Cara Shousterman, PhD

Cara Shousterman serves as the Vice President of the Justice Navigator Team at the Center for Policing Equity. In her role, she sets the strategic vision and goals for the Justice Navigator Team, ensuring alignment with the mission and organizational vision of the Center for Policing Equity and overseeing the production and delivery of CPE’s flagship product: the Justice Navigator Assessment.

Before joining the Center for Policing Equity, Cara was the Director of Technology Training Initiatives at the City University of New York, where she led numerous workforce development initiatives that aimed to improve outcomes for individuals who faced significant barriers to employment in the tech sector. Here, she ran a portfolio of technology-focused training programs within the areas of software development, data analytics and IT/networking. Prior to this, she worked for Harmony Labs, a tech-focused research nonprofit, where she conducted research and developed in-house products like StoryPilot, which was an online platform designed to measure the impact of documentary films.

Through her previous work endeavors, Cara gained experience with product management and product development, user experience research and user-centered product design, as well as earned her Product Management Certification through General Assembly. She is well-versed in mixed-methods research, lean startup methodology, program management and nonprofit needs. Cara holds a PhD in Linguistics from New York University (with a focus on sociolinguistics), as well as a BA in linguistics from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.