Staff & Board Statewide Staff | San Jose Staff | Oakland Staff | Fresno Staff | Long Beach Staff | Communications & Development | Operations | Board Statewide Staff Taryn Ishida Executive Director As Executive Director of Californians for Justice, Taryn leads the organization to actualize its mission of racial justice by building the power of youth, communities of color, immigrants, low-income and LGBQ, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming communities. She provides leadership in program strategy, alliance building and policy, and organizational and fund development. She started as a volunteer with CFJ in 2002, and has since supported CFJ youth leaders to win local and state campaigns that have improved school climate and access to social emotional learning, strengthened equity and engagement in school funding, and increased civic participation among youth of color. Prior to CFJ she spent eight years in philanthropy at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Taryn sees public education as the system that can either interrupt or perpetuate racial inequality in our country, and believes that youth must be the ones to reimagine and lead that change. She is a proud alumni of Molokai High in Hawaii, home of the “fighting farmers”, where she benefited from the vibrancy and strength of being in a multi-racial school community. Outside of work Taryn likes to play tennis and force her toddler and family to spend quality time with her. READ MORE Saa’un P. Bell Strategy Director As a Strategy Director, grounded in her southern roots of Greenville Alabama and Eastern Samar, Saa’un is the oldest of six, from a serious, but comical, working class Black and Filipino immigrant family. As a former English Language Learner student from Long Beach Unified School District and 1st generation college graduate, Saa’un is committed to building a public education infrastructure where all students have the opportunities to fulfill their highest aspirations. Saa’un joined CFJ in 2009 as an Organizer where they organized community college students and youth of color in Oakland schools. Currently, Saa’un oversees all communications & narrative strategy for CFJ’s regional and statewide campaigns. They are also an Associate at the Center for Story-based Strategy where they get to apply their story & strategic wizardry on statewide & national communication projects. Saa’un holds a BA in Philosophy. READ MORE Rosa De León Strategy Director Rosa oversees the CFJ San Jose region organizing team, leads the organization’s base building and leadership development across the four regions, and contributes to the statewide strategy. READ MORE Karn Saetang Policy & Alliance Director Karn is the Policy and Alliance Director and works to advance CFJ’s vision for justice by building power through policies and people. Born and raised in Chicago, Karn has been able to work with multi-racial grassroots organizations in Chicago, the Bay area, and Portland. In Chicago, he organized Asian American youth around immigration reform and the DREAM Act. He served as the Director of Student Organizing at Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth in San Francisco, where he organized black and brown youth and working-class families around education justice issues. In Portland, OR, he worked with high school students to start a youth-led organizing group that started and won an ethnic studies campaign for Portland Public High Schools. He also organized with incarcerated adults at Oregon State Penitentiary, to start and win a campaign to build a healing garden inside prison grounds. He also co-founded the Portland chapter of Asians 4 Black Lives, which works with Asian Americans to organize around Black liberation. READ MORE Geordee Mae Corpuz Strategy Director Geordee Mae oversees the Oakland region organizing while also balancing various organizational duties, including the leadership development of CFJ students and staff and training school districts across the state. Geordee Mae has played a critical role in the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula in Oakland and spearheaded the first LCAP Student Advisory Committee in the state, which brings real decision making power to students. To date, Geordee Mae has trained over 15 school districts across California on how to engage students and parents with the vision of making all schools community schools. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Geordee Mae is a first-generation Pilipina-American daughter of immigrant parents. She received her BA in Asian American Studies from UC Davis. Her commitment to racial justice in schools began during her time at Davis, where she worked as a mentor and counselor to students of color in Vallejo and South Sacramento. Geordee Mae is also passionate about creating methods of healing and sustainability in the social justice movement through coaching, and in May of 2017, she completed her Coaching for Transformation certification with Leadership That Works. Geordee Mae uses these skills to help Coach up and coming organizers throughout the Bay Area. Geordee Mae is a die hard Warriors fan who enjoys traveling and being in nature. READ MORE Arvin Garcia Statewide Campaigns Manager Arvin works as the Statewide Campaigns Manager that coordinates with Californian for Justice’s organizers and youth to get their communities