CURRENT RISC STAFF
Emily Small
Lead Organizer
Emily has been organizing within the DART network since 2001. Her first 18 years were spent in Florida. She started out at the FAITH organization in Daytona Beach, FL, where she was for 4 years. She then spent 14 years as the Lead Organizer of PEACE, in Palm Beach County, FL. Emily came to RISC in September of 2019, where she has developed a great love for our city and deeply enjoys working alongside amazing leaders to bring about much needed changes.
Emily is a native of the Philadelphia area and a graduate of Haverford College. She is married with three children.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Claire Hitchins
Associate Organizer
Claire Hitchins brings a decade of experience working at intersections of spirituality and social change to her new role as RISC Associate Organizer. Having earned her Master’s of Divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School in 2023, she is excited to live into the sacred call to nurture community in the pursuit of justice here in Richmond. Raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Roanoke, VA, Claire first moved to Richmond in 2013 after receiving her BA in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia. She worked for food justice at Shalom Farms 2013-2014, before her winding vocational path led her to Cochabamba, Bolivia, then Yakima, Washington, back to Charlottesville, and on to Nashville. Ten years later, she is thrilled to return to Richmond and join RISC in confronting injustice and building up the beloved community.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pai Koehler-Masavisut
Associate Organizer
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Kelley Doyle
Administrative Assistant (part-time)
Like Pai and Claire, also Kelley studied at Vanderbilt Divinity School! She graduated in 2021 with a certificate in Religion & the Arts in Contemporary Culture. After 5 years serving in congregational ministry in Nashville, Kelley and her spouse moved to Richmond in June 2025 for a new adventure. She’s excited to be back in Virginia – she grew up here and went to the College of William & Mary (2018), where she majored in Religious Studies and Hispanic Studies.
Kelley brings creativity and deep respect for interfaith engagement to her work, and is grateful to be supporting RISC by doing the background tasks necessary for our shared vision of a more just city.