We Are SafeBAE

Our Story

SafeBAE defines the core issues of rape culture and sexual assault as the single most dangerous and impacting events in the lives of young people today. The statistics show the rate of assaults as significantly higher than any other age demographic, yet our culture offers little in the way of education or opportunities to change this epidemic. SafeBAE was founded by us in 2015. Daisy, Ella, and Jada are teen sexual-assault survivors and together with Charlie (Daisy’s brother) and Shael (our executive director) we created SafeBAE in an effort to prevent what happened to us from happening to anyone else (the BAE in SafeBAE stands for “before anyone else.”) During the filming of the Peabody Award-winning Netflix documentary, ‘Audrie & Daisy,’ we began incubating the idea for SafeBAE when we realized the single most common and important theme among all our stories was the lack of sexual-violence prevention, consent education and Title IX knowledge there was in our high schools. It was clear to us that education about these issues needs to happen pre-college, in middle school or early high school, when attitudes about intimacy and boundaries and dating safety were just forming.

Co-Founders

Cat Coleman

Co-Founder
Meet Cat

At the young age of 14, Daisy was assaulted by her older brother’s friend in Maryville, MO. The perpetrator and his friends coerced her to drink to the point of complete black out, and after the assault left her outside her house in below freezing temperatures. She was then bullied at school, on social media and her house was burned down. Considerable evidence was brought against the perpetrators, but because of suspected corruption, the charges were dropped. The group Anonymous then rallied on her behalf with #JusticeforDaisy and Daisy sparked a national conversation about sexual assault and continues that conversation even after her passing. RIP Cat.

Jada Smith

Co-Founder
Meet Jada

Jada Smith is the outspoken survivor who sparked the #JusticeforJada campaign. At 16 years old, Jada was drugged and assaulted at a party.  After assaulting her, the perpetrators posted pictures online of her unconscious, drugged body with the hashtag #jadapose that began trending in her community with reenactment pictures of her assault.  After Jada’s rape went viral she fought back, appearing on major news outlets, which ignited support from people all over the globe including celebrities such as Willow Smith and Gabrielle Union.  A movement was born to support Jada and call for the prosecution of her perpetrator with #JusticeforJada pictures. Jada is still seeking justice and continues to advocate for sexual assault and cyberbullying prevention.

Ella Fairon

Co-Founder
Meet Ella

After moving to a small town in Texas at the age of 14, Ella was beaten, drugged and raped by a peer. For weeks after, Ella was bullied and harassed by the perpetrator and his friends and was shamed for the assault committed against her. Ella’s family eventually relocated back to California for her safety. Throughout her early healing, she created her own school club, Buttervly, which evolved into a local Southern California organization. She has gone on to graduate from Corona Del Mar High school and earn her degree from the Los Angeles Film School. With a newly minted production company, Lancelot Media Inc, Ella has developed and produced much of SafeBAE’s digital and social media content, recruiting a team of young, female lead, trauma informed collective of film makers.

Charlie Coleman

Co-Founder
Meet Charlie

Charlie Coleman is a recent graduate of Baker University with a Bachelors in exercise science and 4 year varsity baseball letterman. His impactful contribution to the acclaimed film Audrie & Daisy shows his incredible voice as both a brother of a survivor, an ally, a coach and mentor to young athletes. His previous experience speaking at schools has led him to want to reach as many young athletes as possible.

Executive Director

Shael Norris has dedicated her career to ending sexual violence. She is passionate about empowering young people to be change agents in preventing violence. She was a founding staffer of V-Day, overseeing the College and Community Campaigns for 19 years. After decades of work focused on college sexual assault, she sought a grant to establish SafeBAE to focus specifically on younger students. Her three children and dedication to making schools a safer place was the driving force which led to the creation SafeBAE.

Staff

Board of Directors

SafeBAE’s Board of Directors is composed of ⅔ youth at all times. We take applications on a rolling basis from youth leaders (primarily who have been actively involved in our programs) and adult allies committed to helping us execute the vision of our young leaders as well as fundraise.

Board of Advisors

manda morgan

Amanda Morgan

MarlaS

Marla Swanson

JoeyB

Joey Brenneman

TraceyV

Tracey E. Vitchers

SarahM

Sarah Mayo

SafeBAE Researchers

TacianaI

Tacianna Indovina

Byron Ballard - Computer Science

Elizabeth D. Peeler

Screen Shot 2023-10-02 at 5.55.07 PM

Lindsay Orchowski

Creative Partners

AnnaB

Anna Baumgarten

LauraH

Laura Holliday

Bedik

Bedik Bedikian

SafeBAE is a 501c3 Not-for-Profit Organization

Your Donation Goes A Long Way

Your donation makes an immediate impact by enabling us to offer free consent education and resources to their schools.

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