Who We Are
“Fueling the Movement is here to amplify voices of people with various backgrounds, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and other minorities struggling to be heard. Our mission is to fuel others in celebrating the beauty of diversity in the face of adversity. Join us in being on the right side of history.”
Meet the Fuel Team
Amanda Kessler
Designer. Educator. Activist.
Rochester, NY
Founder of Fueling The Movement, Amanda is a former art educator and currently works full time as a web & graphic designer. While navigating life as queer, she has realized more everyday that the world is full of people who, including herself, need more education on our past, present and future. Who better to learn from than present day people who have their own stories to tell.
“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees
Raven-Symone Reynolds
Designer. Gamer. Chinchilla Momma.
Rochester, NY
Raven is a full-time digital designer in Rochester, NY. She has experience working with multiple nonprofit organizations, both local and national. During her free time, she enjoys playing video games, drinking sweet red wine, and buying way too many toys for her Chinchilla, Odin.
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any."
― Alice Walker
Bridget Burns
Writer. Researcher. Advocate.
Jersey City/NYC
Bridget works for a non-profit in Manhattan and specifically works to help expand the patient voice in the lung, sleep, and critical care spaces. She has her MA in English and Creative Writing and believes that storytelling is one of the most powerful mediums in the world. In her free time she devours books, bakes gluten free treats, and writes stories.
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.”
― Neil Gaiman
Nicole Kessler
Spirited. Optimist. Patriot.
Rochester, NY
Nicole is a freelance interpreter and activist in the city of Rochester. As a white-passing granddaughter of immigrants, she’s struggled with her identity. However, she recognizes that it gives her power to reinforce the voices crying out for change. When she’s not marching, she is an aquarium enthusiast, amateur horticulturalist, and parent to one spoiled feline.
“Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
Jillian Winkler
Activist. Feminist. Humanitarian.
San Diego. CA
Jillian has been an activist for as long as she can remember. Having grown up in a small Midwest town, a part of the LGBTQ community, she often witnessed oppression. Since then, it has been her mission to fight for equality and access to justice for all. Jillian is a community organizer at heart, having worked for refugee rights and reproductive justice, and now currently works at an international human rights NGO, focusing on economic justice issues. Jillian strives to bring her passion of gender justice into the ever-intersectional field of human rights. She wholeheartedly believes that community empowerment and a grassroots approach is fundamental to sustainable change. After all, who else knows the issues better than those facing it on the daily? Jillian enjoys traveling (when not quarantined), reading anything by badass feminists, and spending time with her two freedom fighter felines, Maya and Madiba.
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.”
― Audre Lorde