civically engaged and striving for racial and educational justice. As a high school student in Union City, he took ethnic studies classes that started building foundational knowledge on issues of history and social justice. Because of that experience, in college he became politically active, attending actions in defense of the college of Ethnic Studies at SFSU, housing issues in SF’s SoMa district, working at the student equity center at CSUEB, and helping found the Northern California Pilipinx American Student Alliance (NCPASA). After graduating, he worked in government, organizing with local grassroots organizations on various issues, working the rapid response Immigration defense hotline for Alameda County advocating for Abolishing ICE, and especially in non-profit organizing helping put together civic engagement campaigns to empower youth, the local Filipino and East Bay communities through the electoral system. was born in Toronto, Canada but raised in the East Bay Area. He also graduated from Cal State East Bay with a major in Political Science with a focus in Public Administration and a minor in Ethnic Studies. In his free time, he’s out in nature, playing with his cat Wesker, or (safely) out with friends. READ MORE San Jose Staff Nhada Ahmed Organizer Nhada organizes in San Jose, supporting students’ leadership in their movement to demand space, build power, and claim ownership of their education. She draws grounding and inspiration from her own experiences as a high school and college student in San Jose and the southern Bay Area, as well as her involvement in organizing as a student across coalitions, organizing in her own faith community, and organizing in San Jose around gentrification and displacement. READ MORE Lucila Ortiz Organizing Director Lucila is in charge of overseeing the campaign and implementation work in San Jose, as well as supporting the leadership development and base building work. In her statewide role, she participates and helps to coordinate statewide policy and organizing educational coalitions. Lucila recently re-joined the CFJ team after having worked in the immigrant rights field, leading labor-community coalitions with Working Partnerships USA, and as a Legislative and Policy Advisor to a council member in San Jose. She is also an alumnus of Californians for Justice from the East Side of San Jose. As a first-generation immigrant, Lucila believes achieving racial justice in the education system will transform the lives of students of color, and help provide a context for our nation to follow. Lucila currently resides in the Central Valley and enjoys long walks (and audiobooks) in her free time. READ MORE Josh Yang Organizer Josh organizes alongside youth leaders to create a just educational system for all youth regardless of race, sexual orientation or zip code. Josh currently oversees the Base Building strategy & tactics within the San Jose region. Josh is a proud Hmong American son and the second youngest in a family of 11. Josh was raised on the back of refugee parents & secondhand clothes and first to graduate out of college with a BA in Psychology & minor in Education at the University of California Santa Cruz. He started organizing after recognizing how oppressive the modern educational system was for students outside the perceived model student– pale complex, obedient & silent; and wanted to change that reality for his younger brother & future generations. In his spare time, he likes to watch anime, lift weights and enjoy a casual beer with his friends or at the bar. READ MORE Oakland Staff Stephanie Jauregui Organizer Stephanie Jauregui is CFJ’s Oakland Youth Organizer. Stephanie is also a CFJ alumni. She started organizing in High School and helped start the CFJ chapter at Fremont high. In the 6 years of organizing Stephanie has lead and organized big rallies and walks out, collected 500 signatures for Schools and Community First, and organized in various communities; Oakland, San Jose, Contra Costa, and LA. Stephanie believes in a revolution and fighting for liberation for all. At a young age, Stephanie has experienced many things that were normalized in her community; hunger, substance abuse, gun violence, family incarceration, domestic and sexual violence. She wants real change in East Oakland and everywhere. Stephanie is also an outspoken artist; singer, songwriter, poet, and painter. Her art speaks in-depth on all the violence she has endured and can really see her healing process and the way she views the world through it. READ MORE Rayna Smith Organizer Rayna Smith is an Organizer at CFJ in Oakland. She is a youth advocate, confidant and leader at Fremont High School. She has been organizing for 12 years which she attributes to losing her play brother Gary W. King Jr in an officer involved shooting on her 16th birthday. She joined the fight for Social Justice and hasn’t stopped fighting the good fight. She had a hand in raising Oakland’s minimum wage, shooting down the youth curfew, bringing jobs to the army base, opening a job center in West Oakland and so much more. Being a mother of two beautiful girls has inspired her to make some lasting changes in the injustice system. She knows the only way to win is to never give up and she is committed to making some lasting changes for generations to come. Rayna loves winning and that fuels her passion to fight