LEGACY COMMITTEE

Paloma Figueroa

Born and raised in the boogie-down Bronx, Paloma Figueroa came to San Francisco in 2009 looking for a short break from her fast-paced East Coast life. Instead she fell in love with the city, its endless quirks, and its inspiring residents.

With a Bachelors in Social Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University, and a life-long fascination with how people work best, she's dedicated her professional life to creating more equitable and meaningful workplaces through Diversity and Inclusion consulting in the Bay Area.

Her work takes her across the USA, collaborating closely with leadership teams, from tech start ups to social impact organizations,to build and develop thoughtful People programs, helping to spearhead forward-thinking diversity and inclusion initiatives, and stewarding cultural structures that encourage values-driven environments at scale.

When she's not working, she spends a good portion of her time chasing after unique and unusual experiences across the globe, sharing a good meal with friends, ortweeting and podcasting about the representation of women and PoC in comics, cosplay, and pop culture.

She continues to be involved in the local community through organizations like The Red Cross, NERT, and Compass Family Services. After having admired the passionate and inspired work of GLIDE for many years, joining the Legacy Committee has been a dream come true. She hopes to match that passion in spades in the work that they will do together.

Chris Dowd

Chris was raised in San Francisco and first volunteered for GLIDE in middle school. He has been attending Celebrations ever since alongside working regularly with GLIDE's Harm Reduction team since 2017.

His professional interests at the crossroads of design, technology, and geopolitics have sent him on a global journey. From a blockchain startup within the Royal Academy of Arts in London, to leading design-thinking workshops at a boarding school in Jordan, to an internship at the White House during the Obama administration. He is now a fellow at Google.org focused on leveraging satellite imagery for climate action.

Chris is excited to work with the Legacy Committee to create moments that engage and inspire young people while bringing more voices to the table.

Lucy Bartlett

Lucy Bartlett specializes in the overlap of technology and social enterprise with a focus on marketing, growth, and strategy. She is currently a vice president of strategy at TubeScience, a pay - for - performance video company.

She earned her doctorate at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. Her thesis research focused on ethical business practices and marketing. She also holds a BA Hons in Human Sciences and an MSc in Management Research from the University of Oxford.

Lucy is experienced in research, communications, PR, events, and marketing consultant. Her event - production experience has helped bring to life the Skoll World Forum and TEDx Oxbridge.

She is proudly from Yorkshire and also a keen traveller, exerciser, and socialiser, who runs on disco and liberally supplements life with fizz and sparkle.

Maiysha Dickerson

Maiysha is the Community Outreach & Partnership Manager at Children’s Council of San Francisco, a non-profit that works in collaboration with families, educators, government agencies, and community-based organizations to ensure quality early education is accessible for all San Francisco children. With over a decade of nonprofit experience, Maiysha currently organizes City Kids Family Fair, a day of music, art and fun for families with young children. A true “Connector” she has a knack for bringing people together and building relationships that are meaningful, supportive and lasting.

Maiysha was 9 years old when first introduced to GLIDE, serving meals alongside her 4th grade classmates. Many, many years later, she returned with friends to witness GLIDE’s Sunday celebrations. Moved by the message, music and community, Maiysha was deeply inspired by GLIDE’s mission and ongoing impact on the Tenderloin and San Francisco Bay Area. She is overjoyed and honored to join the Legacy committee and looks forward to working with fellow members to alleviate suffering and celebrate radical inclusivity and unconditional love.

A SF native and mother of one, Maiysha is passionate about self-care and celebrating community and culture. She finds peace, beauty and inspiration in yoga, a good book, live music and exploring the world’s beaches and parks.

Nicole Foley

Nicole is a Creative Strategist who works on storytelling, brand strategy, design, and video to help mission-based startups and corporations articulate their purpose beyond the bottom line and achieve their growth goals. She uses a variety of tools to unite a brand’s tribe—film is her favorite. For the last several years, she has created videos for non-profits, start-ups and corporations.

Her love of documentaries and increasing focus on social justice issues has led her to work on topics closer to her he art, such as inequity, transformation, and the resilience of the human spirit. Her latest project, a documentary short called “Couper Was Here,” has won awards at Palm Springs International ShortFest, San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, and Oakland Short Film Festival. She tells Couper’s story to draw attention to the homelessness crisis, and to challenge people’s perspectives on this controversial issue. She studied Psychology at Fordham University, and earned a Master’s degree in Anthropology at the University of Chicago

KJ Frimpong

KJ settled into Bay Area life after his first visit one summer. He instantly fell in love and made the decision to never leave. The strangely beautiful, vibrant, colorful souls of San Francisco have kept him in the city since 2010. Fueled by his passion for the community which fully embraced him, KJ is thrilled to promote GLIDE's efforts to ensure all walks of life-no matter their journey-are shown the radically inclusive love they deserve.

After growing up in Seattle as well as graduating from the University of Washington with a Marketing and International Business degree, he spent nearly a decade in management consulting roles for Fortune 100 west coast clients. KJ then ditched cubicle life for more creative pursuits. He committed the next several years to becoming an independent Event Manager + Producer and is currently doing contract work for premier tech and social media companies.

