Originally from South Africa, Jayde was raised in the Kingdom of eSwatini before moving to Maine in 2016. While completing her undergraduate degree at Bates College, she volunteered with various organizations helping refugees and asylum seekers in Lewiston. 

Following her internship with MIRC in 2019, where she assisted the emergency relief efforts with asylum seekers at the Portland EXPO, Jayde re-joined the team for a year in June 2020 as Program Associate. She coordinated social service support for COVID-19 impacted families, and through advocacy, education, and outreach, she ensured equitable access to vaccines within the New Mainer community. 

Now pursuing her Master of Social Work at New York University, Jayde remains connected to MIRC as a project volunteer focusing primarily on leveraging COVID-19 and vaccination racial and ethnic disparity data in MIRC’s advocacy and to create broader social impact.