Silicon Valley |2010

As a organizing consultant at SIREN, Katiuska works advocating for federal, state, and local pro-immigrant rights policies. Katiuska empowers immigrant communities and fellow DREAMers in northern California to take action. Katiuska recently graduated with university honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a legal studies and politics double major. Katiuska has dedicated her professional and educational career to public service as a way to empower low-income communities of color. In the fall of 2016, Katiuska left California to work in Washington, DC at Senator Feinstein’s office completing research in health, immigration, and education. Katiuska received the UC Presidential Public service award, and became a Matsui Fellow. During college, Katiuska volunteered her time as a translator at multiple local immigration legal clinics inspiring her interest on immigration law. Her passion for advocacy influenced her senior thesis which focused on examining immigration detention centers and its effects on immigrants’ mental health. Katiuska migrated from Lima, Peru at a young age. She rapidly learned English and received a full scholarship to attend college. Katiuska is one of the DREAMers that will qualify for a DREAM Act legislation. Katiuska is constantly inspired by the strength and resiliency of immigrant families to overcome challenges. Katiuska completed a UCLA Law fellowship, and in the future aims to become an attorney.

Alex was raised in Fremont, CA until he left for San Jose State, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Justice Studies. After completing his undergraduate degree, he was fortunate enough to be selected to start an apprenticeship with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, as an Inside Wireman. The IBEW gave him the opportunity to develop mechanical skills he had never before possessed. Those newly formed mechanical skills have gone a long way to strengthening his critical thinking abilities. Alongside his studies, Alex has always had passion for helping others and how politics affects the lives of everyone within our communities.

Alex's successes have come to fruition because of his amazing support system, and those who have taken the time to mentor him into being his best self. He has turned his focus into helping young people. He visits schools, illustrating the advantages of careers in the building trades, emphasizing how politics affects the lives of all future members of the US workforce.

As the President of RENEW (Reach out and Engage the Next-Generation of Electrical Workers) a group that was formed to teach young workers within the IBEW about leadership and the fundamental structure of the organization, he spends a lot of time working with and instructing apprentices about how to put themselves in the best positions to succeed in their careers. He also serves as an Executive Councilmember of the EWMC (Electrical Workers Minority Caucus), the largest community service arm of the IBEW, which promotes racial and gender equality within the IBEW.

A true Marylander, Cherise Orange has always strived to build bridges instead of walls. From helping organizing community events as a young child to a volunteer planner at Baltimore’s Neighborhood Design Center. It is her love of people and building stronger Black communities that pushed her path toward planning. In 2013, she graduated from Morgan State University with a Masters in City and Regional Planning and was recognized by the American Planning Association (APA) Planning in the Black Community Division as a Robert A. Catlin/David W. Long Scholar.

Today, Cherise is an Associate Planner for Santa Clara County Parks where she focuses on innovatively engaging the public in the planning process and getting people outdoors. Cherise serves as the Board of Directors Chair for the African American Community Service Agency in San Jose and on the APA – Northern California Section Board as a Diversity Director.  In these roles, she hopes to implement changes that will help minorities to thrive in Silicon Valley.

 

Yin is a born and raised in San Jose resident. She has over 10 years of marketing and business development experience from the design industry. In 2017, she was awarded an Awesome Foundation grant to launch "Pitch Please!?" a Shark Tank styled program aimed at enabling people to create change within their community. Currently, she is the Operations Director for Local Color / Exhibition District as well as a founding board member of Catalyze SV, a nonprofit aimed at creating better communities through better development. Fun fact: She published her first children’s book at age six.

Erin Curley is a Silicon Valley native and a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She currently serves as an assistant teacher at the Fremont Union High School District and is passionate about providing accessible education and opportunities for all children, regardless of background or abilities. As the daughter of two teachers, Erin is proud to work in a field that bridges communities and empowers tomorrow’s leaders.

In college, Erin spearheaded a program to match underserved high school students with university mentors who assisted the students with college application and scholarship processes. She and her partners collaborated with local businesses and launched a professional clothing drive to prepare the participants for interviews and internships.

Outside of school, Erin worked on campaigns for city council and state assembly before interning for Rep. Nancy Pelosi and former Rep. Mike Honda. She was part of the public affairs team for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco during Super Bowl 50 and the rollout of the first interest rate hike in seven years. After that, she assisted in the coverage of the 2016 presidential election at KTVU News.

Erin speaks French, loves to travel, and has a dog named Harry Potter. In the classroom, she is known for her historical impressions and competitive Jeopardy games. Erin is always looking for ways to personalize history and draw connections between the students’ daily lives and the world as a whole.

