Our Team
Lara Love Hardin, co-founder (she/her)
Lara Love Hardin is a literary agent, author, and president of True Literary. Lara is a formerly incarcerated woman with lived experience navigating the obstacles, bureaucracy, and stigma of incarceration and reentry. She is a graduate of the original Gemma Program. Lara has a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing and is a four-time New York Times bestselling writer. In 2019 she won a Christopher Award for her work “affirming the highest values of the human spirit.” In 2019 she was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award and short-listed for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Lara is the author of The Many Lives of Mama Love chronicling her time in jail and the decades spent rebuilding her life. Love Hardin lives in La Selva Beach, California. She has four children, two step-children, five dogs, three cats, twenty-one chickens, and four ducks.
Natasha Johnson, day program coordinator (she/her)
Natasha Johnson is passionate about and dedicated to combating social injustice through healing and women’s empowerment, and approaches her work through a holistic, anti-oppressive and intersectionality lens. Natasha has worked in the field of criminal justice reform and direct service for eight years as a research associate, forensic social worker and policy analyst. She holds a BA in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in Social Work from Columbia University. Natasha is highly motivated by her own personal experience in healing and impact of the criminal legal system, and is committed to ending cycles of generational trauma in order to find and share liberation. Natasha has one child, one dog, two frogs and hopes to one day own chickens!
Cynthia Chase, co-founder & executive director (she/her)
Cynthia Chase is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 25 years’ experience in juvenile and criminal legal system reform as a Social Worker, Probation Officer, Corrections Director of Programming, and the Executive Director of the original Gemma Program. Cynthia has been recognized as a dedicated leader and tireless advocate in her work at the intersection of justice and gender. As a subject matter expert, Cynthia has worked to improve systems and outcomes for marginalized individuals at the city, county, and State level. Cynthia has also created and advocated for policy change as a City Council member and Mayor of Santa Cruz CA. Cynthia is committed to creating more equitable and just outcomes for women, families, and communities because when women lead, individuals and communities thrive. Chase lives in Oakland, California with her husband, Howard. She has three dogs, four chickens, a tortoise named Melon, and no ducks.
Avelina Richardson, continuing care coordinator (she/her)
Avelina Richardson is committed to supporting families like her own in their journeys to heal from the trauma inflicted by separation. Her father’s incarceration during her childhood and young adult life, as well as her own involvement with the justice system as a youth had profound impacts on her and her family’s development. Avelina grounds her work in honoring the experiences of mothers, daughters, sisters, and women, who often carry the burden of supporting an incarcerated loved one alone, much like her mother did. For the past 7 years, Avelina has supported incarcerated people and their loved ones in different capacities. Avelina is passionate about creating pathways for Black, Brown and Indigenous people to reconnect with restorative justice practices which were stolen and erased from cultures as a result of colonization. Her work is intentionally dedicated to making healing accessible for communities who have historically been underserved and disenfranchised. Avelina grew up riding horses and feeding chickens, and loves bunnies.
Cynthia & Lara
In Conversation August 1, 2023, Bookshop Santa Cruz
Gemma Origin
In the early 2000’s, the original Gemma Program was created by and for incarcerated women who desperately wanted to escape the revolving door of incarceration and were tired of cycling in and out of jails and programs that didn’t meet their needs. Incarcerated women in the Santa Cruz County jail described completing one-size-fits-all programs, typically designed for men that didn’t address the unique needs and challenges women face. These women’s message resonated with community members and elected leaders who had long been concerned with stagnant recidivism rates and the existing models of rehabilitation and treatment. The idea of a “new model” quickly gained momentum, continued to blossom and in 2003 these same incarcerated women helped to create the program Gemma, “a bud ready to grow independently” a name they chose to represent their hope for themselves and their future.
Lara, a 2009 graduate of the Gemma Day Program, shares her experiences while incarcerated and the challenges of reeentry in her memoir The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing and Healing (Simon & Schuster, 2023). Cynthia, was the Executive Director of the Gemma Program while Lara was a participant, and they first began working together to open doors for justice-involved women after Lara's release. Together they share a committment to improving the lives of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and are fighting to challenge and change the barriers, stigma, and shame of incarceration and reentry.
Using the global platform created by Lara’s memoir and upcoming television series based on the memoir, Lara and Cynthia have partnered to create The Gemma Project providing hope, opportunity, and community to justice involved women across the country.