NADIA RAHMAN, CO-PRESIDENT
Nadia is an activist, organizer, communicator and entrepreneur. Civic engagement and voter empowerment are her passions, and she has served in leadership for both Post March Salon and the United Democratic Club. Nadia is an Emerge California alumnae, and ran for a seat on San Francisco’s Democratic County Central Committee in March 2020. She is Principal Consultant at the firm she founded, Rahman Consulting, and also currently serves on the boards of the SF Marin Food Bank and SWANA (South West Asian/North African) Democratic Club. Nadia received her BBA in Marketing from The University of Texas at Austin and her MBA from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.
JENNIFER LONGLEY, CO-PRESIDENT
Jennifer Longley is an experienced campaign, public affairs, and communications strategist with over a decade 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 proud SF State alum, Jennifer enjoys Giants games, local theatre, and traveling.
AMBER BISSELL, VICE PRESIDENT
Amber Bissell is a civil rights and labor and employment attorney with her own firm and is also a gender policy expert. She graduated from UCLA (B.A.), the London School of Economics (M.Sc in Gender and Social Policy); and Loyola Law School (J.D.) She has worked in the area of institutionalized harassment and discrimination for the last decade, both in advocacy and research roles. Amber co-authored “Technology and Human Trafficking: The Rise of the Mobile,” published by USC Annenberg. She was also instrumental in the publication of “Intersections of Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence, and Sexual Assault: National Organizational Advocacy Roundtable” by the Asian Pacific Islander Institute on Gender-Based Violence. She also assisted and edited numerous articles for publication on the issues of international law and civil rights and has been interviewed by such publications as the Wall Street Journal.
ALONDRA ESQUIVEL GARCIA, PARLIAMENTARIAN
Alondra Esquivel Garcia currently serves as a Financial & Data Analyst for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Alondra is a 21-22 SF Fellow for the City and County of San Francisco. Her background as a student advocate throughout California advocating on higher education reform has inspired her to continue her advocacy at a local level advocating on women’s issues, electing women to public office, and getting youth involved in public service. As a daughter of immigrants, she believes it’s her duty to fight for a pathway to citizenship and help those who have historically been left out of the decision making table. She recently graduated from San Francisco State University with degrees in Political Science and Race & Resistance Studies.
KATIE ANGOTTI, POLICY CO-CHAIR
Katie is currently a Policy Manager at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency where she advances regulatory and legislative initiatives for emerging mobility services and technologies. She has over 12 years of experience shaping policy at the local, state and federal levels of government across a wide range of policy areas. Katie began her career in San Francisco City government at the Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office in 2012. She also served as the Director of State and Federal Legislative Affairs in the Office of Mayor Ed Lee where she managed the state and federal legislative portfolio for all City departments, spearheaded legislation to address transportation, affordable housing, and homelessness issues in the City, and developed partnerships with big city Mayors across California. Katie is passionate about using policy to uplift and empower women in San Francisco.
Katie holds a degree in Political Science from UC Irvine and a graduate degree in Public Policy from UCLA. Katie lives in Parkside with her partner and new baby.
KIM CASTLE, POLICY CO-CHAIR
Kim Castle is a lawyer, policy advisor, and proud graduate of Oakland Public Schools. She has served as an attorney to California Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, and worked for the San Francisco City Attorney. She also worked in the U.S. Senate and White House on issues relating to clean energy, housing justice, and financial regulation. Kim is passionate about electing more women and elevating historically underrepresented voices.
DENISE HEITZENRODER, POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE CHAIR
Denise’s work experience includes years of campaign, advocacy, and organizing work as well as leadership roles in the nonprofit space. She currently works as a consultant focused on communications, engagement strategy, and events for progressive groups, including Netroots Nation, the Women Donors Network, Courage California, She The People, Vote Run Lead, 350.org & PCM, and numerous campaigns. Equity and gender issues have always been a focus of her work and volunteer efforts. Previously, she also served as an advisor and board member at MotherCoders, the United Way Bay Area and New Leaders Council. Originally from New Jersey, Denise has resided in San Francisco for over 15 years, still tends to walk and talk at an East Coast pace and has very, very strong opinions about pizza.