for justice for people near and far. She is a dynamic Public Speaker, Poet, Movement Leader and so much more. READ MORE Maura Villanueva Lead Organizer Like many of our staff here, Maura is also a CFJ student alumni who has been a part of the CFJ family for over a decade. For many years she worked in the San Jose office first as a youth organizer in high school then as a college intern and finally came on staff before transferring to SFSU to pursue a double major in Spanish and Latino/a studied. During her time there she served as vice president of the Ethnic Studies Research and Empowerment Center. Before coming back to CFJ Maura worked with various orgs like TIGRA, a transnational organization that works with the Filipino and Latinx immigrant community to empower them to use their economic citizenship to create change in their community. She also worked with the Alliance for a Just Society gathering data to address issues around access to healthcare for low income communities and was able to travel all over the U.S. She now works in the Oakland office as a Lead organizer who focuses on Leadership development as well as recruitment at Oakland High. In her free time you can catch her hanging out with her three-year old niece or screen printing social justice images with Taller Girasol. READ MORE Justine Santos Organizing Director Justine oversees the base building, leadership development and campaign strategy in Oakland as Organizing Director. She also leads the leadership development strategy across all four regions, holds the CFJ research team focusing on ways to build power through data and experience, and contributes to the statewide strategy. Justine started organizing in high school through a youth-led campaign to pass a violence prevention initiative that benefits Black and Brown youth in Union City, CA. Her analysis of social justice issues and agency to organize was born out of her Ethnic Studies education in high school, which confronted her with coming to terms with what it meant to be a first-generation, working class Pinay in the United States. Her campaign victory as a youth empowered her to continue developing as an organizer and she later got involved with Filipino American groups organizing for National Democracy in the Philippines and other grassroots organizations tackling issues around housing, environmental justice and education. Her institutional experiences working in education, especially initiating a social justice pathway, Change It Now (C.I.T.) at Chabot College in Hayward, CA and teaching Ethnic Studies for 3 years at Balboa High School through Pin@y Educational Partnerships grounded her in how deeply oppressive the current education system is and sparked her passion to fight for education justice. Justine loves that at CFJ, she is able to weave her passion for education with her organizing praxis. Her experiences throughout the years have affirmed her love for transformative youth organizing and commitment to fighting for racial justice and liberation. She is grateful to be part of the team! Outside of CFJ, Justine serves as a Library Trustee for Daly City to push conversations on community engagement, racial justice, equity in Daly City public libraries. For fun and joy, Justine values quality time with her peoples, her fur-babies Nala & Rumble, and connecting with Mama Nature through long walks or bike rides. READ MORE Fresno Staff Maria Ortega Lead Organizer As lead organizer, Maria oversees the organizing work in Fresno and plays a key role in advancing educational justice in the local schools. Maria first became involved with CFJ as a high school student where she helped establish the Edison High School chapter and has been organizing ever since. Most recently, Maria was the Graduate Coordinator for the First Generation and Low-Income Student Center at Brown University where she supported both undergraduate and graduate programming aimed at strengthening and bringing awareness to the needs of the first-gen and low-income student population. The passion to ensure every student, regardless of race, gender identity, or citizenship status, has access to a superior education is what drives her to do this work. Maria holds two bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and Political Science and a master’s degree in Sociology from Brown University. In her free time Maria enjoys traveling, DIY projects, and learning new recipes she will never actually get around to cooking. READ MORE Ernesto Saavedra Organizing Director Ernesto is the Organizing Director for Californians For Justice (CFJ), overseeing the base building, leadership development, coalition work, and campaign strategy in Fresno and statewide. His journey began in 2006 at California State University Fresno with the student activist group Movimiento Estudiantil (Ch)Xicanx(o/a) de Aztlan (). Here he was introduced to, grounded, and involved in radical, transformative grassroots movements happening around prison abolition, police brutality, indigenous and immigrant rights, to name a few, with small nonprofits and autonomous collectives/groups. READ MORE Asher Ki Organizer Asher Ki, Youth Organizer & Social Activist in the Fresno region. They became involved with CFJ as a sophomore in high school through a club on campus and the atmosphere is what kept them engaged. Asher finally felt like they were a part of something