About Us

Nicole Baran, MSW, is the Executive Director and Founder of the Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness, started in 2005. She has been dedicated to the domestic violence movement since 2000, working both as an advocate with survivors of domestic violence and at the policy level for systemic change. In addition, she developed and teaches a course on violence against women in the Feminist Studies Program at Stanford University. Prior to the Center, she was the Grant and Contract Manager at the Support Network for Battered Women in Mountain View. Previously, she worked for the Greenbook Initiative in St. Louis and produced guidelines regarding the response of domestic violence service providers to child maltreatment. Nicole has contributed to several publications to improve the response of child welfare and court systems to domestic violence survivors and has conducted national trainings and workshops on domestic violence since 2001. She received her BA and MA in English from Stanford University and received her MSW from Washington University in St. Louis, with a specialization in management and a focus on domestic violence research.

Amy Pohl, JD, is the Program Manager for the Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness. She received her BA in Political Science and Women’s Studies from the Colorado College and received her JD from the University of Wyoming, College of Law, where she served as the Student Director of the Domestic Violence Legal Assistance Project. She was awarded the Wyoming Bar Foundation Pro Bono Student Service Award in 2008 for her work with the Project. Before coming to the Center, Amy worked as a Staff Attorney for the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, representing survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking in civil cases. In addition, she provided trainings and technical assistance throughout the state to other professionals, including judges, advocates, law enforcement, and students on issues relating to domestic violence and the law.

Kristen Barta is a Program Associate for the Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness. She received her BA from Stanford University in Cultural and Social Anthropology with an emphasis in women’s health, and received a certificate from the Program in Feminist Studies. She also received her MA from Stanford University in Communication (media studies), and completed a thesis project on improving media coverage of intimate partner violence. While a student at Stanford, Kristen served as an intern for the Center and was a course assistant for “Violence Against Women: Theory, Issues and Prevention,” offered through the Program in Feminist Studies. She plans to pursue a PhD in communications and continue her research on discussions of intimate partner violence in the media.

“The Center has given me the courage to speak out, with the facts, with compassion, with the knowledge that the movement to end violence against women is a movement that affects all of us. In no small way, my life has been changed by this internship.” – Intern