PARISA SAFARZADEH, COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR
Parisa has worked to develop digital and traditional media strategy for over 10 years to support local elected officials and candidates with a community-first approach. In her time serving in local government, she has built and led teams with the goal of amplifying transparency and storytelling to the constituent base. Currently, Parisa serves San Francisco as the Deputy Director of Information Dissemination for the Emergency Operations Center. Her work with the City of San Francisco's Department of Emergency Management includes leading external communications for the COVID-19 response and more recently, the Tenderloin Street Crisis Initiative.
A first-generation Iranian-American and native Texan, advocacy involving women's reproductive rights, immigration and criminal justice reform, and behavioral health are key areas she remains committed to working on. Parisa holds a BA from the University of Houston. As a native Texan, she is desperate to locate good Tex-Mex in the Bay Area.
GABRIELA JIMENEZ, MEMBERSHIP CHAIR
Gabriela Jimenez currently serves as Senior Strategist at BergDavis Public Affairs. Her previous work experience includes Planned Parenthood Northern California, Eleni Kounalakis’ campaign for Lt. Governor, and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s district office. She is passionate about reproductive justice, health equity, and getting more women in office. Gabriela is an Emerge California alumnae and has previously served on the board of the San Francisco Young Democrats and as an Alameda County Public Health Commissioner.
LINDA LIU, EVENTS CHAIR
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 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.
GILLIAN PRESSMAN, FUNDRAISING CHAIR
Gillian Pressman is currently the Director of Development at YIMBY Action and Yes In My Back Yard, helping to grow resources for the YIMBY movement for abundant and affordable housing in San Francisco and beyond. Prior to YIMBY, she was the Senior Director of Development at Peer Health Exchange, a health equity nonprofit, and Massachusetts Executive Director at Generation Citizen, a civics education nonprofit that empowered young people to take local policy action. She has lived in San Francisco since 2017. In addition to SFWPC, Gillian serves on the Young Professionals Council of St Anthony’s Foundation.
LILY LI, TREASURER
Lily is a manager of strategic operations and programs at Fivetran and has always been active in her community. She interned at the Office of Fiona Ma (then Speaker pro tempore of the California State Assembly) while she attended Lowell High School and volunteered to improve Chinatown through Adopt-An-Alleyway. She was active in student government at UC Berkeley and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Post graduation, Lily volunteers for San Francisco politicians and serves as a role model for other young girls and women at many community events through her involvement in beauty pageants. She is passionate about women’s rights, education, and improving representation of Asian Americans.
DANISHA LOMAX, AT LARGE BOARD MEMBER
Danisha is a connector by nature and practice. She has nearly 15 years of experience working in media, and is the Head of Paid Social Lead at Digitas where she partners with hands-on-key experts to create scalable and holistic activations, while highlighting the intersections of social, culture, and radical responsibility. Through Digitas, Danisha has taken the leadership role for Publicis Groupe’s San Francisco VivaWomen of Color chapter (a Business Resource Group) and creator of Digitas’ Multicultural Center of Excellence – a collective of BIPOC who are focused on bringing diversity, equity and inclusion to advertising. For her accomplishments, she is recognized as the recipient of prestigious awards. It doesn’t stop there; Danisha serves in various volunteer board and community roles including ColorComm Network and GirlVentures, while also being the self-partnered mother of two children, Kamaiyah and Ke’aun.
SARAH MUSIKER, ADVISOR
Sarah Musiker is a Bay Area native, instilling in her a commitment to community engagement and local issues. She works with locally elected officials and utilities around the country to advance sustainable water management and climate resilient communities. She has worked all over the world on water quality, water technology and water equity issues, with a specific focus on ensuring equal access to this vital resources. An experienced project and community manager, she has worked in business development, relationship management, strategic partnerships, and on policy at federal, state and local level.
Sarah holds a BA from Smith College, where she quickly realized that she is too weak for East Coast winters. She holds an MPA from U.C. Berkeley. You can usually find her with snacks in her purse and an encyclopedic knowledge of current pop-culture.
SHARON CHUNG, ADVISOR
Sharon is the lead administrator supporting the Director for the Center of Families, Children, and the Courts at the Judicial Council of California. Her passions include furthering gender equity, language access and social justice. She previously worked for Emerge America, was a legislative aide in City Hall, and represented the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency on various outreach and public engagement campaigns in the city. Sharon is also one of seven city commissioners for the Commission on the Status of Women. In her spare time, you can find Sharon phone banking for candidates, reading feminist novels, training for her next pageant, or taking photos of pop-up art sensations.
