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Rebecca Brown, CFA
Development Consultant and Grantwriter
Rebecca joined Oasis For Girls in May 2007 as Development Consultant
and Grantwriter and is the founder and president of Further
The Work, providing writing, fundraising, and consulting services
for nonprofit organizations serving disenfranchised communities.
Her current or recent clients include Family Service Agency of San
Francisco; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts;Young Musicians Program;
Resource Development Associates (working on behalf of Clark County,
Oregon); and John F. Kennedy University. Working on behalf of these
clients, she has raised $5 million in the past three years, writing
successful grant applications to an extensive array of leading private
foundations and government agencies.
Rebecca's life has been significantly shaped by the fact that, during
her childhood, an arts-related program like Oasis For Girls offered
her an extended opportunity to shape the quality and course of her
own life. In her professional life now, she's driven by her desire
to support social-benefit organizations by applying the skills she's
learned through her experience in corporate communications, academia,
financial management, and the performing arts. As a contract writer,
grant writer, and development consultant, Rebecca devotes her professional
energies to serving organizations that are making an important contribution
to the quality of life and resources for under-served members of
our communities.
Oasis For Girls Advisory Board Members
Evangeline Ibarra
Teacher, San Francisco, CA
Evangeline is a substitute teacher for the SFUSD and a volunteer teacher at Bessie Carmichael Filipino Education Center, located in the SOMA neighborhood. Born in Manila, Evangelina moved to San Francisco with her family where she attended Presidio Middle and Washington High Schools. Having benefited from participating afterschool programs that encouraged her creativity and helped guide her through the difficulties of being a new immigrant, she strongly believes in girl-serving organizations like Oasis For Girls. Evangelina has worked as a licensed Respiratory Care Practitioner at St. Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco’s Mission district and has also worked in global customer service and logistics for a medical device company. At the Packard Foundation, she worked as a Program Associate in the Global Advocacy and Philippines subprograms of the Population Program. With a bachelors degree in Health Science from San Francisco State University an MBA in International Business from Golden Gate University, Evangelina recently earned a California Multiple Subject teaching credential with a BCLAD in Tagalog. She is fluent in Tagalog, speaks German, and continues to practice her Spanish.
Irma Laxamana
Technology Attorney, VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA
Irma was born and raised in San Francisco and now lives with her family in the East Bay. She earned her undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley and her Juris Doctorate at the University of Washington. She is currently a technology attorney working at VMware, Inc., in the Silicon Valley. Irma has also spent many years as a professional musician and has a deep, lifelong love for music and all the performing arts. Irma was first introduced to Oasis when she volunteered for a RISE program event in 2008. Excited to find that a place like Oasis exists in the San Francisco neighborhood in which she grew up, Irma instantly felt a connection with the organization and the population of girls it serves. Having greatly benefitted from her participation in youth music and arts programs, Irma believes very strongly that youth-serving organizations are key to showing young people, particularly those in urban, at-risk communities, the world of possibilities available to them. In searching out ways to become more involved with the community, Irma reengaged with Oasis recently, joining its Advisory Board in March 2011.
Juanita Luna
Executive Director, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, San Francisco, CA
Juanita has been a business executive at large, global professional services firms for many years. She develops and directs strategic business plans and operations for U.S. and Asian offices. Born and raised in Texas, Juanita earned her undergraduate degree at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. before relocating to Orange County, California. While working full time in Orange County, she earned an Executive Management Certificate at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate Management Center at the Claremont Colleges Graduate School in Claremont, California. She was also an Instructor in Law Firm Management at the University of California at Irvine. She co-founded Project SELF (Summer Employment @ Law Firms), a high-school internship program for underprivileged youth, co-sponsored by the Orange County, CA Bar and the Association of Legal Administrators. Since the mid-1990s, she has lived in San Francisco. In recent years, she has volunteered in the mobilization of Sichuan earthquake relief efforts as well as with the San Francisco Food Bank, Junior Achievement, and Larkin Street Youth Center. Juanita joined the Advisory Board at Oasis For Girls in May 2011, eager to apply her extensive business skills to support Oasis.
