take on the world! In her free time, Heather loves to travel around the world learning about other cultures and food, reading and writing. Heather is a member of the Fundraising and Sustainability Committee.
Sally Winkle
Sally (she/her) is a professor emerita from Eastern Washington University. She has lived in Spokane since 1983 and has been involved in social justice activities for many years, through the Central America Solidarity Association in the 1980s and later through PJALS. Sally was the director of Women’s and Gender Studies at EWU until her retirement in 2018. With other faculty and staff, she co-founded the Activist in Residence Program at EWU, which is designed to help students get involved in activism and community organizing. Sally is a member of the Fundraising and Sustainability Committee.