Equi’s Team

DIRECTOR OF EQUI
They/She
Katie Cox (they/she) has always been passionate about LGBTQAI2S+ rights. They have actively dedicated their life to organizing for their community’s health since 2016 when they co-founded The Marie Equi Institute in Portland, Oregon with their dear friend Dr. Angela Carter. Her deepest passions lie in health equity, fat liberation, harm reduction, sex positivity, and supporting our unhoused neighbors. They identify as a white, queer, fat, neurodivergent, temporarily able-bodied, femme-leaning genderfluid person who is deeply invested in the liberation of trans, queer, and BIPOC communities. Katie has been an activist since the age of 17 when she started the first Gay Straight Alliance at Westview High School in Beaverton, Oregon. They were actively involved in the Washington County Pride Project through SMYRC (Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center) in 2003-2004 and attended multiple youth organizing summits as a queer teen.

Katie is a proud college dropout, recognizing that educational institutions are not built for most of us, and credits her achievements to a deeply ingrained tenacity, the school of Google, an incredible network of mentors and colleagues, and graduating from The People’s Nonprofit Accelerator’s Executive Leadership Academy in 2019. Katie’s most valuable skills are systems change and relationship building. In the Social Change Ecosystem framework developed by Deepa Iyer, Katie is a weaver and builder.

Katie is a co-founder of the LGBTQAI2S+ Housing Collaborative, the co-chair of the Oregon Health Authority’s Health Equity Committee, and they sit on the Multnomah County Continuum of Care Board. They received a Queer Hero award in 2021 through the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest and a Mermaizing Citizen Award through the Portlandia Mermaid Parade in 2022.

In their off-time, you can find Katie creating digital art, decompressing in the woods with their goofy sheepadoodle Penny and spunky chihuahua mix Junior, cooking delicious meals for their friends and chosen family, or singing karaoke.

PROGRAM MANAGER
He/Him
Bio coming soon!

OUTREACH & CAPACITY BUILDING MANAGER
They/Them
Anna Silberman (they/them) is a white, genderqueer, disabled, anti-Zionist Jew. Anna started at Equi back in 2019 as a Patient Care Coordinator. They are currently Equi's Outreach and Capacity Building Manager, overseeing the Outreach Campaign for the "Because I Count" data justice project. Anna also works closely with rural-based queer and trans folks, facilitating skill shares around organizational sustainability. They are a community organizer passionate about breaking down barriers to mental healthcare for sex workers of color as well as fostering rural-urban collaborations among LGBTQIA2S+ community based organizations. Outside of Equi, Anna organizes with Haymarket Pole Collective and loves all things horror movies.

COMMUNICATIONS, SOCIAL MEDIA, & EVENT COORDINATOR
They/Them
Bio Coming Soon!

CERTIFIED RECOVERY MENTOR
They/Them

Bio Coming Soon!

CERTIFIED RECOVERY MENTOR
He/Him
Bio Coming Soon!