Our Team
Taylor Blackston (she/they)
Taylor is a Black queer organizer and survivor of sexual violence. Before founding Sowing Wildflowers, she worked in NYC anti-violence organizations as a Policy Advisor with the NYC Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence and a Housing Legal Advocate with the Urban Justice Center’s Domestic Violence Project. In these roles, they saw the harm in not providing many choices to survivors outside of the carceral system. Their analysis deepened as they learned from several abolitionist Black feminists and as they organized alongside criminalized survivors with Survived and Punished NY. Reflecting on her shared experiences with other Black survivors inspired her to dream up a space that centers Black folks and provides a way for us to practice showing up for each other in so many ways that systems don’t and can’t show up for Black survivors. When they have free time, Taylor loves to go to the beach, eat sushi, dance, and spend time with her friends and family. Taylor received her Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and their B.A. in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania.
Sonia Issa (she/her/hers)
Sonia Issa is a dynamic leader working at the intersections of social justice and community healing. She is a current student at Syracuse University studying Political Science with double minors in African American Studies and Project Management. With nearly four years of practicing court diversion for youth involved in the justice system, Sonia is a Transformative Justice practitioner with certifications in Mental Health First Aid and Restorative Justice Training. Sonia now serves as a Community Ambassador for the Center for Court Innovation, connecting underrepresented communities to resources.
Ultimately, Sonia hopes to deepen her education on how societal functions affect everyday life and influence change.
Ashley Johnson (they/them/theirs)
Ashley is a racial equity trainer and transformative justice practitioner who specializes in helping organizations and communities embrace values that are foundational for healing from complex trauma. Ashley’s career has focused on supporting diverse groups of young people including systems-involved youth, LGBTQ+ youth, and youth who have experienced teen dating and family violence. They have been trained by Kay Pranis and Chief Justice Robert Yazzie of the Navajo Nation in restorative justice and circles, and they are skilled at facilitating difficult community dialogues with the use of circle practices. All their work seeks to establish alternative interventions for communities that are rooted in rich ancestral practices. Ashley has built the foundation for our for-profit sibling organization, Flower Effect, as a cohort member in two social impact business accelerators, the 8th Communitas America cohort and the inaugural NYC Safe Incubator funded by the NYC Office of Neighborhood Safety. They won first prize in the NYC Safe Incubator pitch contest, which included startup funds for a program addressing trauma and violence among young people.
Kimara Lucius (she/her/hers)
Kimara is a curious creative interested in building supportive and healing learning spaces. She studied English Literature and worked in youth violence prevention education; Kimara is certified in Mental Health First Aid and has used movement as a medium to explore relationship dynamics with self and community. She joined Sowing Wildflowers after connecting with Taylor Blackston in anti-violence work and in support of their vision to make safer spaces for Black survivors and encouraging agency in their life journeys. In her free time, Kimara enjoys dancing, lounging and is a plant mom to a pilea peperomioides (Chinese money plant) named Octavia.