Yoana Tchoukleva

Yoana Tchoukleva (she/they) is a civil rights attorney and restorative justice circle keeper, committed to advancing a community-led vision for justice that is based on healing, accountability and transformation. She is a white queer woman immigrant from Bulgaria, living in Oakland on traditional unceded Chochenyo Ohlone land. She dreams of a thriving, diverse and restorative Bay Area where the principles of restorative justice, racial justice and equity are centered, where indigenous land is rematriated, and where we all learn to live in right relationship with one another and the Earth. Most recently, she served as Assistant District Attorney in the Restorative Justice Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, focusing on expanding access to Restorative Justice diversion for youth and adults facing criminal charges. Previously, she worked as the Judge Constance Baker Motley Civil Rights Fellow at Equal Justice Society where she successfully advocated for legislation mandating implicit bias training for all judges, attorneys and medical professionals in California. Before that, Yoana clerked for Judge Thelton E. Henderson of the Northern District of California, worked on civil rights cases at the ACLU, sought resentencing for individuals serving juvenile life without parole, and held reentry and community healing circles. Yoana is also an elected delegate to the California Democratic Party, the Vice Chair of the Oakland Public Safety and Services Violence Prevention Oversight Commission (SSOC), and a facilitator with YES! When not working, you can find her dancing or dreaming up ways of bringing people together.