Kirsten has devoted her career to the pursuit of racial and social justice, working in the philanthropic sector, and legal and policy advocacy. Currently Kirsten is the Racial Justice Program Director at Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, a program she founded there in 2016. Prior to Wellspring, she was a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, where she founded its criminal justice grantmaking portfolio.

Before entering philanthropy, Kirsten spent almost two decades as a social justice lawyer and advocate, directing the Criminal Justice Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and the National Defender Leadership Project at the Vera Institute of Justice. She was a criminal defense attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C., and Associate Counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Los Angeles.

Kirsten received a BA in journalism and political science from the University of Southern California, a JD from the Harvard Law School, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the New School for Public Engagement. A third generation Californian, Kirsten now lives in New Jersey.

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