During his time with GLIDE's events liaison White Rain Productions, he was a Lead Producer for several of the organization's popular events including the annual Legacy Gala. His dedication to the GLIDE Legacy crew since 2015 eventually led him to secure an official spot on the committee.

It should also be noted KJ's first name is actually Kwaku, a popular Ashanti name chosen by his Ghanaian parents for males born on a Wednesday. His West African roots inspired his own nonprofit efforts to establish the North Mo Foundation, raising scholarship funds for junior secondary school children of the Bamboi region.

Lauren Jamiolkowski

After spending her whole life in North Carolina, Lauren Jamiolkowski arrived in San Francisco in 2013, eager to grow her career in such a progressive and vibrant city. It wasn’t long until she realized that her long hours as an investment banker left something to be desired.

Lauren found GLIDE as she was searching for both perspective and community. Six years later, she continues to be involved with the meals program, annual toy-drive and Legacy Gala. She has decided to make San Francisco her home and is invested in seeing it become a more inclusive, just and loving place.

Today, Lauren works as a Strategy & Finance Leader at Intuit and spends her free time playing ‘cars’ with her nephew, drinking wine with her feminist book club and planning weekend getaways with her fiance.

Lauren graduated from Duke University as a Benjamin N. Duke Scholar with degrees in Psychology and History.

John Josi

John is a 4th generation California and proud Bay Area Native. His passion for stepping in to help those at the margins began during an internship with the Marin County Youth Court. While there, he became a proponent of restorative justice and policymaking with empathy. He continued to help others through his work with the Oakland Lacrosse Club, organizing sports equipment donations and mentor relationships. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Economics with a focus on international economic development, he made his childhood dream come true by moving into the city he loves. His work at Tres Agaves has him working bilingually on operations, marketing, and logistics with his Jalisco, Mexico-based coworkers. In 2018, his inherent motivation to help others guided him to volunteer at GLIDE. Today, John is eager to encourage more of his fellow San Franciscans to become part of GLIDE and embrace an attitude of stepping in, rather than stepping over. In his free time, you can catch him reading page-turners, backpacking the Sierras, playing lacrosse, or taking in views of the Golden Gate while running along Crissy Fields.

Divya Kaushal

For the first decade of her life, Divya moved around the world with her family while they looked for a place to lead lives full of vibrant experiences, inclusive people, and endless potential. Unsurprisingly, they found the perfect community in the Bay Are a and never left.

Growing up in the South Bay instilled Divya with a deep love of SF’s indomitable spirit and its commitment to progress and equality. This love was never far from her mind, and after graduating from NYU Stern with a degree in finance, she returned to make SF her home and pursue a career in tech strategy.

Coming back to the city also made Divya recognize how much San Francisco was (and is) changing. She began looking for ways to contribute positively to her local community, and form deeper connections to her neighbors. In 2018, Divya found these things in GLIDE's Meals Program, and never looked back. Her time at GLIDE has been deeply rewarding, and she's excited to work with the Legacy Committee to help make SF a place where everyone can thrive.

When not dreaming and scheming with her fellow LC members, Divya can be found at Slack where she develops products for their Go - to - Market Strategy & Operations team. She spends any remaining time figure skating with the San Francisco Skating Club or wandering local cafes with her nose in a book and a dessert in her hand.

Margaret Lucas

Margaret is an award-winning strategist with more than a decade of experience unlocking big ideas and developing immersive and compelling narratives. She’s has had the pleasure of helping Google, Blue Shield, Silicon Valley Bank, MTV, Nespresso, and Ross Stores find their authentic voice and tell their stories in distinctive ways.

She began her career in the nonprofit sector, helping cancel cyberbullies, dismantling the death penalty in California, and empowering under-resourced youth with tech skills. Margaret was born and raised in San Francisco and now lives in Oakland. She holds a Bachelor's in Psychology from San Francisco State University.

Genay Markham

Genay is a proud Bay Area native and a passionate activist with over 10 years of experience working with non-profits around civic engagement, racial justice, education, and affordable housing. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Community and Regional Development from UC Davis. She is currently an Urban Habitat’s Boards and Commission Leadership Institute Fellow. Genay works with low-income communities of color teaching leadership and campaign development skills as a lead community organizer at the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation. Prior to working for TNDC, she founded a reading program for low-income youth in Davis CA called Children Harmony Independent Reading Program (CHIRPS) , interned at the Department of Education, mentored teenage youth in East Oakland, served as a Resident Services Coordinator for three affordable-housing buildings, and worked in Community Relations. She has received the Betitia C. Memorial Community Service Award, Leslie Campbell Community Outreach Award from UC Davis and, has a Certificate of Recognition from the Partnership for Children and Youth. Because of her passion for the Tenderloin community, Genay is excited to promote GLIDE’s efforts to serve the community in a radically inclusive way and influence young professionals to become involved with GLIDE. She is thrilled to use her skills to continue to serve the community she has come to know and love.

