Kayla Tawa was a senior policy analyst on the Youth team and provided support to the Youth, Mental Health, and Justice teams. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in English and Anthropology. While at Mount Holyoke, Kayla explored the intersections of migration, labor, race, and trauma, writing her senior thesis on the role of trauma literature in reconstructing national memory.

Prior to joining CLASP, Kayla worked at NYU Shanghai as a Global Writing and Speaking Fellow, conducting research on the human rights implications of decriminalized sex work.