Dennese Mae Javier, Global Content Coordinator, Communications and Engagement

Dennese Mae is an educator, researcher, and communications specialist passionate about utilizing art and video as tools for advocacy, creating counter-narratives, preserving historical memory, and securing accountability.

She joined WITNESS in 2024 as a Programmatic Communications Coordinator for the U.S. Program. In this role, she managed regional communications, produced high-impact audiovisual content, developed resources, and led trainings that helped individuals and communities harness the power of video to defend human rights. In 2025, Dennese Mae joined the Communications and Engagement team, where she helps develop global communications strategies, oversees and contributes to content production across all platforms, and amplifies WITNESS’ work to reach communities on the frontlines of change. 

Previously, Dennese Mae has worked in schools and for non-profits, leading capacity-building initiatives, participatory research projects, and media campaigns alongside communities to co-create the changes they want to see. Most recently, she conducted a critical ethnography that identified systemic inequities within the U.S. education system and developed asset-based frameworks for re-contextualizing communities of color. 

Dennese Mae holds a B.A. in Government, English, and Art History from Georgetown University and an M.S. in Education from the University of Pennsylvania with specializations in ethnography, filmmaking, and human rights.