MEET THE board
Liliana Trejo-Vanegas
BOARD CHAIR
Liliana Trejo Vanegas was born and raised in Zacatecas, Mexico and now resides on Southern Paiute land. She is a photographer by trade who has been lucky to capture the work of countless nonprofits and mutual aid efforts in Las Vegas since 2013. She recently made a transition into organizing for a nonprofit that advocates for reproductive healthcare. Her passion for bodily autonomy for all has been a driving force for years and she is excited to bring this fight into her work with The Cupcake Girls. Having lived in Las Vegas for close to 20 years she has learned that our communities are made stronger by serving folks who are most overlooked and the work that The Cupcake Girls does for marginalized communities is absolutely necessary for our communities to not just survive but thrive.
Outside of work, she can be found volunteering locally with her amazing son, enjoying new and old food spots around town, or playing video games at home surrounded by her two rescue dogs.
MISTRESS MEI
BOARD VICE CHAIR
Mistress Mei (They/Them) is a pioneering advocate with over 12 years of experience as a sex worker. As the founder of Decrim 305, they've been at the forefront of the sex worker rights movement, striving for the decriminalization of sex work to ensure safety and human rights.
Mistress Mei's influence extends to founding Miami's inaugural Slut Walk Miami in 2020, a powerful platform for promoting sex work decriminalization. They also contribute their harm reduction expertise as a board member of The Cupcake Girls, furthering the organization's support for individuals in need.
Art is an integral part of Mistress Mei's impactful journey. They skillfully fuse advocacy with creativity, offering a distinct and captivating perspective that deeply resonates. Through their unwavering commitment, Mistress Mei envisions and works tirelessly towards a world where stigma and discrimination against sex workers are eradicated, allowing all individuals the freedom to live and work securely and without fear.
Barb Brents
BOARD SECRETARY
Barb (she/her) is a Sociology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with over 35 years of experience in teaching and researching politics, sex, and gender, focusing on sexual commerce. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the Missouri Journalism School.
Barb's extensive research on sex work in various legal systems has established her as an international expert in the field. In addition to lots of research articles, her books include the co-authored "The State of Sex," a study of Nevada’s legal brothels (2010) and "Paying for Sex in the Digital Age" (2020), which compares client surveys in the US and UK. She is a co-editor of "Sex Work Today: Erotic Labor in the 21st Century" (2024). Barb has been instrumental in making UNLV's Sociology Department a leader in sex work research at the PhD level. Her work has received numerous awards and has been featured in a wide variety of media.
Barb believes in using research for social change. She is passionate about promoting evidence-based reforms to prostitution laws, advocating for healthy sexuality, and championing sex workers’ human rights. Over the last three decades, Barb has been involved in various peace and justice movements, including serving as Nevada ACLU Board President and an ACLU national board member.
TRINA BROWN
BOARD TREASURER
Trina (she/her) currently lives in Idaho, by way of Nevada, Connecticut and California. She attended California State University Long Beach and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice in 2002. She spent many years working in social services in Nevada, assisting with delivery of self-reliance programs. While in Nevada she connected with The Cupcake Girls and spent 5 years volunteering and working for them in multiple capacities
prior to moving out of state. Trina moved to Idaho and pursued her Masters in Social Work from Boise State University which she completed in 2019. She currently works at a local hospital providing mental health and substance use assessment, and coordinates care for her clients in the community. She also provides EMDR, a trauma therapy in the community
to first responders.
Trina is passionate about The Cupcake Girls and their vision to provide resources, advocacy and support. She believes the clients served by TCG deserve the support of others and the community, as we all do. As humans it is our calling to be there for each other, and take steps to better understand each other through connection.
In her free time, Trina enjoys spending time with her husband, 5 kids, and foster children on their small acreage farm. She loves exploring the Pacific Northwest in their travel trailer, drinking coffee, having dance parties, spending time in the garden and taking care of livestock and other animals on the property.
MIRIAM BELLOWS
BOARD MEMBER
Miriam (she/her) is an advocate for empowerment, leveraging her experience to drive positive change. She joins the board after a year and half of dedication volunteering on The Cupcake Girls’ Events team, hosting, fundraising and championing for TCG, working hard, while having fun. Miriam’s background is in biomed, doing infectious disease research as she wrapped up her Masters of Science in Bioinformatics. From here she translated these analytical research skills to Marketing, working with agencies and in house, all industries. Honing in on this decade of experience to focus on strategy, analytics, and Project Management has propelled her work as a Business and Marketing Consultant. She’s experienced with guiding organizations towards growth and transformation, strategic decision-making and driving impactful outcomes. Her commitment to collaboration, holistic balance, and innovation is evident in every endeavor she undertakes.
When she is not working on fun projects or people, you can find her outside enjoying patios, kayaking, adventuring around the PNW or abroad! Where to next?
POMMA GRANET
BOARD MEMBER
Pomma Granet (They/Them) is a passionate advocate and informal educator on topics related to sex workers rights, digital discrimination, and the necessity for intersectional approaches to advocacy. They use their personal experiences from being a sex worker for over nine years to help communicate the urgency of these issues and spread awareness, particularly in larger conversations surrounding civil rights, human rights, and legislation.
On various social media platforms, including TikTok and Instagram, they create short-form video and textual content. Much of their content revolves around advocating for the decriminalization of sex work. In addition to this and other relevant topics, they also work to offer alternative perspectives for their audience so they can better humanize sex workers within a society that often overlooks their needs. Throughout all of the content they create and share with the community, Pomma does their best to uplift the perspectives of marginalized voices to ensure that everyone “has a chip to dip” in conversations. They hope that by creating content surrounding these issues, their audience will feel more comfortable— and have helpful language to refer to— when advocating in their own personal lives and communities.
In their free time, Pomma enjoys streaming video games, traveling to anime conventions/expos, and expressing themselves through alternative fashion. Pomma loves spicy food and their two fluffy cats. Their favorite Girl Scout cookie is the caramel delight!
MADISON ZACK-WU
BOARD MEMBER
Madison (she/her) is a stripper, political community organizer, and researcher- focusing on social justice, labor, and sex workers' rights. She led Strippers Are Workers to the WA state legislative win that created the first-ever Strippers' bill of Rights. This historic bill won dancer workers' rights, addressed power differentials within the clubs that perpetuate exploitation, and decriminalized nudity and alcohol within WA strip clubs. Her article “Undue Harms Against Adult Dancers: Regulation of Strip Club Labor Based on Spurious Claims, Research, and Stigma” is published in Wiley’s Sexuality, Gender & Policy journal, and addresses systemic oppression and its manifestations within the regulation of strip clubs. Additionally, Madison guest lectures at local universities and community colleges regarding intersectional social justice, grassroots organizing, and sex work.
Madison is passionate about fighting for the liberation of all, and she fights for freedom through grassroots organizing and community power-building. She knows that shifting the systems of oppression and creating power in marginalized communities happens through the celebration and empowerment of impacted individuals. People in the sex trade face an incredible amount of disempowerment, stigma, and harm because of societal oppression. Madison is dedicated to securing agency and autonomy for people in the sex trade, because they are her siblings and community, and also because they simply deserve to be well and free.