Officers

President, Rebecca Baughman Kerns (she/her)

A returning President from 2006, Rebecca has been involved with the intersex community since 1999. Embracing the professions of nonprofit management and education, she feels Communication is pivotal to success in both positions.

Rebecca lives in the city of Columbia where, as a married mother of three, she freelances as a grant writer and English language tutor while completing her Masters in English at the University of Missouri.

With Complete Androgen Insensitivity, she has found an amazing home and wonderful friends through InterConnect in its current and past iterations. Watching incredible advancements in the intersex community, she’s seen the great distance we have covered and is excited to see what our future holds.

Treasurer, Raphael Nash (they/he)

Currently managing a software development team, Raphael grew up in an environment where their family created spaces to have people’s stories told. They strive to bring their technical expertise to help InterConnect achieve its mission of creating a similar safe space for the intersex community.

Raphael has been a member for over a year. Finding InterConnect on the advice of a therapist, the moment they attended their first meeting, Raphael realized they had “found my people”. They believe that everyone needs a place to share their story and be seen.

Secretary, Sarah Wootton (she/her)

Sarah has been a member of the group since 2001, when she attended her first conference in Denver. Diagnosed with CAIS at birth, her mother was instrumental in finding this support group. As a young adult, she really valued the inclusion and belonging she found at every conference. As the Board Secretary, Sarah focuses on communication, project management and the yearly election process.

A native of both the SF Bay Area and Philly, Sarah now lives in Oakland with her husband, Anthony, and their 3 cats. She works in tech sales, and loves to sing, explore nature and watch lots of HGTV!

Members-At-Large

Jennifer Levine (she/her, they/them)

Jennifer specializes in clinical patient recruitment and community outreach for a biopharmaceutical company in New York City. Put simply, she helps research sites enroll clinical studies in order to find new treatments for diseases and conditions of the central nervous system, such as depression, Alzheimer’s disease, migraine, fibromyalgia and narcolepsy. She’s also a Certified Meeting Planner, specializing in pharmaceutical/medical conferences as well as patient outreach events.

She has been a member of InterConnect since 2015, having that year decided to live her truth, speaking up against intersex erasure and surgery in all parts of her life, including via her YouTube and Instagram. She’s also a dog mom to a “super chihuahua” named Mochi, enjoys hip hop dancing and long-distance running and will not shut up if you talk to her about pretty much any TV show or movie from the last 45 years.

She can be reached on most social media as @jennlevine.

James Knudtson (they/them)

James lives a very intersectional life as intersex, autistic, and physically disabled. Eager to bring their knowledge to the table, James has experience working in, and with, nonprofits during most of their life.

InterConnect changed James’ life and has provided many meaningful relationships. With this new found home, they seek to give back to our community.

Adam Davies (they/them)

Adam Davies works in the intersex clinic at Lurie Children’s Hospital. Wanting to use their experience in creating support groups for youth and improve youth programming, Adam lives in Chicago with their brother and a very fat orange and white cat, Colby Jack.

When first taking their job, they knew very few intersex adults and felt so isolated, but attending the InterConnect Conference showed that we aren’t alone. Adam wants others to have that experience too!

Banti Jaswal (they/them)

Banti loves being an advocate for greater understanding and acceptance of intersex people. They have been a member of the InterConnect community for 10 years, and recently volunteered on the welcome committee and with youth programming at the 2022 Summer Conference.

Justin Tsang (he/they)

Justin Tsang is a Transportation Planner by day, and an intersex activist & disability advocate by night. Since 2018, they have been involved in disability advocacy in various settings, including the American Association for People with Disabilities (AAPD). Previously serving as Research Director for the Asian Americans with Disabilities Initiative (AADI), they were also a Community Partner for the San Francisco-based disability housing nonprofit, The Kelsey.

Their past experiences inspired them to do cross-intersectional work on pressing societal issues, including those impacting the intersex community. Justin’s advocacy has been featured in Forbes, Insider, and NBC News, and they have spoken at various intersex conferences and events.

Nick Vary (he/they)

Nick is an indigenous, intersex activist, who also happens to be non-binary, transgender and gay. He is a published author, who writes on the intricacies of the Doctrine of Discovery and colonization, and how they orchestrated today’s gender disaster.

Growing up in a variety of towns and states, Nick currently resides in Colorado. If forced to name one place as his home, he’d probably choose Narnia or Middle Earth. His published works can be found in Otherwise Christian (volumes 1, 2 and 3), as well as The Spectrum of Sex.

Staff

Communications and Support Coordinator, Marissa Adams (she/her)

Marissa is the Communications and Support Coordinator at InterConnect, a role she had since 2020.  In her role, she supports intersex adults, children, and their families, welcoming them into to a space where they feel celebrated and supported.

Marissa is also the liaison for InterConnect‘s board of directors and the Medical Advisory Board.  Marissa has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Towson University and is also interested in research focused on behavioral health and trauma informed medical care.

Social Media and Peer Support Specialist, Sam Sharpe (they/them)

A PhD candidate in the Division of Biology at Kansas State University, Sam received a BA in Biology from Carleton College. They completed a fellowship in science communication in 2016 and have given presentations at local and national conferences on plant evolutionary ecology, increasing inclusion in STEM education, and understanding biological variation in sex and gender.

Sam previously served as a member of the executive board of Gender Collective, a student organization that provides community, activism, and education on issues surrounding trans and gender non-conforming students.

Peer Support Specialist, Lace (no pronouns)

Before joining InterConnect, Lace has been a facilitator for other groups starting in 2001 such as Community Connections and The Whitman-Walker Clinic, both of of Washington, DC., and On Our Own of Montgomery County. At forty-seven years old, Lace lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland with Gabby, a beautiful long haired tabby cat.

A member since 2014, Lace finds InterConnect means being supported and joining in partnership with people sharing the same issues. Lace enjoys facilitating groups and it’s been a major part of Lace’s life. The support we get from these groups is invaluable!