Huascar Castro was born and raised in the Bay Area, growing up in the Berryessa neighborhood of San Jose, then graduating from Palo Alto High School. He received his B.A in Political Science from San Francisco University in 2015. During his time at SFSU, Huascar was an intern for then San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen who served the southeastern region of San Francisco including Hunters Point and the Bay View. Following his internship, Huascar returned to San Jose to work as a policy aide for Vice Mayor Carrasco where he covered policy areas including housing, economic development, and land use. Throughout his tenure with Vice Mayor Carrasco, Huascar developed relationships both within local government as well as in the community of east San Jose, the district which he served. Huascar has also worked extensively on numerous campaigns including the election of San Jose City Councilmember Sylvia Arenas and the re-election of Vice Mayor Magdalena Carrasco.

Huascar has recently transitioned from City Hall to the nonprofit world, now working as a policy associate for Silicon Valley@Home, a policy and advocacy organization focused on tackling the housing crisis in Santa Clara County. Huascar has been working on housing policy in numerous jurisdictions advocating for more housing opportunities throughout the South Bay. Aside from SV@Home, Huascar is also involved with the newly formed Movimiento Democratic Club where he serves as their Political Director. Huascar’s other passion comes from his volunteer work as a youth basketball coach. Huascar has dedicated most, if not all, of his time outside of his career coaching and mentoring his players.

Jake Tonkel was raised in the Santa Cruz mountains building forts in the redwood forests with his twin brother. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Sustainability Studies. His classes on Environmental Sociology and being raised by a mother with a background in Women’s Studies helped him discover a passion for environmental and social justice.
 

After graduating, Jake worked for a non-invasive heart valve company, before taking off to Morocco for two years to volunteer with the Peace Corps. There, Jake learned Arabic and worked in a youth center developing environmental initiatives and teaching chess and English. Jake also helped to lead Columbia University’s Engineers without Borders students through the technical and cultural challenges of two rural engineering projects; an access bridge and a well water system. Jake returned home in 2016, where he has since worked as an R&D engineer at a startup developing a new system for arthroscopic joint surgery.
 

A background in community organizing, an environmental sustainability education, and the global awareness of living abroad in an Islamic country led Jake to join the Santa Clara County Green Party, where he now serves as a Green Party County Council. He has been active in organizing anti-war protests, discussion panels on divestment, and developing community outreach strategies. Having assisted the Native protesters at Standing Rock in 2016, Jake dove further into the fossil fuel divestment movement and now sits as a Co-Chair of the Public Banking Action Team for the South Bay Progressive Alliance. The Action Team engages in lobbying and education outreach to push for a public bank in Silicon Valley that will help local governments divest their funds from destructive industries and in turn, invest in local needs like affordable housing, public education, and climate mitigation infrastructure.
 

Despite the busy schedule, Jake still bikes to work every day and enjoys playing soccer a few times a week.

Jamie Williams was born, raised, and continues to live in San Jose, California. She brings over 15 years of experience in varying arenas—corporate, technology, fundraising, volunteer work, and mental health—to the NLC SV 2019 fellowship. Jamie received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of San Francisco, graduating with Honors and as a member of Psi Chi. She then began years of volunteer work: providing resources to jobless and homeless people, campaigning for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, and acting as a Research Assistant and organizing two fundraisers to raise awareness and funds for the National Adrenal Diseases Foundation. Jamie then transitioned to work in the semiconductor industry at Nanometrics, Inc., where she worked as a Customer Support Coordinator in Sales. While working at Nanometrics, Inc., Jamie attended Argosy University San Francisco Bay Area to obtain her Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, graduating with Great Honor.

During the final year of Jamie’s graduate schooling, she began her clinical hours at Starlight Community Services in the Internship Department and upon graduation, was hired on in the Outpatient Department. It was her work at Starlight that led Jamie to decide that she wanted to specialize in working with preteens/tweens and teenagers and their families. Since then, she has moved into private practice and is at a private practice group, Anchor Psychology, Inc. Over the years, Jamie has become increasingly passionate about working with clients who have experienced trauma and struggle with self-harming behaviors and suicidal ideation and hopes to create a program to address these issues in school settings.

Jarrod is a civil litigator turned tech policy analyst. He received his Bachelor’s Degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his JD/MPA from the University of Georgia. As an attorney, Jarrod did a two-year federal district court clerkship and served as a litigation associate at an Atlanta-based law firm. He thereafter moved from Atlanta to the Bay Area in 2015 to pursue his dream of working in tech law and policy. Jarrod has helped disruptive companies, such as Airbnb and Facebook, navigate some of their toughest policy challenges. Outside of work, Jarrod is active in his community, both as a member and volunteer at Echo Church, member of the Silicon Valley Young Democrats, and Board Member of the San Jose Downtown Association.

