Brandi Grayson is the proud mother of 3 daughters, 28, 27, 22, and a 5-year-old son. She’s worn many hats over the last 20 years. From a treatment foster parent to an adoptive parent.  To a community organizer, a comedian, and a radio talk show host to an assistant social worker. A list of her roles includes a Director of Programming, a Program Manager, a Business Manager, a Program Analyst, and a Realtor.  And it doesn't stop there. She served as a Claims Adjuster, Field Inspector, and Field Manager for a construction company. Currently, she is the Founder, CEO, and President of Urban Triage, Inc, and Grayson Consulting, LLC. 

Many know her work with the Young Gifted and Black Coalition (YGB), which she co-founded in 2014 in response to the murder of Mike Brown, and most recently, her leadership as CEO of Urban Triage following the murder of George Floyd. Ms. Grayson embodies what she stands for: supporting healthy Black families, transformative justice & education, integrity, breakthroughs, and Black liberation, bringing decades of experience working with Black families and children and program development and implementation while simultaneously experiencing the intersectionality of Black vulnerability. Leading her to found and ground her work in creating a better world and understanding that a better world starts with self: self-awareness, accountability, integrity, self-discovery, and the will to heal. 

She takes pride in empowering, inspiring breakthroughs and transformation in Black people and Black communities. Her work reflects the attributes of Blackness that are rarely centered---Black excellence through healing, Black resilience, Black creativity, Black compassion, Black economic development, and most importantly, Black love.

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Zandra Hagberg is a results-driven marketing professional in the non-profit industry, currently serving as Director of Marketing and Compliance at Urban Triage, Inc. Zandra has more than five years in developing, managing, and leading demand creation, branding, and thought leadership strategies. She has a passion for building remarkable teams and campaigns and developing and motivating others.

Zandra is responsible for the marketing, communication, compliance, and business development efforts of the organization. In addition to strategic business development efforts, she directs media relations, branding, advertising, social media, and website development. She manages and oversees sponsorships, events, charitable contributions, and more.

Prior to coming on board with Urban Triage, Inc., Zandra served as Chief Operating Officer with Focused Interruption Coalition. She also operates her own consulting practice, JMC Business Solutions, providing logo and brand development for small business startups. Prior to joining the non-profit world, Zandra spent 15 years in the public sector, both in State government and the UW, and nearly 10 years in the private sector as a Real Estate Transactions Specialist and Community Development Consultant.

When Zandra isn’t working, she is enjoying her three grandchildren, twin one-year olds and a four year old, and six children ranging from ages 29 years old to eight years old. She is also a Certified Peer Support Specialist and volunteers her time to providing court advocacy support, violence prevention efforts, and combating mass incarceration.

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Sharmecia Brown has lived in Madison for 30 years now and has worn many different hats throughout her life. Mother, step-mother, grandmother, and last but not least, caretaker. She has two sons, two daughters, a step-son, a grandson, a granddaughter, and twin 1-year-old girls, who are extended family members. 

Some nights and weekends she manages the home of her client, who is disabled, and ensures that she is receiving proper staffing and care in her home, to maintain, her healthiest and best life in the safety of her own home. She wears each hat proudly and unapologetically; putting her all into every role sympathetically and wholeheartedly. 

All of her experiences have led her to where she is today, Program Manager. She has discovered her calling at Urban Triage and is thrilled about this new rewarding, gratifying position to say the least. She is excited to get the ball rolling and go in swinging!

Ruthanna graduated from the University of Wisconsin River Falls with a BA in Bio-Medical Science in 2017. After completing her undergraduate work, she joined the Peace Corps where she worked as an Agriculture extension agent for over 2 years. Ruthanna has worked in various laboratory and Animal Care settings since her graduation. As Agriculture Program Lead Ruthanna handles all aspects of the agricultural programming at Urban Triage.

Abbie started off as a Homeless Outreach Coordinator then soon transitioned to one of the Rental Support Specialists at Urban Triage. Prior to this position, she worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant.

Abbie is passionate about helping others and is always trying to brighten people up and make other people's lives easier, which is reflected in the work she does at Urban Triage. One thing Abbies likes most about the organization is how everyone treats everyone like family and you never feel alone.

