EDUCATION

Virginia Commonwealth UniversityAnticipated Graduation May 2020

Bachelor of Science in Mass Communication with a concentration in Print/Online Journalism

Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Language with a concentration in Spanish

Certificate of Spanish-English Translation and Interpretation

SKILLS

Native-like fluency in SpanishAdobe InDesign and AuditionWordpressCopy and content editingDetail-orientedNews, features and arts writingSpanish-English translation and

interpretation

GEORGIA GEENgeengr@vcu.edu804-501-9413georgiageen.wordpress.com

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Richmond Magazine Editorial InternJanuary 2018 – May 2018Reported on a variety of topics with an arts & entertainment focus, wrote miscellaneous copy for the magazine, fact checked

The Commonwealth Times – various positionsExecutive Editor (January 2018 – present)Continues managing editor responsibilities, makes final decision in all editorial, digital and creative matters, oversees new social media and digital strategies, manages budget and provides human resources servicesManaging Editor (May 2018 – December 2018)Worked with section editors to curate content, oversaw day-to-day operations, assisted in special project organization and social media, coordinated artassignments, wrote and edited copy for web and weekly print publicationSpectrum (Arts & Culture) Editor (January 2018 – May 2018)Assigned stories, wrote and edited section copy, worked one-on-one with writers to develop their skillsStaff /Contributing Writer (October 2016 – January 2018)Reported on news, art and culture on a weekly basis, writing 1-3 articles per week

Student Media Election Collaboration Political CoordinatorNovember 2018Coordinated research and live radio and social media coverage of dozens of local and national midterm elections; reworked coverage for next-day print publication

Presenter at VCU School of World Studies Student Research Conference November 2018Presented original research on the origins of nationalism and anti-Haitianism in the Dominican Republic at a statewide conference

Focused Inquiry Undergraduate Teaching Assistant August 2017 – May 2018Aided instructor in planning a writing-intensive course, frequently met with students to assist them in the writing and research process

Richmond Young Writers Summer Intern2014 and 2016Assisted the instructor in several week-long creative writing classes for children ages 8-11 and 12-14, led creative activities and designed dynamic lesson plans

By Georgia Geen, Capital News Service

Advocate draws from personal experience as example to youth

whsv.com/content/news/Advocate-draws-from-personal-experience-as-example-to-youth-507224561.html

RICHMOND, Va. (CNS) — James Braxton went outside only once in the four months he

spent in jail, and he ate ice chips instead of drinking water. He says he didn’t want to get

used to a routine; that would have meant he was staying there.

It was in 2005 when he got a call from a friend after being fired from his job at a call

center for fighting with a coworker. Braxton needed money, and accompanying a friend

on a personal retaliation mission was a way to get it.

But things didn’t go according to plan. He ended up driving their car through Newport

News, pursued by up to a dozen squad cars. Braxton and the three young men in the car

with him were charged with possession of a firearm and larceny.

“I was almost laughing because I couldn’t believe it; I was almost in a state of shock. It

didn’t really hit me until we got to jail and we’re there for hours in processing,” Braxton

said. “It had already hit the news what was happening, so guys in there are treating us

like, ‘Dang, y’all about to go down.’”

1/4

Braxton’s story didn’t begin with a failed robbery attempt, and it didn’t end when he left

Hampton City Jail. His early years are similar to those of some of the youth he advocates

for today.

He joined RISE for Youth — a statewide campaign advocating for youth justice reform —

two years ago after more than a decade of working to better himself and navigate past

traumas. He is now the group’s strategic engagement director.

Shortly after Braxton’s parents divorced when he was 9, his mother, Mattie Brisbane, was

diagnosed with breast cancer. One of the major traumas of his childhood was thinking his

mother was going to die, Braxton said.

“That was a trying time,” Braxton said. “I felt like God spared her because in the times

when I needed someone the most, she’s always been there. She’s always been there,

always believed in me and always supported me.”

