Meet the Team

Megan Cheek serves as the Communications and Development Associate for Alabama Appleseed, where she assists with sharing our work with partners, collaborators, donors, and everyday Alabamians in an effort to advance justice and equity for all.

Prior to joining Appleseed, Megan consulted in marketing, policies, procedures, fundraising, and more for local organizations and political campaigns. She served as Program Director and Deputy Director for Marketing and Communications for the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and Executive Director of the Washington Youth Choir, both in Washington, D.C. Megan co-founded H.I.V.E. Alabama, an organization focused on educating communities on critical issues in an effort to bring about positive, thoughtful, and intentional change.

A native of Georgia, Megan graduated with a B.A. in Public Relations from the University of Georgia. She currently serves on the boards of Girls Rock Bham and the Homewood Library Foundation. Megan and her husband currently reside in Homewood, Alabama with their three spirited children.

Email Megan at megan.cheek@alabamaappleseed.org

Alex LaGanke is Alabama Appleseed’s 2020-2022 Legal Fellow for criminal justice reform. She is a 2020 graduate of Cumberland School of Law and UAB’s JD-MPA joint degree program. Originally from Cullman, Alabama, Alex moved to Birmingham to attend UAB and graduated with bachelor’s degree in International Studies in 2015.

Since moving to Birmingham in 2011, Alex has taken part in community development work as a junior board member, board member, consultant, and volunteer for various local nonprofits addressing systemic poverty and hunger, homelessness, mental health rehabilitation, access to justice, illiteracy, human trafficking, youth education support and job training, voting restoration, domestic violence, and child abuse and neglect. As an advocate for applying best business practices to nonprofit administration, she has been trained by the Alabama Association of Nonprofits in Standards for Excellence® as a former AAN Excellence Intern.

Since graduating from college, Alex has worked as a program coordinator at a local Adult Basic Education center, which amplified her desire to engage in legal reform efforts. She has also worked for Legal Services of Alabama, Baker Donelson as a pro bono fellow, the Bessemer District Attorney’s Office, the EEOC mediation and hearings departments, and the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Alabama as a judicial extern. Additionally, Alex currently sits on the board for CASA of Jefferson County, where she has also volunteered as a CASA for four years.

Email Alex at alex.laganke@alabamaappleseed.org

Leah Nelson serves as Research Director at Alabama Appleseed, where she coordinates and conducts original research into drivers of poverty and incarceration in Alabama. She is Appleseed’s principal expert on the collateral consequences of fines, fees, and other legal financial obligations and leads our effort to end revocation of drivers’ licenses for reasons unrelated to dangerous driving.

Leah brings expertise in civil asset forfeiture, drug policy and drivers of incarceration to Appleseed’s reform agenda.

Prior to joining Alabama Appleseed, Leah spent five years in the Capital Habeas Unit of the Middle District of Alabama Federal Defenders, supporting the appeals of death-sentenced individuals seeking new trials. Before that, she worked as a reporting fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Leah is a 2006 graduate of Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, and a 2002 graduate of the University of Connecticut.

Email Leah at leah.nelson@alabamaappleseed.org