Melissa McMahon
Controller and Operations Manager, Equity Community Builders, LLC, San Francisco, CA
Melissa is Controller and Operations Manager at Equity Community Builders, LLC, San Francisco,a real estate developer with a focus on affordable housing, green/ sustainable building, and historic preservation. She has a diverse volunteer history including fundraising for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, food delivery to homebound seniors with Meals on Wheels, youth mentoring with Big Brother/Big Sisters, and crisis nursery care with Child Haven, for which she became a licensed foster parent. Melissa was born, raised, and still resides in San Francisco, and was proudly raised in a nontraditional family structure. Recognizing the challenges faced by San Francisco’s young girls, Melissa joined the Advisory Board of Oasis For Girls in October 2011.
Amanda Minix
Grants Manager, Aim High, San Francisco, CA
Amanda Minix joined Oasis for Girls in the spring of 2011. She recently moved to San Francisco from Seattle where she was the Corporate and Foundation Relations Manager at Cascade Land Conservancy, a Seattle based environmental organization. Amanda is passionate about youth leadership programs, particularly those serving low-income girls. As a first generation college graduation, she hopes to inspire young girls to reach their full potential. She holds a Certificate in Fundraising Management, an M.A. in South Asian Studies from the University of Washington and a B.A. in Religious Studies from Georgia State University. Amanda currently works as the Grants Manager for Aim High in San Francisco and enjoys biking, hiking, gardening and sewing in her free time.
Oasis For Girls Emeritus Advisory Board Members
Lupe C. Garcia
Associate General Counsel, Gap, Inc., San Francisco, CA
Lupe Cecilia Garcia is a graduate of Occidental College with a
B.A. in Public Policy. She received her Juris Doctorate from the
University of San Francisco School of Law in 1995. Since obtaining
her J.D., she has been associated with Lafayette & Kumagai,
where she practiced in the areas of labor and employment and civil
rights. Lupe is currently Associate General Counsel, Compliance
for Gap, Inc., leading the compliance function and international
labor and employment law matters. Lupe joined the Advisory Board
member in 2002 and served as Advisory Board Chair during her five
year term.
Nicole Lambrou
President, ThreeTenets, Inc., San Francisco, CA
Nicole first became involved with Oasis in September 2004 where she was a volunteer, and also joined the Advisory Board from 2005 – 2008, serving as the Advisory Board Chair during a period of that time. The daughter of immigrant parents, Nicole feels very connected with Oasis as she fully understands the value of a "safe space" where girls feel comfortable being themselves and have the opportunity to build skills to be healthy, strong, and creative leaders in the community.
Today Nicole provides leadership and organization development consulting and coaching support to organizations in both the for-profit and non-profit fields. She supports entire organizations, teams, and individuals in aligning their strategy and people processes, success profiling, selection, development, performance, and succession practices. In addition, she coaches senior leaders and supports them in building their awareness, understanding their impact and focusing their energy in developing various leadership skills. Nicole has been running her own business, ThreeTenets, Inc since 2005 and is an independent associate of Lominger International, a KornFerry company, and Jackson Hole Group. She works across industries and with various sized companies across the world.
A supporter of various non-profit organizations, Nicole also offers a percentage of her consulting and coaching services pro bono to developing non-profits in the arts and leadership fields. In addition, she is exploring the impact of various factors, including awareness and identity on connection and creativity across different communities, through her work, and as part of an artist residency with The Red Poppy Art House.
Nicole holds a PhD and MA from Hofstra University of NY, where she also served as an adjunct faculty member and a BA from Binghamton University of NY. Nicole is certified in the full suite of the Lominger Leadership Architect tools, Myers Briggs Step II and several other assessment and development tools. She is a certified New Ventures West Integral Coach, currently serving on their faculty as a mentor for their Professional Coaching Course. In addition she is a mentor for the 2011 Women’s Leadership Fellows at The Impact Center.
Nicole speaks conversational Greek, beginner Spanish and Italian. She is a student of violin, voice and flamenco, and enjoys reading, watching movies, listening to live music, writing, and spending time in nature. She is a first generation Greek Cypriot and was born and raised in NY. Nicole holds dual US and Cypriot citizenship and has been living in San Francisco since 2002.