Abbie is a caring, loving, and all around cool person with 2 dogs and a cat. Her hobbies include doing hair and learning new things. In her free time, she loves spending time with her nieces and nephews and being home with her significant other.

Clarence is a Madison Native and is excited to start his journey as an Outreach Specialist. Clarence is ecstatic to get to help POC in the Madison Area. His transition to the Outreach group, is a new role but he is passionate about community engagement and reaching those most vulnerable. He credits Urban Triage as being a place where he feels he belongs. He is excited to make an impact with Urban Triage!

Cooper hails from New Jersey and has been an eminent part of the Madison community for 10 years as Madison's Favorite Local Radio Personality. Her heart is based in community service and result oriented motivation. She joined Urban Triage in 2022 as a Bilingual Rental support and Outreach Specialist. She now joins the Agriculture Team as a Lead and ready to GROW.

Deneria provides support in the Administrative building and works alongside the CEO and her executive assistant. She also leads Monday tutoring sessions at Thoreau Elementary and 1st Saturday events each month for the kids and parents that Urban Triage tutors.

Deneria graduated from Madison Memorial High School and UW-Milwaukee. She has 1 biological Son, 1 stepson, 2 stepdaughters, and 3 step-granddaughters. She also has 2 dogs whom she loves dearly, Isis and Free. In her spare time, Deneria enjoys cooking, baking, shopping, traveling with her significant other and spending time with her family and friends. 

Deneria loves how Urban Triage helps the most overlooked people. She also loves how everyday is a great feeling at work as soon as she walks through the door. She's super excited about where Urban Triage is headed and being a part of the development and growth of the organization.

Frederick is a South Carolina Native who moved to Wisconsin in 2021. He enjoys being out in nature and doing activities like kayaking, fishing, hiking and camping. He also has a love for arts and crafts and spends some of his free time painting, sketching, and candle making. If he is not doing crafts or outdoors, he is relaxing with his cat and dog, Simon and RJ. Frederick came to Urban Triage because he has a passion for helping his community and people in need. Before that, Frederick worked in healthcare as a Medication Aide, Caregiver, and CNA. Frederick is very outgoing and loves to make the people around him laugh. He also prides himself on his willingness to learn and grow as a teammate and individual.

Katrina has been with Urban Triage since September of 2021. She started off as Rental Support and switched positions to Quality Assurance where she coaches other staff on how to be great. She has 3 kids, 2 boys and 1 girl. Before Urban Triage, Katrina was in the childcare field for about 5 years then started working at Madison Metropolitan as a Special Education Assistant. In her free time Katrina loves hanging out with her kids, going shopping, watching movies and going out to eat. One thing she loves about Urban Triage is all the work they do to help the community.

Kimi is the Housing Coordinator at Urban Triage. She has been with the organization since October of 2021. Kimi started off as a Rental Support Specialist and was recently promoted in January of 2023. She is a mother of 2, her daughter Ja'Tavia, 14, and son Daki, 4. Before joining Urban Triage, Kimi was a CNA at a skilled facility for 4 years. She is a patient and kind person and believes that will be valuable with where Urban Triage is headed.

Mone’y is a Customer Service Specialist where she helps assist tenants and landlords with rental support applications as well as inbound and outbound phone representatives. What she enjoys the most about Urban Triage is the incredible support it provides for the community and tenants. As well as the space the UT family creates for each other. Before Urban Triage, she worked as an insurance agent at Auxiant.

Mone’y graduated from LaFollette High School in 2014. She is the mother of a 3-year-old son and enjoys spending time with him as well as traveling, listening to music, and taking walks near the downtown area.

Myana Cystrunk, was born and raised in Madison, Wi. She is super creative, talented, and has successfully run her own small local business for the last year! New to the non profit industry she is excited to be a part of a selfless and fast growing company! Prior to joining Urban Triage, she recently worked in childcare for the last three years in the position of Lead Teacher. This position allowed Myana to perfect her problem solving and planning skills and fostered her passion for helping others especially children. 

