Our Team
Founder | Executive Director
Annie Bedford-Cokley
Annie Bedford Cokley is a Texas native, beauty and fashion professional, creative director, event curator, educator, and community advocate whose career has been built around helping people recognize confidence, beauty, and possibility within themselves.
A licensed cosmetologist and instructor with more than 20 years of industry experience, Annie began her professional career after graduating from Baldwin Beauty School in Austin, Texas. Her early experience with Regis provided a foundation in client service, business development, and working with people from diverse backgrounds. Over the course of her career, she has served a wide-ranging clientele that has included business executives, medical and legal professionals, television personalities, students, families, entertainers, and nationally recognized public figures.
Annie’s work eventually expanded beyond the salon and into fashion, creative direction, model coaching, event production, mentorship, and community engagement. For more than a decade, she has curated experiences that bring together beauty professionals, designers, models, musicians, poets, entrepreneurs, advocates, and community members.
That intersection of beauty, creativity, and service became the foundation for Beauty Over Bruises.
Annie created Beauty Over Bruises from the belief that a person’s painful experiences should never become the entirety of their identity. Through fashion, beauty, music, storytelling, education, advocacy, and community experiences, she began creating approachable spaces for conversations surrounding domestic abuse, bullying, mental health, self-worth, healthy relationships, healing, and empowerment.
Her work in Austin has included producing fashion and community events for audiences ranging from young children and families to adults. Along the way, she has cultivated relationships with local creatives, businesses, advocates, sponsors, and community partners while frequently investing her own resources to sustain the mission and provide platforms for others.
Today, as Founder and Executive Director of Beauty Over Bruises, Annie is leading the organization’s transition from a grassroots community initiative into a Texas nonprofit organization positioned for sustainable growth and greater community impact.
Her vision for Beauty Over Bruises reaches beyond awareness alone. Annie seeks to build an organization that educates, empowers, connects, and creates opportunities—helping survivors rediscover confidence while encouraging communities to recognize unhealthy relationship patterns, strengthen prevention efforts, support healing, and build healthier futures.
For Annie, Beauty Over Bruises is not about hiding the bruises. It is about reminding people that what happened to them does not determine who they can become.
Board Member
Cleva Kah
Cleva Kah is a fashion designer, creative director, producer, and community advocate who brings more than 20 years of experience in fashion, runway production, creative development, and community-centered programming to Beauty Over Bruises.
As founder of The House of eMaGi, Cleva has built his creative work around more than what people wear. He uses fashion, style, mentorship, and storytelling as tools to help individuals develop confidence, strengthen their identity, and recognize their own potential. His work has been especially focused on creating opportunities for youth, emerging creatives, and adults who benefit from encouragement, guidance, visibility, and positive examples.
Cleva’s connection to Beauty Over Bruises is both creative and mission-driven. He has showcased his talents on the Beauty Over Bruises runway and has independently curated a survivor-centered showcase addressing mental health, demonstrating how fashion and artistic expression can create accessible spaces for conversations about experiences that are often difficult to discuss.
His community involvement includes membership in the Austin Chamber of Commerce through the Business Owners Council and Ambassadors Committee. He was also a guest panelist for the 2025 Behind the SEAMS season finale, “The Business of Texas Fashion.” His recognitions include the 2025 Texas Trailblazer Award for Male Designer of the Year and selection as a City of Austin FY24 Elevate Grant Awardee.
As a Beauty Over Bruises board member, Cleva helps shape creative programming, community engagement, artist relationships, mentorship opportunities, and partnerships within Austin’s fashion and creative communities. His perspective supports the organization’s belief that fashion and beauty can become powerful vehicles for confidence, connection, storytelling, and healing.
Cleva studied Business Administration and Management at Atlanta Technical College and pursued Family and Consumer Science studies at North Carolina Central University.
Board Member
Patresha Briey
Patresha Breiy brings to Beauty Over Bruises a powerful combination of compassion, strategic leadership, and decades of experience managing complex organizations and initiatives.
Her connection to the mission began while attending San Diego State University, where she volunteered on a domestic violence crisis hotline in San Diego, California. Providing a calm and compassionate voice to individuals during vulnerable moments gave Patresha an early understanding of the importance of listening, dignity, resources, and support for people affected by abuse. That experience continues to influence her commitment to helping survivors recognize their strength, reclaim their confidence, and move forward.
Professionally, Patresha brings more than three decades of executive leadership and large-scale program management experience in the aerospace and defense industry. Her career has included leadership of multimillion-dollar technology initiatives for major organizations, as well as extensive experience in contract negotiation, budgeting, strategic planning, and cross-functional team leadership.
Her governance and community experience includes service with the Aerospace Industries Association and advisory and committee involvement with organizations including the USO, Airlines for America, and the International Council on Systems Engineering. She has also mentored high school students, helping young people identify their strengths and pursue meaningful career paths.
As a Beauty Over Bruises board member, Patresha applies her experience to financial stewardship, outreach and marketing, grant development, organizational strategy, and sustainable growth. Her long-standing personal support of Beauty Over Bruises and commitment to survivor advocacy make her an important part of the organization’s next chapter.
Patresha holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from San Diego State University and resides in the Dripping Springs area of Central Texas.