Jarrod and his wife Kimberly live in downtown San Jose.

Jeanine Johnson serves as Chief Executive Officer of SunToWater.com, which is commercializing a device that generates drinking water by dehumidifying outdoor air via solar power. She won first prize for the concept at Singularity University’s Impact Challenge to solve California’s water shortages and that catalyzed the company’s funding. Ms. Johnson has nearly two decades of experience designing and managing high-tech enterprise and consumer products. She was previously the Head of Application Security for Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) online services (iCloud, iTunes, etc.) through backend *.com systems. Prior to that, she was Chief Technology Officer of PeerSpace.com, a sharing economy marketplace for commercial spaces featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and Inc.com. She also founded manufacturing giant Flex’s (Nasdaq: FLEX) first Innovation Lab with fellow alumni of McKinsey & Co, Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). Ms. Johnson has applied her expertise across nine sectors: high tech, clean tech, media and entertainment, finance, government, nonprofit, telecomm, insurance, and real estate. She has managed multimillion-dollar P&Ls and led several large, cross-vertical product development initiatives encompassing dozens of teams globally. Ms. Johnson is a graduate of the Stanford Law School Director’s College for public company board members, received a Masters in Business Administration from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and two Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Missouri’s College of Engineering. She enjoys camping, climbing and skiing with her two children, as well as volunteering with the Girl Scouts.

Joel grew up in the Belle Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park. He comes from a home of first-generation Mexican Americans with family from Michoacán and Guerrero.

Having spent his childhood near the Baylands Nature Preserve and traveling often to Half Moon Bay, Marin Headlands, and to visit family in scenic mountain and beach towns in Mexico, Joel has a life-long appreciation for the value of our natural environment. He is currently the Individual and Planned Giving Coordinator for Peninsula Open Space Trust in Palo Alto. He works collaboratively with a fundraising team to ensure that open space, farms, and parkland on the Peninsula and in the South Bay are protected in perpetuity.

In addition to environmental causes, Joel's professional background includes extensive program work at various nonprofits benefiting low-income communities in Menlo Park and east Palo Alto. He is passionate about ensuring that all people are presented with the opportunities and guidance they need to be successful. He has worked on a range of issues including: foreclosure and homelessness prevention, anti-predatory lending, small business development and financial literacy, and youth mentorship.

Joel holds a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Princeton University. In his free time, he enjoys going hiking and camping, visiting art museums, watching soccer games, and having meaningful conversations with friends.

Jonathan Borca serves as Partnership Manager for San Jose Downtown Association, where he has developed and scaled various programs for membership and sponsorship and is responsible for strengthening relationships with business organizations and neighborhoods. As liaison to Historic District businesses, he supports various initiatives and organizing efforts to promote the area in the heart of downtown as an eclectic and cultural destination.  

Borca also has eight years of nonprofit experience for several agencies across Santa Clara, San Benito, and San Mateo counties, where he advocated for educational equity and developed an expertise in mentoring youth.  He is a graduate of the University of San Francisco with a degree in Psychology.

Born in Albuquerque, NM, Borca lived in Misawa, Japan, for several years, and was raised in the Alum Rock neighborhood on San Jose's east side. In his spare time, Borca enjoys gardening with his Nana and writing and performing music.

Karla grew up in Long Beach, CA and was the first in her family to attend and graduate from college. Her experience growing up in a low-income immigrant family drives her passion for educational and economic equity. She currently works on the philanthropy team at Khan Academy, a nonprofit committed to ensuring that anyone—regardless of their background—has access to a free, world-class education. From early learning to SAT prep, Karla helps raise the funds necessary to provide free, personalized learning experiences to over 18 million learners in more than 190 countries. Prior to Khan Academy, Karla worked at The SMART Program helping low-income students in San Francisco become the first in their families to graduate from college. Karla has also taught at an under-resourced public high school in Baltimore as a Teach for America Corps Member.

Karla serves on the Board of Directors at Nuestra Casa and the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Latino Center Young Ambassadors Program. She is also a member of the Latino Community Foundation South Bay Giving Circle, a volunteer college coach for low-income students at ScholarMatch, and a mentor for first-generation low-income students at her alma mater. Karla is a 2018 Latino Board Leadership Academy Senior Fellow at the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley and a 2018-2019 Rising Leaders Fellow at Teach For America.

Karla graduated from Stanford with a Bachelor of Arts in History with Honors and Johns Hopkins with a Master of Science in Education.

