Rea Mae Gacad is a devoted advocate for immigrants’ rights and has spent over a decade working at nonprofit immigration services agencies across the country. Her experience includes representing survivors of human trafficking and other forms of gender-based violence and overseeing the Queens Trafficking Intervention Pro Bono Partnership while at Sanctuary for Families in New York and representing unaccompanied youth and providing legal orientation program services at Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project in Los Angeles. Before joining Acacia, Rea Mae served as the Director of Transition-Immigrant Legal Defense and Orientation Programs at Vera Institute of Justice, where she was responsible for ensuring the successful transition of federally funded immigration programs from Vera to Acacia. Born in the Philippines, Rea Mae was brought to the United States as an infant and then raised in California, where she is now based. Rea Mae holds a JD from Georgetown University Law Center and a BA in Sociology and Hispanic Studies from Boston College.