Derek Orth

A lifelong traveler and adventurer, Derek’s zeal for fresh challenges and perspectives has led him to surf Australia’s Bondi Beach, study martial arts in dojos in Japan, act as an extra on Bollywood movie sets in Jaipur, climb to the top of the Preikestolen in Norway, perform onstage and as a voice actor in South Korea, and participate in ayahuasca ceremonies in the Sacred Valley of Peru. Eventually his travels took him to San Francisco, where he began working as a local tour guide and as a coordinator of worldwide luxury tours.

When he first came through GLIDE’s doors in July of 2015, he cried at the emotional force of the GLIDE Ensemble and Change Band, joined the next week, and has been in the bass section ever since! The support he received from this community helped bring him in touch with his spirituality and social activism. Wanting to give back, he facilitated workshops for Bridging the Divide (healthy political discussion) and A Better Me (health and wellness) and helped strategize partnerships with the Immigration Task Force, all active congregational groups. Derek is also a certified professional life coach and serves as Lead Coach for the The Liberation Institute, a grassroots mental health non-profit in the Mission District.

Derek’s love of impactful storytelling caused him to become a leader in the worldwide presentation phenomenon PechaKucha—a fast-paced public speaking format where each presenter has only 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide. After first participating in PechaKucha Night in his hometown of Orlando, he organized his own event while living in Seoul and also performed onstage at the original home of PechaKucha in Tokyo. Encouraged by the event's founders, he became the local organizer and host of PechaKucha San Francisco in 2019, reactivating the event and drawing sold-out crowds to this exciting community forum. In his day job, Derek works for Streamlinevents, a production company which helps leading corporations put on major conferences around the world.

He’s grateful to the Legacy Committee and looks forward to engaging a new generation with the organization’s strong commitment to social justice, helping others find the same meaning, purpose and connection he’s found at GLIDE.

Kyra Sikora

Although Kyra grew up on the East Coast outside of Philadelphia (Go Eagles!) she has lived in San Francisco--the best city in the world-- for the past ten years. Her East Coast parents met in San Francisco before they moved back. She is convinced that their love of the City was transmitted to her at birth.

Kyra has been a life-long lover of politics and policy, and has committed to a career in public service. She has worked at the national level for the Obama campaign, at the state level for then-Attorney General Kamala Harris, and most recently at the city level for a policy innovation team that advises San Francisco city departments on government efficiency.

Today, her professional interests lie at the intersection of public policy and civil rights litigation. After five years working for San Francisco, leading process design workshops for City employees, and immersing herself in homelessness and criminal justice policy in SF, she decided to pursue her dream of becoming a civil rights lawyer. She is currently a Chancellor’s Scholar, Olivier Scholar, and Tony Patiño Fellow-Elect at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Kyra has a deep and abiding love for the Tenderloin, the neighborhood in which she currently resides and considers her home. She originally engaged with GLIDE when she volunteered with GLIDE’s Harm Reduction Team in 2017 prior to starting law school.

In her free time, Kyra loves to do yoga, cook, run, and play with her nephew, Jack.

Brittnay Tobin

Born and raised in the South Bay, Brittnay moved to San Francisco in 2009 to pursue her education and a career in venture capitalism. The City emphasized the things she loved most about the Bay Area: rich diversity and vibrant culture; delicious food and beautiful music; but most importantly interesting and passionate people from ALL walks of life.

A "Jill-of-all- trades," she has successfully navigated the fields of client account management, cosmetology, real estate, and small-mid sized business operations before realizing her passion lay within event production. Once graduating San Francisco State University, armed with a BA in Liberal Studies, a Minor in International Relations, and a renewed motivation to "BE THE CHANGE,” she pursued her new path. Currently an Event Producer at Winslow & Associates, Inc. (et al) specializing in planning and executing beautiful, engaging, mission-driven events to support and promote Bay Area nonprofits.

It only took one event and she immediately fell in love with GLIDE's mission to serve the marginalized and unjustly treated. Their radical motto of UNCONDITIONAL love for every person who needs it, moved her to action. Utilizing the various networks she has amassed with her wide range of experiences, Brittnay hopes to create fruitful new relationships and resources for GLIDE, the Legacy Committee, and the community it serves.

In her spare time, Brittnay enjoys spending time with her partner Jon and their two kitties, exploring the coastline; attending live music shows, getting crafty, and spreading cheer with her infectious giggle.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” - Ralph Waldo Emerso

Mia White

Mia is compensation leader in the tech sector. Her passion is to create competitive and equitable compensation programs, and sharing her knowledge with other tech leaders so they can do the same. A California native, Mia attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and holds an MBA from Mills College.

She began by volunteering with GLIDE’s Meals Program and joined the Legacy Committee in 2018. Inspired by GLIDE's dedication to radical inclusion, she is driven to introduce more young professionals to the organization, in particular bridging the gap between the tech community and our most vulnerable neighbors. In her free time, you can find Mia at SoulCycle or Barry’s Bootcamp, volunteering, or at the dog park with her pup, Scottie.