Despite his tendency to act out in school and high levels of frustration, Brisbane said she

always saw “greatness” in her son.

“Even as a toddler, he was very smart, very curious, but he was bold,” Brisbane said. “One

day I went to turn on the light, and the light wouldn’t come on. A couple of things electrical

didn’t work and I started looking around — he cut electrical wires because he wanted to

make his own TV.”

In his early high school years, Braxton said he was “one foot in the streets and one foot

out.” The area where he lived at the time — Lincoln Park, a public housing site in Hampton

that was demolished in 2016 — was known for crime, drugs and violence, he said.

“By default, I just got sucked into some of the activity that was happening,” Braxton said. “I

gravitated toward it. It’s where I felt welcome, it’s where I felt like I belonged.”

As a 17- and 18-year-old, Braxton acted as a stepfather to his 23-year-old girlfriend’s child.

The experience was toxic, he said, and the stress interfered further with his education.

“I’m thinking about how I’m going to get out of school to get to the WIC office to get this

baby some milk,” Braxton said. “I’m now taking on that responsibility as an 11th grader in

high school working two jobs living a whole grown person’s life. There was nobody I could

talk to about that.”

When he was a senior in high school, the stress led Braxton to attempt suicide by taking a

bottle of painkillers.

2/4

“I remember waking up in the hospital and just feeling broken and the weakest I had ever

felt in my life,” he said. “I vowed to never be that weak again.”

It might have improved his situation, Braxton said, if he had had a mentor — someone he

could relate to.

“That would have allowed me to feel open enough to have those conversations,” Braxton

said. “And then from that, [have] some real, tangible, solid answers for housing and for

food and for transportation in places where I don’t have to be system-involved to access

them.”

By “system,” he means the welfare system or the criminal justice system. Most young

people can’t access resources for necessities like food, housing and transportation until

they’re “system-involved,” Braxton said.

An alternative would be local organizations working with the local government to address

those issues, he said.

Braxton experienced what he considers a similar lack of assistance after he was released

from jail in 2005. He got out when his $80,000 bond was reduced to $20,000, an amount

his family was able to pay.

At the time, he spent all day, every day applying for jobs — it was “application after

application,” he said. The opportunity that Braxton says changed his life was when he was

hired as a pediatric dental assistant.

“But it had nothing to do with the [criminal justice] system, and the system had the

opportunity to do that,” Braxton said. “That has to change.”

To Braxton, that job is the reason a judge decided to give him a second chance at the end

of two years of criminal proceedings in 2007. The office staff and the doctor that hired him

came with him to the sentencing.

“The judge was like, ‘I don’t see this often; I don’t see young men coming in with these

kinds of charges and they’re doing the positive things you’re doing and making this kind of

impact,’” Braxton said.

Braxton had taken an Alford plea — in which the defendant pleads guilty without

admitting to the act — to his gun charge. After three years of probation, the judge

dropped the larceny charge.

3/4

Braxton worked in property management for several years before he felt he needed to

make a change and connect himself to his “purpose.”

He now advocates for improvements in the criminal justice system. In January, Braxton

was part of a rally at the state Capitol that urged the General Assembly to reinstate

discretionary parole, which allows prisons to release certain offenders before they have

completed their sentences. During the 2019 legislative session, several bills were

proposed to reinstate parole; none of them passed.

Braxton said he hopes “to be an example and mentor, especially to young African-

American boys that don’t have examples of fathers or leaders in their home or in their

environment.”

“I think that’s where it starts,” he said, “not waiting for the state or not waiting for the

government to provide answers to neighborhoods and communities.”

4/4

4/15/2019 Rally urges legislators to reinstate parole in Virginia | The Henrico Citizen

https://www.henricocitizen.com/articles/rally-urges-legislators-to-reinstate-parole-in-virginia/ 1/3

Rally urges legislators to reinstate parole in VirginiaRally urges legislators to reinstate parole in VirginiaSpecial to the Citizen on January 15, 2019

By Georgia Geen, Capital News Service

The Virginia Prison Justice Network advocated on Saturday in favor of legislation that would instate criminaljustice reform.

