ALONDRA ESQUIVEL GARCIA, PRESIDENT
Alondra Esquivel Garcia currently serves as the Director of the San Francisco Youth Commission. Her background in student advocacy and organizing on women’s issues inspired her to continue in youth advocacy as a career.
She’s a proud alumnus of iGNiTE National, a non-partisan organization uplifting young women to run for office, and of SuperMajority. As a daughter of immigrants, she is passionate about fighting for a pathway to citizenship and helping those who have historically been left out of the decision-making table.
She has formerly worked for SFMTA as a Willie L. Brown Jr. Fellow and is an alumni of the Panetta Institute of Public Policy Leadership Seminar. She’s a graduate from San Francisco State University with degrees in Political Science and Race & Resistance Studies.
alondra@sfwpc.org
DENISE HEITZENRODER, PARLIAMENTARIAN & EVENTS CHAIR
A long-time member of SFWPC, Denise most recently served as the organization’s PAC Chair, and previously as the Communications Co-Chair. She has a long history of working on women’s issues, supporting leadership development in progressive communities, and advocating on a wide range of social justice issues. Originally from New Jersey, she moved to Southern California in 2003, and worked her way north to Santa Cruz and then San Francisco, where she has resided for almost 20 years. Her background is in nonprofit management and campaigns: she’s worked in communications and organizing roles on a variety issue and IE campaigns in California, New Mexico, Washington state, and Kansas, as well as on progressive events across the country. She tends to nerd out about election administration, civil rights, and environmental justice issues. She is incredibly proud to have supported the launch of, and served on the board of, the amazing nonprofit MotherCoders, now Bitwise Impact. She has also volunteered with the United Way of the Bay Area and served in various roles with the local and national arms of New Leaders Council. While Denise has plenty of political opinions, if you really want to get the Jersey girl going, bring up pizza, clothes designed for women that lack pockets, or get her chatting about her two cats, Whiskey and Rye.
denise@sfwpc.org
JOY ZHAN, SECRETARY & TREASURER
Joy is currently the Youth Development Specialist for the San Francisco Youth Commission, providing the Youth Commissioners with the necessary training to become leaders of their own and serving as their liaison to the Board of Supervisors. Joy is an immigrant from Taishan, China, and is a product of SFUSD. She’s a graduate of UC Riverside with a double major in Economics and Chinese from UC Riverside.
Joy started her community organizing in Youth MOJO with the Chinese Progressive Association when she was 16 and worked on multiple electoral campaigns throughout the years. During the pandemic, she founded the Tech Squad program at Felton Institute that provided tech training to seniors, especially monolingual Chinese seniors. However, it was during Joy’s internship in the District 10 office that she fell in love with public service, realizing that many AAPI folks are not aware of the various city services that can help them. She wants to ensure that through her work, the AAPI community can get connected to the services they need.
Joy currently serves as President of the SEIU 1021 Civic Center Chapter, and she’s on the board for the Rose Pak Democratic Club and Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance SF Chapter to continue expanding the rights of youth, for all communities to have a voice in our government, and to ensure equity and accessible resources for all.
joy@sfwpc.org
DAVIDA SILVERMAN, POLICY CO-CHAIR
Davida Silverman is an experienced public policy advocate and government relations leader who for the past 20 years has focused on increasing access to equitable and quality health care at the federal, state, and local levels. She has been recognized for her legal acumen and advocacy efforts through numerous prestigious fellowships and awards.
She currently serves as the Director of Public Policy, Oncology at Genentech. Prior to that, she was the Associate Director of Public Policy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and a staff attorney at the National Health Law Program. She also recently served as an adjunct law professor of administrative law at her alma mater, the City University of New York (CUNY) Law School.
Davida resides in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, and cat. She brings her passion for reproductive health to her volunteer work where she serves on an advisory committee for SisterWeb and serves as a Board Member for Bayview Sol, two non-profits in San Francisco that aim to improve maternal health care for low-income communities and people of color.
davida@sfwpc.org
MELANIE GIROD, POLICY CO-CHAIR
Melanie is a finance professional in the private sector. Born and raised in France, she found her way to the Bay Area, which she now calls home. Passionate about the policy process and politics in general, she has volunteered in various organizations across the Bay, from providing employment services to low-income communities, to supporting refugees resettled in the East Bay. Her drive to support and advance women’s and LGBTQ rights, protect access to healthcare, fight poverty and promote fairness and equity guided her to the Policy Committee, where she has brought forward inclusive and progressive legislation. A fierce advocate of equitable access to opportunity and public services, she is a life-long learner and takes advantage of the many opportunities offered in our city to better her education, by taking classes at City College of San Francisco or reading at the San Francisco Public Library. She loves the outdoors and you can find her running on the trails of the Golden Gate Park, or hiking in the Marin Headlands.
melanie@sfwpc.org
CHELSEY FRANK, PAC CO-CHAIR
Chelsey is an engineering manager at Remix by Via where she helps make public transit systems and cities more livable, accessible, and equitable. She has been active in SFWPC for several years, most notably leading the Policy Committee’s internal learning efforts. Chelsey is passionate about supporting small business and entrepreneurship efforts, especially for women and others who have been shut out of inequitable systems. She’s been involved in related community work for over a decade. Chelsey lives in North Beach with her partner and a house full of plants she tries her best to keep alive.
