Staff

Dr. AJ Mazaris (they/them/theirs) is the founding director of the LGBTQ+ Center at Wake Forest University, where they also teach in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Dr. Mazaris serves as part of the university’s Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Team, and is committed to creating an institution that welcomes, supports, and engages everyone to their fullest potential. Dr. Mazaris has a Ph.D. in American Studies from Brown University in Providence, R.I., where they were honored to hold a Jacob Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education. Their teaching and research focus on LGBTQ history, queer theory, public history, and gender studies. At Brown they served as the first Coordinator of the LGBTQ Resource Center, and as Graduate Proctor at the Sarah Doyle Women’s Center. They were also a member of Brown’s Diversity Advisory Board, where they worked specifically on issues related to first-generation students and social class. While in Providence, they served on the board of the Equity Action Fund, Rhode Island’s fund for LGBTQ initiatives. Before coming to Wake Forest, Dr. Mazaris served as a Presidential Management Fellow at the Internal Revenue Service and the National Park Service.

Antayzha (she/her/hers) serves as the Program Coordinator for the LGBTQ+ Center and the Women’s Center. She earned her B.A. in History from Wake Forest, where she served as a student assistant in the LGBTQ+ Center and a campus-wide advocate for inclusion.

Antayzha was raised in Lenoir, North Carolina and has a passion for developing and supporting intersectional programming and equitable practices.

Esther (they/them or she/her) serves as one of the Graduate Assistants at the LGBTQ+ Center, where she supports the Center’s communications effort and assists with programming and education. Esther is a first year Master of Arts in Counseling student from Evanston, IL. Esther graduated with their Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College and previously worked in LGBTQ community health in Chicago before coming to Wake Forest.

Ashley Robinson (she/her) serves as one of the Graduate Assistants for the LGBTQ+ Center and assists in programming and education for the Wake Forest Community. She is a first year Master of Arts in Counseling student. Ashley is from Harstville, SC and has received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications at the College of Charleston.