Dozens turned out for a rally hosted Saturday at the Capitol in support of billsintroduced to the General Assembly that would reinstate parole for someincarcerated Virginians.

Virginia ended discretionary parole in 1995, but those sentenced before the law wentinto effect are still eligible. HJ 644, introduced by Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax, woulddirect a study into the reinstatement of discretionary parole, which releases anoffender before he/she completes his/her sentence.

The study is a start, said Lillie Branch-Kennedy, founder of Resource, Information,Help for the Disadvantaged and Disenfranchised, a statewide support group forprisoners and their families. But she says she doesn’t want to see it stop there.

“We don’t want it to go to a study and just die away, go away, fade away,” Branch-Kennedy said.

4/15/2019 Rally urges legislators to reinstate parole in Virginia | The Henrico Citizen

https://www.henricocitizen.com/articles/rally-urges-legislators-to-reinstate-parole-in-virginia/ 2/3

A portion of the rally addressed the “Fishback” cases, incarcerated Virginians whowere sentenced after the abolishment of parole but before a Supreme Court rulingthat jurors had to be made aware that their sentences would be carried out fully.

“The jurors were not told that parole was abolished [prior to the ruling], therebygiving them sentences thinking they would be eligible for parole,” Branch-Kennedysaid.

SB 1437, introduced by Democratic Sen. Jennifer McClellan of Richmond, wouldmake those prisoners eligible for parole. Branch- Kennedy said this would apply toabout 300 incarcerated people in Virginia.

Other bills supported by the Virginia Prison JusticeNetwork — which organized the rally — address datacollection on solitary con�nement and thereinstatement of felon voting rights. On Wednesday,a Senate committee killed two measures to amendthe Virginia Constitution to give people convicted ofa felony the right to vote, but a similar bill remains.SJ 283 would reinstate voting rights for felons thatmade restitution and completed their sentences.

“The biggest part [of getting legislation passed] is going to be trying to get people toshow up for the committee meetings,” said Joseph Rogers, an organizer for theVirginia Prison Justice Network.

Rogers noted the rally’s increased attendance from a similar event last year, despiteSaturday’s forecast of a late-afternoon winter storm.

“I am hoping that we do get the opportunity to have people testifying at the GeneralAssembly committee meetings,” Rogers said. “Just as we saw how powerful thesestatements from prisoners impacted the crowd here, we can only imagine howmuch that can actually impact the legislators.”

Del. Joseph Lindsey, D-Norfolk, is sponsoring HB 1745, which would make people inprison for crimes they committed as juveniles eligible for parole after having served25 years of their sentences.

James Braxton, who spoke at the rally, is a director for juvenile justice reform groupRISE for Youth.

“But today, I’m speaking with you as someone who was formerly incarcerated,”Braxton said.

4/15/2019 Rally urges legislators to reinstate parole in Virginia | The Henrico Citizen

https://www.henricocitizen.com/articles/rally-urges-legislators-to-reinstate-parole-in-virginia/ 3/3

Braxton, whose charges included attempted robbery, was one of several formerlyincarcerated people to speak at the rally, and representatives read statements fromprisoners serving sentences in facilities throughout the state.

Braxton recalled his experience in prison. He said that upon entering, he was given abucket with two small bars of soap, a toothbrush and a little bit of toothpaste meantto last months. He said when he left prison, he was given few resources — similar tohis situation prior to being incarcerated, when he “barely” graduated high schooland found himself without a support system.

“I had to start from scratch [upon release], sleeping on my grandmother’s �oor,”Braxton said. “It wasn’t until an opportunity was offered to me that changed my life.But it had nothing to do with the system, and the system had the opportunity to dothat. That has to change.”

