Communications

Alicia Cepeda Maule is the Innocence Project’s first Digital Engagement Director and since 2015 has led the organization in exponential audience growth, revenue, and advocacy. She developed and led the digital strategy that helped stop the executions of Rodney Reed in Texas and Pervis Payne in Tennessee.

She and her team have won more than 10 awards including Webbys, Shortys, Tellys, the Clarence Jones Impact Award, and more.

Previously, Alicia was a social media and community editor at msnbc.com and a digital organizer on President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.

Alicia graduated from Brown University in 2011 with a B.A. in Africana Studies.

Carlita Salazar comes to the Innocence Project with more than a decade of experience as an editor and writer for various nonprofit organizations. Prior to the Innocence Project, Carlita worked as the Publications Editor at the Natural Resources Defense Council. She earned an M.S. in urban planning from Columbia University, where she concentrated on food security issues and community development. She received her undergraduate degree from Lehigh University in psychology and Spanish.

Daniele Selby joined the Innocence Project in November 2019 as a Digital Content Strategist. Prior to joining our team, she worked as the Associate Editor at Global Citizen, where she wrote extensively about cash bail reform, gender inequality, and poverty. Daniele earned her B.A. from Vassar College, double majoring in music and psychology, and her Master’s of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she specialized in human rights and advocacy.

Fiona Guthrie is a storyteller, strategist and a leader in the communications sector, working at an array of legacy organizations and media outlets over the course of her career. For more than a decade, she worked at the Ford Foundation, where she directed media and, later, public engagement strategy. She served as the foundation’s acting vice president of global communications and, most recently, as its director of story leading a high-performing, creative team of storytellers and strategists. Before joining Ford, Fiona had a long and successful career in broadcast media. She was a producer for BBC World Service and BBC TV in London, a supervising producer and radio host for ABC Australia, and a producer with the BBC’s New York bureau in the aftermath of 9/11. She also served as media relations chief at the Australian Mission to the UN in New York.

Isabel joined the Innocence Project in June 2016. Prior to joining the Innocence Project team, Isabel worked at a personal injury law firm for five years. Isabel graduated from John Jay College with a BS degree in Criminal Justice. She also volunteers at Sanctuary for Families an organization that helps victims of domestic violence, sex trafficking and related forms of gender violence, translating documents from Spanish to English.

Julia Lucivero joined the Innocence Project in February 2017, with over eight years of experience in political communications. Prior to joining our team, she worked in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for a State Legislator, whose primary policy work surrounded progressive reforms for the DOC, prisoner mental health services and female offenders and their children, particularly being shackled during and after pregnancy. She began working in press and politics as a student, interning for then U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, working directly under her press secretary. Julia graduated from Marymount Manhattan College in 2007 with a degree in Communication Arts and a double minor in International Relations and Political Science.

Justin Chan joined the Innocence Project in 2021. He comes with more than a decade of experience in journalism, having written for Law.com, Mic, Forbes, HuffPost, Time Out New York, Entrepreneur.com, and Yahoo. Chan’s work has frequently touched on issues impacting marginalized communities, including racism, immigration, and economic disparities. He is a 2013 graduate of Columbia Journalism School and has volunteered at Reading Partners, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping at-risk youth improve their literacy.

Meghan Nguyen joined the Innocence Project in 2023 as a Digital Associate. Prior to joining the team, she used her skills with digital strategy, community engagement, and social media to develop narratives and messaging for organizations such as BerlinRosen, United We Dream, SEIU, One Fair Wage, Liberate Abortion, and the Food Network. She holds two bachelors’ degrees and a certificate in Human Rights/Social Justice from the University of Texas, where she triple majored in journalism, sociology, and African and African diaspora studies. Ultimately, Meghan’s professional trajectory, creative practice, and aspirations are grounded in the idea that we must (and can) radically reimagine and rebuild a world made for us.