As the Executive Assistant for Urban Triage’s CEO, she is responsible for providing one-on-one support for the CEO, overseeing and managing special projects as directed by the CEO, some with organizational impact. She also assists with providing a bridge for smooth communication between the office of the CEO and internal departments. 

In her free time she loves to work on marketing and promoting her own business, creating new ideas and doing what she can to help support the community. She loves doing makeup and hair for close friends and families. She also enjoys modeling for other local businesses in need! 

Myana’s passion for wanting to better herself and others around her is the reason she began her career with Urban Triage, the goal is to become a better person and more self aware of things going on around her. Urban Triage has opened the door for her to do that.

Silvan was born and raised in Madison Wisconsin. He has worked in many fields ranging from art galleries to retail and customer service. He was also an intern in the IT field as an application developer. Silvan is creative, and early on in his college career, he transferred his major from liberal arts to graphic design. He graduated from YWeb Career Program and gained the skills to provide front-end web development, coding, and IT.  

In his free time, he enjoys painting, drawing, and dance. In high school, Silvan participated in dance competitions, and his favorite styles of dance are breakdancing, popping, tutting, and gliding. Silvan practices martial arts today and won a gold medal in his last competition. 

As an Unhoused Neighbor Outreach Specialist, Silvan spends time making rounds in the community and reaching out to those who are experiencing homelessness. He builds relationships with clients and creates assessments to provide essential items and permanent resources. Silvan enjoys this work because it challenges him to be a better version of himself. It is his belief that once you stop growing as a person, you stop living. Working in this field allows him to grow as a person, but most importantly supports his community by helping those in need.

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Tiara has been at Urban Triage for a little over a year. She was promoted from Rental Support Specialist to Quality Assurance Lead 8 months after her hire date. Her job is to monitor calls, emails, and CORE Rental Assistance applications. She ensures that all Federal guidelines are followed by coaching the Rental Support team on great customer service, organization, as well as procedures. 

Tiara was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin and graduated from Middleton High School in 2008. She was a Para-Educator at Middleton High School before her employment at Urban Triage. She is very outgoing, and loves making people smile & laugh. She is a proud mother of 2, an 11-year-old girl, and a 5-year-old boy. She enjoys spending time with her family, including frequent trips to Arkansas where the majority of her family resides. She also loves to shop, (huge gift giver), plan family nights/weekends with her cousins, and write poetry. She owns a business called T.Luxe, which she plans on launching very soon. 

Tiara is very passionate about her family, her close associates, and her job. Since the passing of her best friend Myeshia in 2018, she has learned the true definition of friendship, and she keeps her loved ones close. She is big on loyalty, and often states & shows that Urban Triage is not just a job, but her family.

Tiara oversees the Rental Support Specialists to make sure the program runs smoothly. She started at Urban Triage in March of 2022. She graduated in 2016 from Deforest High School and moved to Madison from La Crosse in 2013. Tiara has a 4 (soon to be 5) year old daughter. She worked at Animal Cracker INC. for 2 years, and loves children. Tiara is completely selfless, so making others happy is a satisfaction of hers. She has a part time job, so she doesn't have a lot of free time, but is a big fan of traveling when she can.

Yasmine Dobbins is a caring mother of two, a boisterous three-year-old daughter, and a nine-month-old son. She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and has always been devoted to helping others. Although Yasmine is new to the non-profit industry, she is very ambitious to be tied into such an incredible organization. Prior to her new role, Yasmine used to work as a teacher for multiple daycares and has always been a nurturer. 

Yasmine's role at Urban Triage is Program/Rental Support Specialist where she assists in daily tasks including administrative support, as well as processing rental checks or anything that she can to do help out the Urban Triage team. 

When she is not changing lives at Urban Triage, she is constantly changing the lives of her loved ones by being a point of contact or resource for other community members. She also enjoys reading, traveling (although COVID has stopped much of that), and spending time with her kids. 

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Shiloh Simonsen is the mother of one little girl age seven. Shiloh was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. She joined Urban Triage in September 2021 after previously working in childcare for 7 years. Shiloh's personality is very lively, outgoing, and fun. She enjoys traveling and spending time outdoors when it's not too cold! Shiloh also has a passion for helping people and prides herself on being a go-to person for her coworkers and community members.