Executive Chair
Samantha Salamon
[email protected]
Samantha Salamon, Esq., serves as the Chief Counsel at Asian Services in Action, Inc. In 2017, Ms. Salamon began representing human trafficking survivors as ASIA’s Staff Attorney and was promoted to the Ahimsa Manager in 2018, and then promoted again in 2023 to Chief Counsel. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in social work, and a law degree from Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, where she founded the Muslim Law Students’ Association. She has a passion for assisting vulnerable populations and believes that personal growth occurs most when working and helping others. After living and working abroad as an attorney in Dubai, Samantha understands the struggles an individual faces when dealing with unfamiliar cultural experiences and aspires to help people to her best ability obtain and protect their rights, from a legal perspective. Currently, Samantha is the Chair of the Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Commission’s Legal & Legislative subcommittee and the Executive Chair of the Summit County Collaborative Against Human Trafficking. Samantha has been chosen as a 2023 Fellow for the Ohio State Bar Foundation’s Fellowship Program and a 2024 Ohio State Bar Association Leadership Academy.
Engagement Chair
Sean Dawson
Sean graduated from the University of Akron with a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling is currently the Director of the Ohio Healthy Transitions Project at Bellefaire JCB for Summit and Medina Counties. He is an Independently Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with Supervision Designation and Licensed Professional Counselor. He is also a visiting lecturer as a member of the adjunct faculty for the Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy program at the University of Akron. Sean has worked with Human Trafficking Survivors and Agencies that work with survivors since 2009. He has provided trainings on Human Trafficking awareness, Trauma, Trauma-Informed Care, Family Systems Engagement and Mental Health Treatment, and other related topics. He is also an active member of the Summit County Suicide Prevention Coalition as he recognizes that victimization and risk overlap and also is a member of the Summit County Juvenile Court- RESTORE court advisory board. Sean is passionate about collaboration and getting diverse systems to work together to accomplish larger goals.
Creative Development Chair
Amanda Smith
[email protected]
Amanda is the Advocate Supervisor of the Ahimsa department at Asian Services in Action, Inc. (“ASIA”). Amanda graduated from Kent State University with a degree in Criminal Justice and minors in Human Development/Family Studies and Non-profit Management. Amanda is passionate about advocating for domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking survivors. She has a wealth of experience helping survivors, including providing on-scene crisis intervention at the Victim Assistance Program, advocacy in hospitals and schools for the Rape Crisis Center of Summit and Medina Counties, and culturally specific services to survivors to help them with their trauma at her current position in the Ahimsa department at ASIA. Amanda strives to help eliminate barriers and advocate for culturally-specific survivors. In her role as supervisor, Amanda encourages and emphasizes self-care and sees to it that the advocates practice self-care to lessen burnout and compassion fatigue. Amanda is a registered advocate through the National Organization of Victim Assistance (NOVA) and facilitates the monthly Immigrant and Refugee Ohio Coalition (IROC) to End Sexual Violence, educating and encouraging conversation around specific issues facing survivors from the immigrant and refugee communities.
Finance Chair
Andrea Lisowski
Andrea is a graduate from Case Western Reserve University with a Master of Science in Social Administration. She is a Licensed Independent Social Worker and Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor. Andrea has worked with survivors of human trafficking since 2014. She currently works as a therapist specializing in EMDR, trauma therapy and expressive arts techniques (including dance and yoga interventions). She has experiencing providing trauma therapy to survivors of sexual violence, human trafficking and other types of abuse. Andrea has additional experience working with survivors of human trafficking through multidisciplinary teams, program development and the court systems. Andrea currently serves as the Executive Board Chair for the Summit County Collaborative Against Human Trafficking.