huge that could actually make a difference for schools and communities in their city. All the issues people face, their mission, their student-led aspect, everything seemed to fit and just make sense. The culture at CFJ is what sparked the passion inside of them, they do this work because they envision a world where folks of color no longer have to worry about discrimination. Asher envisions a just society, a society where the needs of our people are put first, always in an attempt to make the world a better place. They see what’s going on around them and see those who are affected by discrimination, white privilege, and more. More importantly, Asher’s experiences resemble what other folks experience and they know that before they can start to see a real change, they must be willing to put in the work. READ MORE Long Beach Staff Omar Cardenas Organizing Director Omar leads Long Beach’s campaign and oversees base building and leadership development in the region as Lead Organizer. He began organizing in 2007 in his hometown of Stockton, CA with Fathers & Families of San Joaquin, and the ESPINO Coalition successfully advocating for the closure of a youth prison in Stockton. In 2013, organizing alongside young people with the Long Beach- Every Student Matters Campaign and winning the LBUSD School Discipline Principles and Practices Resolution. From 2016-2019, he was the Lead Organizer with Khmer Girls in Action (KGA), and anchored the Invest In Youth Campaign and the Building Healthy Communities Youth Workgroup and Youth Committee. In his tenure at KGA Omar oversaw Youth Participatory Action Research, winning $100K seed money from the Mayor’s budget to establish the first ever Long Beach Children and Youth Fund, and the cities first ever youth-led strategic plan. His commitment to youth organizing stems from his experience being pushed-out, and coming into contact with the juvenile justice system, and continues to be grounded and moved towards justice and liberation by all the friends and family he has lost due to violence, mass incarceration, deportation and poverty. His life’s work however centers around fatherhood and raising his son Oceloeztli to be free! READ MORE Lead Organizer READ MORE Joshua Jimenez Organizer Joshua Jimenez is an Organizer with Californians for Justice in Long Beach! He works with our CFJ high school youth leaders in base-building and leadership development! Born and raised in Long Beach, CA as a Filipino-American, Joshua’s roots in youth organizing started in 2009 at 15 years old. At that young age, he not only learned about his rich Filipino culture and heritage, but the struggles of Filipino im/migrants in the U.S. and abroad. From working with Filipino immigrant youth on the streets, to helping build Filipino cultural clubs at Lakewood, Cabrillo and Poly High School in Long Beach. His direct experience with the School-to-Prison pipeline as a youth growing up in Long Beach only makes his commitment and dedication to racial justice work that much more genuine. READ MORE Ahuitz Romo-Gonzalez Organizer Ahuitz Romo-Gonzalez is a Leadership Development Youth Organizer in the Long Beach Region for Californians for Justice. Ahuitz oversees Leadership Development programming that supports youth 14 -18 to develop a deeper understanding of civic engagement and community organizing by building connections, developing critical thinking, and visioning for a healthier and just future. Ahuitz is the proud son of two Mexican immigrants, and was raised in the Bay Area. Ahuitz brings to his work a passion for social justice education through his experience working with youth from underserved communities in the Bay Area and Southern California, and witnessing the brilliance that young conscious minds can offer this world. He has supported schools, communities, and youth development programs to create safe, inclusive, and nurturing learning environments for all youth. Ahuitz holds a B.A. in Ethnic Studies, Media & Cultural Studies from UC Riverside and a M.A. in Social & Cultural Analysis of Education from California State University Long Beach. READ MORE Communications & Development Katia Valeria Thiel Partnership & Projects Manager Katia is responsible for development project management, administrative support of the California Partnership for the Future of Learning, special project management, and executive director support. Hailing from Guayangareo Valley, she moved from Morelia, Michoacan to San Jose at the age of three and first stepped into organizing as a freshman in high school. She comes from a family made up of strong women who helped center social justice in her life. Katia, like most of her cousins and siblings, joined Californians for Justice in high school, and while at CFJ she honed her organizing, canvassing, fundraising, event planning, and leadership skills. For her, this is an opportunity to support California’s youth in building power and transforming our collective reality. When she’s not fundraising with the baddest team around she enjoys reading or coloring with a nice cup of coffee to relax or even, better binge watching Netflix (purely for sociological analysis of how television and cinema reflect our current zeitgeist). When tired of being inside she enjoys being outdoors with her partner James and their border collie Cerberus. READ MORE Hannah Esqueda Communications Manager Hannah carries out CFJ’s regional and statewide messaging and campaign efforts. Prior to joining Californians for Justice, Hannah spent several years as a reporter focusing on education, health care and technology for community and business papers in the Central San Joaquin Valley. She is a former USC Annenberg Health Journalism Fellow and lifelong resident of Fresno, Calif. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. She is excited to take her love of language to the nonprofit world, where she can craft powerful narratives leading to social change and racial equity. Hannah finds social justice work to be much more satisfying than reporting on movements from the sidelines and is appreciative of the opportunity to work with students and families. In her spare time you can usually catch her reading, camping or relaxing with loved ones. READ MORE Erika Prasad Strategic Partnership Director READ MORE Ellie Guzman Digital Strategist READ MORE Operations Maribell Jimenez Bookkeeper READ MORE Karen Anselmo Senior Operations Director As Senior Operations Director, Karen oversees operations (human resources, finance, and administration) at CFJ, making sure that the foundation is strong so CFJ can achieve the greatest impact. Karen benefited from a good public education and believes that public school, if done equitably, can be a powerful force for good in our society. She’s spent her career at social justice organizations working on leadership development, public health, and housing. She also ran the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network Bay Area from 2006-2010 and danced with the salsa team Salsamania for a few glorious years. Nowadays you’re likely to find her playing with her daughter and making up excuses to drink bubble tea. READ MORE Joyce Harrington Accounting Manager Joyce Harrington is a first-generation college graduate with a BS in Finance. With over 15 years of experience in the corporate world as a Controller, her heart turned toward social justice during the nationwide social injustice against Black American’s in 2020. No longer able to sit idly by and do nothing, she turned her corporate knowledge to help this social cause in the way she knew how by joining CFJ as the Accounting Manager. In her spare time, she enjoys the outdoors and spending quality time raising her three children. READ MORE Jesse Bachrach Finance Director Jesse originally served as the Finance Director at CFJ for 5 years from 2006-2011 and returned to the position in 2019. In the interim, he supported fiscally sponsored projects as the Finance Manager at Movement Strategy Center. He loves spending time playing with numbers in spreadsheets. Jesse has an MSW with a focus on community organizing and has a small private psychotherapy practice in Oakland. READ MORE Ever Galván People & Operations Director Ever Galván (they/them) seeks to combat neoliberalism in social justice nonprofit organizations, manifest our most inspired visions of liberation, and advocates for the centering of Black, Indigenous, queer & trans, immigrant, femmes, sick and disabled people of color in movement spaces. For over 10 years, Ever has worked with individuals and organizations in a trauma-informed HR capacity to develop and hold space for generative conflict as the key to healing and unlearning white supremacy cultural values–creating a safe and brave space for multiple conflicting truths to exist within ourselves and our communities. READ MORE Anais Sandoval People & Operations Associate As the People & Operations Associate, Anais supports CFJ’s human resources, infrastructure, and operations by ensuring the team is supported with tools and a work environment that is rooted in black liberation values. Her dedication to social and educational justice stems from her own personal experiences and her participation within CFJ as a high school student. Anais has worked with organizations that advocated for economic, educational, and housing justice. She holds a B.A from CSULB in Sociology with a concentration in Social and Group Relations. Anais believes that the current capitalist system oppresses communities of color and believes that such systems can be abolished and transformative solutions can be established for and by our communities. During her free time, she enjoys writing, dancing, and spending quality time with her family and friends. READ MORE Californians for Justice Board of Directors Stephanie Aguilon (Long Beach) -- Student, Ernest McBride High School Nhu Anh Can (San Jose) -- Senior Event Manager, Shiloh Event Management Desiree Carver-Thomas (Oakland) -- Researcher and Policy Analyst, Learning Policy Institute Meredith Fenton (Oakland) -- Strategist, Facilitator, Coach America Hernandez (Fresno) -- Social Services Coordinator, Kids in Need of Defense Taryn Ishida (Ex Officio Member) -- Executive Director, Californians for Justice Jason Phan (Oakland) Ethan Zatko (Oakland) Spencer Lara (Long Beach) -- CFJ Alum, Student at Long Beach Community College Tajah Morrow (Long Beach) -- Student, Cabrillo High School Yasmin Noriega (San Jose) -- CFJ Alum, Student at West Valley College Jessenia Reyes (Long Beach) -- Manager of Educational Equity, Advancement Project Sierra Salas (San Jose) -- Student, James Lick High School Join the Fight for Racial and Educational Justice! 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