Board Members
Alex DiBranco (she/her) is the executive director and co-founder of the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism. Her writings on male supremacism and incel terrorism have appeared in the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism Journal and The Public Eye quarterly, a publication of the think tank Political Research Associates. She has provided trainings and advice on male supremacist ideology for social justice organizations such as Western States Center, National Domestic Workers Alliance, and SURJ.
DiBranco has been interviewed about her work by outlets including NPR, The New Republic, the Chicago Tribune, Think Progress, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. She has a chapter in the book News of the Right published by Oxford University Press, drawn from her in-progress dissertation analyzing how the U.S. Right built sustainable infrastructure and political power from the 1970s through 1990s. DiBranco has her Ph.D. in Sociology from Yale University and has been affiliated with the Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies and the Dangerous Speech Project.
Marsha J. McDowell is a dedicated advocate for social justice and community empowerment, Marsha brings over a decade of experience in non-profit leadership, education, and social advocacy. Currently serving as Board Secretary for the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism while pursuing a PhD in Human Services, they demonstrate a deep commitment to addressing systemic inequalities and promoting positive social change.
Our Team
Irma Perez is a first-generation American and first-generation college graduate residing in California. She’s dedicated to social justice and equity by working in community mental health. Her experience as a Mexican-Puerto Rican lesbian has led her to advocate for marginalized communities and work toward creating inclusive spaces where everyone can thrive. When she’s not working she enjoys long drives and sunsets at the beach.
Anda Solea (she/her) is a Lecturer in Cybercrime and a doctoral researcher at the University of Portsmouth. Anda studies the communication tactics of incels (involuntary celibates) on TikTok and YouTube, investigating the role short-form content plays in spreading misinformation, propaganda and facilitating radicalisation and gender-based violence.
She has received multiple awards for her work on online extremist and misogynistic communities including the 2024 British Society of Criminology Women, Crime and Criminal Justice Network paper prize for ‘Mainstreaming the Blackpill: Understanding the Incel Community on TikTok’, and the Alan Turing Enrichment Award.
Her work has been previously published in the European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, Global Network on Extremism and Technology, and the British Society of Criminology website and has received extensive media coverage.
Maria Tchijov (they/she) is an award-winning organizer, campaigner, and movement builder with more than 15 years of experience in progressive politics. As an independent consultant, Maria has worked with organizations in the organizing and philanthropy spaces, including MoveOn, Kairos, and Progressive Multiplier Fund. Their work focuses on strategic planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of new projects, as well as campaigning, training, coaching, and facilitation. Before starting their consulting work, Maria served as VP of Campaigns at UltraViolet, where they built a team to run campaigns focused on the intersection of racial and gender justice, including launching the first ever cross-movement disinformation campaigning table focused on countering racist and sexist attacks on women of color running for office. Prior to her work at UltraViolet, Maria worked in both the nonprofit and startup worlds.
Kim Warnick has a BA in Sociology from Harvard University and is completing a Masters in Security & Terrorism in 2025 from the University of Maryland. She served as an Executive Director for 5 years, and has designed and led multiple national advocacy campaigns, including #HereForTheMusic, the leading campaign to end sexual violence in the music industry. Through this, she trained over 3000 music industry professionals and fans in bystander intervention, developed dozens of anti-violence policies, and delivered comprehensive sexual violence prevention and response programs for multiple venues, festivals, and tours.
Kim continues to apply her violence prevention expertise and music industry experience as a Culture Lab Senior Fellow for Western States Center, a Product Developer for Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities, and as a Producer for The Uncomfortable Conversation's Podcast. She has spoken at multiple conferences including the Event Safety Summit, has had her work featured in Teen Vogue and Billboard, and is a She Rocks Award recipient for her sexual violence prevention work in the music industry.
Dr. Lisa Sugiura (Board Chair) is Associate Professor in Cybercrime and Gender in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth. Lisa is an internationally recognised expert in online gender-based violence and regularly provides commentary in national and international media news outlets. Her research projects, which include funding from the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the Home Office and Ofcom, involve the role of technology in domestic abuse, extremism and misogyny in manosphere and incel communities, and online violence against women and girls. Lisa has published extensively in academic journals and magazines on topics including the online pharmaceutical trade, phishing, online research ethics and qualitative methodologies, rape culture, incels (involuntary celibates), and online misogyny. She is the author and co-editor of the books: Respectable deviance and purchasing medicine online: opportunities and risks for consumers Palgrave Macmillan, The incel rebellion: the rise of the manosphere and the virtual war against women Emerald publishing, and the Palgrave Handbook of Gendered Violence and Technology.