Virginia House committee kills bills to pass Equal RightsAmendment

Georgia Geen, VCU Capital News Service Published 4:49 p.m. ET Jan. 22, 2019

A Virginia House of Delegates subcommittee killed four bills to ratify the federal Equal

Rights Amendment on a 4-2 party-line vote Tuesday amid verbal conflicts between the

chairwoman and members of the audience.

The decision to “pass by indefinitely” HJ 577, HJ 579, HJ 583 and SJ 284 marks the

end for efforts to pass legislation ratifying the ERA — a proposed amendment to the

U.S. Constitution preventing sex discrimination — unless it is brought up in the full

House Privileges and Elections Committee Friday.

“I think that with this type of attention that it’s getting, I think there’s an expectation that

it will be brought to full committee on Friday,” said Delegate. Mark Sickles of Fairfax,

one of two Democrats on the subcommittee.

The subcommittee’s chairwoman — Delegate Margaret Ransone, R-Westmoreland —

was vocal about her opposition to the ERA, sparking tensions with the crowd. Before

the vote, Ransone asked those in support of the ERA to stand, and most people in the

audience rose.

The Accomack County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution in

support of the ERA. Wochit video by Keith Demko, Salisbury Daily Times

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“This resolution has come after this committee year after year, meaning we are very

aware of this resolution and it’s a thoroughly understood issue,” Ransone said. “I don’t

need words on a piece of paper — God made us all equal.”

In her remarks, Ransone referenced Eileen Davis, co-founder of the pro-ERA group

Women Matter and mother of U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, by name.

Proponents of the ERA react to the committee's vote to kill the resolutions. (Photo: VCU CNS image byGeorgia Geen)

ERA supporters “have disrespected me year after year,” Ransone said. “And, Eileen,

you have brought young people and young women to my office and told them that

they’re not worthy. They are worthy.”

Ransone said that she is respected by the male members of the Republican Caucus

and that women “deserve every opportunity in life that a man does.”

Special offer: With a digital-only subscription, you can be one of the first to learn aboutbreaking news with personalized news alerts.

“Women deserve to be in the Constitution,” Davis said from the audience in response.

Ransone and fellow Republican Delegates Hyland “Buddy” Fowler Jr. of Hanover, Riley

Ingram of Hopewell and John McGuire of Henrico voted to kill each of the resolutions

to ratify the ERA. Sickles and Democratic Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg of Henrico

voted to keep the resolutions alive.

The proposed amendment says, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or

abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

The ERA was first introduced by suffragette Alice Paul in 1923 but made little

momentum until the 1970s when 35 states ratified it, three short of the 38 needed to

make an amendment part of the U.S. Constitution. Efforts subsided after the ratification

deadline imposed by Congress passed in 1982. However, the Constitution does not

specifically give Congress the right to put a deadline on amendment ratification.

Related: ERA gets new backing as Accomack voices support

Related: Virginia senate clears ERA, fate uncertain in House

A campaign led by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly is credited with halting the

movement and resulting in five states rescinding their ratifications, a right not granted

by the Constitution.

“Alice Paul said, 100 years ago, ‘Unless women are prepared to fight politically, they

should be prepared to be ignored politically,’” Davis said. “And we’re not prepared [to

be ignored] anymore; time is up on that.”

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Supporters of ratifying the ERA had high hopes after the Senate passed SJ 284 in a

26-14 vote last week. Seven Republican senators joined the 19 Democratic members

in voting to ratify the ERA.

But it was a different story when the issue moved to the House.

Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Stafford, who sponsored HJ 579, called the

subcommittee vote “one of the most important … that we will take in our lifetime.”

“The same arguments that are being made are the arguments that were made for

segregation,” Carroll Foy said. “We want to be on the right side of this issue.”

PHOTOS: Community Unity Day honors MLK legacy

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