chelsey@sfwpc.org
ANGELINA POLSELLI, PAC C0-CHAIR
Angelina Polselli (she/they) is the current Chief Operating Officer of Manny’s, overseeing both cafe and event operations. Before her time at Manny’s, Angelina previously was a student at University of San Francisco where they studied political science, community engagement, and public service. In their free time, you can find Angelina at your local neighborhood cafe, marching down Market St., or attending the next concert.
angelina@sfwpc.org
MALAIKA KIRKWOOD, MEMBERSHIP CHAIR
Malaika is a Bay Area native who is passionate about empowering candidates and causes to make positive local change. Malaika received her B.A. in Public Policy (2022) from New York University, where she was a member of the Politics Society and a director for the Public Policy Student Board. Off-campus, she interned with Bronx Assemblymember Michael Blake and co-led a grant project centered on young women’s empowerment. Malaika has worked on various political fundraising campaigns, most recently focusing her efforts on local elections in Oakland, San Mateo, and Marin County. She is currently a part of the development team at the American Conservatory Theater, where she is thrilled to be bringing together her background in fundraising with her love for the arts.
malaika@sfwpc.org
ANNE EMIKO YAMAMOTO, FUNDRAISING CHAIR
Anne Yamamoto manages operations for a public policy research non profit. She has a background in community affairs and political and nonprofit fundraising in San Francisco. She was born and raised in San Francisco where she received her BA in Sociology and MA in International Studies from the University of San Francisco.
anne@sfwpc.org
LINDA LIU, AT LARGE BOARD MEMBER
Linda Liu is a native San Franciscan and she works at City College of San Francisco where she manages the workforce development grants to fund career technical education courses and program supplies, shares career-related resources via social media platforms, and implements Handshake, a platform for students to search and apply for job opportunities.
Linda’s passion is in workforce development, to ensure people have access to job opportunities, to allow them to live, work and thrive in San Francisco. Her dream is for public, private, and nonprofit sectors to work together and create access to job opportunities in high-demand industries.
Linda graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego, and a Master in Public Administration, at the University of San Francisco. Linda has assumed numerous roles over her years on SFWPC’s Board, as Treasurer and our Events Chair. She is leveraging her experiences and knowledge of the organization as Co-Vice President and Treasurer for 2023.
linda@sfwpc.org
ADRIANNA ZANG, AT LARGE BOARD MEMBER
Adrianna Zhang is a native San Franciscan and a second-year public policy student at Stanford University. At 19 years old, she is currently the youngest delegate to the California Democratic Party and was appointed to serve on the party’s Rules committee. She currently works as a fellow for California Governor Newsom’s Office. In San Francisco, Adrianna served on the San Francisco Youth Commission and was its Executive Chair in 2021-22. She led the Vote16SF/Prop G campaign in 2020, successfully advocated for Free Muni for Youth, and wrote several resolutions that reached the SF Board of Supervisors on topics from reforming Title IX policy to addressing anti-AAPI hate crimes. She was awarded UNICEF USA’s Outstanding Youth Award on World Children’s day in 2021 and a featured speaker at TedxCity of San Francisco. In her free time, Adrianna loves pilates, dancing, and exploring new restaurants in SF. Adrianna is an active member of the SFWPC’s policy committee but is excited to join as an at-large board member for the organization.
adrianna@sfwpc.org
JENNIFER LONGLEY, ADVISORY BOARD
Jennifer Longley is an experienced campaign, public affairs, and communications strategist with two decades of expertise organizing on behalf of clients throughout California, including San Francisco’s Jane Kim for Supervisor and Mark Leno for State Senate campaigns.
An organizer at heart, Jennifer has served as executive staff to local and statewide Democratic Party organizations, and as a strategic consultant to successful candidate, municipal, labor, and nonprofit clients as they seek positive change in their communities, one election at a time.
Passionate about youth and neighborhood political involvement, Jennifer has previously served as Chair of the San Francisco and California Young Democrats, and of the District 5 Democratic Club.
A Bay Area native and proud SF State alum, Jennifer enjoys Giants games, local theatre, and traveling. She can often be found hiking the trails in Golden Gate Park with her dog.
jennifer@sfwpc.org
NADIA RAHMAN, ADVISORY BOARD
Nadia is an activist, organizer and digital communications consultant. The main issues she focuses on are intersectional feminism, SWANA and Muslim identity, and social and racial justice. Nadia served as SFWPC Co-President for two years during the 2021 and 2022 board terms. During her time as Co-President, Nadia led an internal and external transformation of SFWPC during which the org rededicated its focus to intersectional feminism; redefined its mission, vision, and values; established its first ever policy agenda; and developed systems, processes, and ways of working to make the org more impactful.
She currently serves on the board of SF Parent Action and is an appointed delegate to the California Democratic Party. Nadia is an Emerge California bootcamp alumnae, and ran for a seat on San Francisco’s Democratic County Central Committee in March 2020. Nadia received her BBA in Marketing from The University of Texas at Austin and her MBA from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.
nadia@sfwpc.org