Our Team

Kavon Ward

(she/her)
CEO/Founder

Kavon Ward is an award-winning spoken word artist and activist. Within the past decade, Kavon has won 1st place at the historic Apollo Theater and has shared the stage with gospel artists Hezekiah Walker, Patti LaBelle, Fantasia, and activists like Joe Madison and Dick Gregory, to perform her piece, “I Am Trayvon Martin” Kavon is the founder of Justice for Bruce’s Beach and has led the historic and successful movement that made it possible for stolen land to be returned to the descendants of Black landowners, Willa and Charles Bruce. The descendants of the Bruces recently sold the reclaimed land to LA County for $20 million dollars. Kavon was named a 35th Senate District, 2022 Woman of the Year by Senator Steven Bradford.
Kavon has since been quoted in the New York Times, the L.A. Times, the Washington Post, The New Yorker, and a host of other articles. She has interviewed with NPR, 94.7 The WAVE, and a number of other radio stations, to discuss what justice for the Bruce family means and what reparations for Black Americans look like. Kavon has partnered with Patrisse Cullors, of Black Lives Matter, to create a petition calling for restitution and restoration for the Bruce family. Kavon is a reparative justice consultant and Founder and CEO of Where Is My Land, an organization focused on getting Black land back nationally. She is a former Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) fellow and public policy lobbyist. Kavon holds a BA in Communications and a Masters of Public Administration.

Michelle Marshall

(she/her)
Operations Lead

Michelle Marshall is an agent of change. As operations lead, Michelle brings more than 20 years of customer service experience and knowledge to support families working with Where Is My Land.

For nearly a decade, she has worked in Title I schools to close educational gaps for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Through advocating for parent choice and holistic approaches to teaching, Michelle has guided high-potential students away from the school-to-prison pipeline. She holds a master’s degree in general and special education.

Michelle’s heart has always been in service, and she stands with families to create generational wealth – so that Black people in America can build our own schools instead of waiting on change from a system that wasn’t built for us.

Kamala Miller-Lester

(she/her)
Research Lead

Kamala Miller-Lester is a native of Memphis, TN. Prior to joining Where Is My Land, she worked as an attorney for a major law firm in Washington, DC.

Kamala has previously worked as an adoption counselor for Tennessee Children’s Services, an associate at a law firm in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and as a Project Manager at SEIU. She served as a volunteer for the Election Protection Hotline and as a legal observer for social justice actions. Kamala holds a Bachelor’s degree in Government from Smith College, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Memphis, and a JD from The George Washington University.

 Kamala is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, and is proficient in American Sign Language.

Dreisen Heath

(she/her)
Advocacy Lead

Dreisen Heath is a Tulsa-born reparations activist, compassionate collaborator, conscious facilitator, relentless organizer, and nimble strategist, with expertise in reparatory justice. As a reparative justice expert and consultant, Dreisen seeks to mobilize and support individuals impacted by systemic racism to enact transformative and structural change through movement and coalition building. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University.
Before joining Where Is My Land, Dreisen led Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s racial justice and reparations work as a researcher and advocate in HRW’s United States Program. She has worked as the Special Assistant to the Director and Counsel of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Washington DC Office and was a researcher at the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP) at the University of Delaware examining emerging community health and education policy, with a particular focus on access to food in segregated communities.
Dreisen has authored research reports and publications, including The Case for Reparations in Tulsa, Oklahoma: A Human Rights Argument, highlighting victims’ right to seek full and effective reparations that are proportional to the gravity of the human rights violations, as dictated by international human rights law. Her expertise has been featured and referenced in numerous local, national, and international publications, on radio, and in documentaries and podcasts, including The Washington Post, USA Today, NPR, CNN, PBS, ABC, The Guardian, The Independent, The Nation, Politico, Newsweek, NowThis, Blavity, Public Radio Tulsa, The Oklahoma Eagle, among others.

Tamiko Overton Parks

(she/her)
Communications Lead

Tamiko is a New York native. She started at Where Is My Land as a volunteer while working as an Attorney for Cleary Gottlieb, Steen, and Hamilton, LLP. She has worked as a Law Clerk in the Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court, as Bankruptcy Associate for a top Wall Street Law Firm, and as a Staff Attorney for the City Bar Justice Center. Using her advocacy skills as an attorney, she has zealously provided marketing and public relations services to Black authors, including Flores Forbes, Jill Nelson, and Stacy Patton.
Community service and paying it forward will always be a major part of Tamiko’s life. She has shared her expertise in financial literacy through workshops for elementary through high school children, college students, adults, and non-profit organizations. Tamiko has provided pro-bono legal representation during her career as an attorney through New York City Bar Justice Center Pro Bono and DC Bar Pro Bono Programs. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
Tamiko comes to Where Is My Land with an effervescent personality and tenacious disposition. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from SUNY Purchase and a Juris Doctorate from the City University of New York Law School.

WHERE IS MY LAND SPONSORSHIP

Sponsorship opportunities exist to support Black families in their efforts to reclaim the land taken from them. For more information, please contact us at landback@whereismyland.org.