Ly Nguyen
Oasis For Girls Co-Founder
Associate Program Manager, McKesson Foundation
As one of the co-founders of Oasis For Girls, Ly Nguyen has been
involved with Oasis For Girls since its beginning. From 1998-2003,
Ly was the Program Director for Oasis and developed many of the programs
that still exist today.
A daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Ly grew up in San Francisco's
Richmond District where her days were spent learning at public schools
and playing at neighborhood recreation centers. Back in those days,
Ly wished that there were a place like Oasis. After graduating from
University of California – Santa Cruz, Ly returned to the
city of San Francisco. After working at the SOMA Teen Center in
1997, she was inspired to give back to the girls of San Francisco.
In 2006, Ly re-joined Oasis as an Advisory Board member, lending
her knowledge of the organization's history and founding values.
Currently she is the Associate Program Manager for the Mobilizing for Health grant initiative at the McKesson Foundation.
Jill W. Pfeiffer
Oasis For Girls Co-Founder
Development Director, Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center, Madison,
WI
Jill W. Pfeiffer co-founded Oasis For Girls with Ly Nguyen in 1998
and acted as the Organizational Director until 2003. During this
time, she helped to build Oasis' infrastructure and developed its
fundraising plan. Jill looks very fondly at her time at Oasis and
still considers it her favorite professional position to date. "The
young women of Oasis For Girls made every minute of every day worthwhile.
I think of them often, with a smile on my face."
After Oasis For Girls, Jill went on to help create a branch of Excelsior
Family Connections, a family resource center in San Francisco. In
2005, she (and her husband) collaborated on their best creation
to date, their beautiful daughter, Aviva. With the arrival of Aviva
came the difficult decision to leave the Bay Area and head back
to the Midwest, where her extended family lives. She and her family
relocated to Madison, Wisconsin, where Jill attended the University
of Wisconsin many years before.
Jill took some time off to raise her daughter, do consultant work,
and spend time creating sculptures in clay (her other passion).
In September 2007, she returned to work full time as the Development
Director of Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center, the site of her first
job in the nonprofit sector, 12 years earlier. As the Development
Director, she is again working to build the organization's capacity
as it transforms into a Community Education Center serving all of
Madison's West Side. The new center will be located in a brand new
12,000 square foot green building called the Lussier Community Education
Center. In fact, all of the agencies Jill has worked at over the
past decade will find new spaces in 2008, including Oasis For Girls!
Jill often says that she "left her heart in San Francisco"
and that it will forever beat in Oasis For Girls...where it all
began.
Danielle Tomkiel
Medical Device Specialist and San Francisco resident
Danielle has held several volunteer roles at Oasis For Girls serving
as both a mentor and a tutor. She served on the Advisory Board from
August 2006 to July 2009. Danielle has a background in education
as both a teacher and a tutor and has presented a healthy relationships
workshop for Oasis For Girls’ RISE program.
Danielle received a BS in Microbiology from the University of California
– Santa Barbara and a Masters degree in Biomedical Laboratory
Science from San Francisco State University. After working for several
years as a Research Associate in Molecular Biology and Infectious
Disease, she now works in Medical Device Sales.
Linda Johnson
Executive Director, Streetside Stories, San Francisco, CA
Neha Patel
Structured Transactions Principal, Pacific Gas & Electric, San
Francisco, CA
Purvi Patel
Auditor, Hood & Strong, LLP, San Francisco, CA
Purvi is a Bay Area native. She has her Bachelors in Exercise Science
from UC Davis and spent time working as a physical therapy aide
before moving to India for a year. While living with her extended
family in India, she completed a course in computer programming.
After returning from India, Purvi started a career in accounting.
Oasis For Girls Volunteers and Special Guests
Freya Bernardo
Natalie Taylor
Carolyn Shin
Kate Purnell
Tanya, intern from Intersection for the Arts
Liza Gesuden
Angela Angel
Sophy Shiahua Wong
Vanessa Mayorga
Temi Ogunyoku
Linda Nguyen
M. Elena Anaya
Charina Palomares Garcia
Tala Ghantous
Jee Suthamwanthanee
Roseann Torres
Freya Bernardo
Cadelba Lomeli-Loibl
Julene Allen
Mary Anne Brady
Deanna Kondrath
Simone Custodio Bilkstein
Nicco Giaccone
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