Linda Martin-Mason is a proud Bay Area native.  As the Director of Policy and Supervising Attorney at the Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco (Authority), Linda is inspired everyday by the individuals and families she serves.  Linda is committed to the long term housing stability of low-income individuals, realizing that housing stability equals improved school attendance for young children, greater likelihood of job opportunities for those who are unemployed, and quality of life for aging communities.
 

In her time at the Authority, Linda was part of the team that embraced and implemented the nationally-recognized Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program.  RAD rehabilitated 29 dilapidated buildings—approximately 3000 units—while maintaining 100 percent of the original tenants. Currently, Linda is working on the HOPE SF initiative, which is the nation’s first large-scale public housing revitalization project committed to providing one for one replacement units for all existing residents.  Linda oversees the legal division of the Authority, provides policy direction, and facilitates communication between stakeholders.
 

Prior to working at the Authority, Linda interned at the City Attorney’s Office for the City and County of San Francisco and spent a summer in law school researching death row cases at the California Appellate Project.  Between college and law school, Linda received the coveted opportunity to intern for the Office of Diplomatic Security in the United States Embassy in Madrid, Spain.

Linda was recently appointed to the San Bruno Planning Commission.  Linda is committed to improving her leadership and professional development skills to have a greater impact on forgotten communities.  Linda holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Spanish from San Francisco State University and a Juris Doctor degree from San Francisco Law School where she was named Student of the Year.

Sara Tangdall relocated to San Jose, California from Omaha, Nebraska in 2017.  She currently works at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University as the Business, Leadership, and Social Sector Ethics Program Manager.  In her role, Sara organizes speakers, programs, and research related to these three focus areas. She oversees the business ethics internship program and manages an ethics and accountability training program for nonprofit leaders and philanthropists. She also writes case studies and web content and collaborates on a variety of projects.

Prior to moving to San Jose, Sara was the Creative Manager at the Business Ethics Alliance in Omaha where she developed curricula for a series of ethics education workshops and facilitated these workshops throughout Omaha organizations.  While at the Alliance, Sara rewrote the code of ethics for a Fortune 500 company and wrote a play on the ethics of the automation of the American workforce. She previously spent one year of direct service as an AmeriCorps member at Civic Nebraska where she created a job development program, which included educating Nebraska businesses about the benefits of hiring veterans.

Sara graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln with a degree in theatre performance.  She then earned a Master's degree in English and a graduate certificate in advanced writing from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she also taught first year writing courses for several years as a graduate teaching assistant and then as an adjunct instructor. She continued working on a grant-funded manuscript post graduate school, and recently published a research article in The Southern Journal of Linguistics, “The Influence of Popular Culture on Women’s Identities: A Diachronic Discourse Analysis of Vogue Magazine.” She has also contributed to The SAGE Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society.

Tony Gonzalez brings over eight years of experience dedicated to improving the financial lives of individuals, families, and businesses in the community. He is a dynamic and passionate leader that has a proven track record of building strong partnerships. Tony started his career with Bank of America as a relationship manager and has grown his career with several roles in merchant services small business division. He is now a VP, Regional Sales Leader that is passionate about providing integrated financial solutions to help improve and educate the community.

As an individual contributor he was selected to the prestigious Platinum Club in 2012, which is designated for top employees that achieve outstanding performance. For the last four years, Tony has led a team of 13 merchant services associates who partner with about 75 financial centers in Silicon Valley (San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Monterey Counties). As a manager, he was selected to Platinum Club in 2017 for his outstanding leadership. In 2017, he was nominated to join the Manager Advisory Council to help improve the knowledge of key priorities and initiatives, while focusing on the client experience, culture, partner integration, and engagement to better serve our communities. He has also received the Leadership Spotlight Award from the CEO in 2018 for “Putting the Client First.”

Tony takes mentorship and development seriously and is a founding board member for HOLA (Hispanic/Latino Organization for Leadership Advancement) in Silicon Valley Market. He help launch this new chapter and is responsible for strategy and membership for the organization. He believes that leaders should continue to be learners and has invested in his continued education. He is currently earning his MBA at Lucas Graduate School of Business at San Jose State University and will be graduating in June 2019. His experience has helped him become a better leader and bring a diversity of thought to those he serves. As a student, he has been nominated to be a member of Beta Gama Sigma, which is the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive in a MBA program accredited by AACSB.

Tony is committed to education, family and community. He sees the need for financial literacy programs to help educate and support our most vulnerable communities. Tony was born and raised in Fresno, CA and enjoys spending time with his family.