Janelle is from the Midwest, specifically outside Chicago on the northwest border of Indiana. She moved to CA in 2005 after finishing her Kinesiology BS and MS at Indiana University. She is very well-traveled and multi-cultured, lending a global perspective to important conversations about progressive change. As a Californian, her home is Redlands. She served two years as commissioner on the City of Redlands Human Relations Committee (2020-2022) and invests a great deal of time in culturally significant events that center around engaging the community in inclusive ways. Janelle is a single mama with a career and nonprofit, she dances salsa and writes poetry. She is a published author.
Janelle’s career is quite extensive. She served in the US Army as a medic, which began her medical career. Her move to CA allowed her to work as a clinical therapist in cardiopulmonary rehab at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Eight years later she was offered a role with Loma Linda University as an educator. She founded/directed the Cardiac Electrophysiology Technician program (CEPT). She maintained this role for 4 years before being hired by St.Jude Medical (now Abbott) as a Field Clinical Engineer. Janelle is a mapper and medical device certified and covered all of the IE as a clinical rep for four years. This role allowed much insight as to how local hospitals serve the community and how they meet the high acuity levels of patients in the IE.
A brief sabbatical on the heels of the pandemic allowed her to connect more to the community and its needs, which is why she and Kai founded STN as an organization on Aug 14th, 2020. Janelle initiated and was the lead on it becoming a nonprofit. She also had a brief bout as a West Coast Distributor for a Women’s Clothing line, which helped her gain an appreciation for local vendors. Janelle graduated from the IEWBC program for women entrepreneurs & was a fellow of Caravanserai’s Seed Lab alongside Kai. In November 2021 she was selected by Abbott for a Global Education role with the EP Institute, where she currently serves as the primary Curriculum Architect.
Janelle’s role as CEO of STN is everything operational, overseeing and guiding many business-led decisions, establishing contracts, coordinating events, and engaging leaders and potential sponsors/investors. She is action-driven, so she serves with a committed heart and leads with a relationship focus. Janelle’s main focus as an abolitionist is creating safe spaces of collective care and empowerment for women and youth.

She is an Award-Winner Artistic director of the Arpana Dance Company (ADC), a premier school of Bharata Natyam in California celebrated 40 years in 2022. Recognized as a ‘Distinguished citizen’ and Wall of recognition honoree (2022) by the city of Irvine, she is also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award (Soorya Foundation, 2022), Kala Seva Bharathi (Bharat Kalachar, India 2012) and the Helene Modjeska Cultural Legacy award (Arts OC 2007), the countywide arts organization.

Recipient of several grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council and the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Harishankar is a 2-time National Endowment of the Arts Choreographic Fellow. Her solo career has taken her all over the world, performing extensively in India, Asia, Europe, Australia, and N. America.  

For her dedicated commitment and constant efforts, she has been recognized as one of the icons of Indian dance in the US. She co-created a nonprofit in 1989 to bring Indian classical dance to SoCal which morphed into the Ektaa Center in 2004 serving the greater community. As perhaps the first artiste of Indian origin in the area her contributions have been recognized locally, nationally, and internationally and added color and depth to the cultural landscape of SoCal.

ramya@arpanadancecompany.org

Mariam Tariq is an Irvine native who turned her passion for social justice into a career in public service. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Bachelors in Political Science in 2018. Since then she has served as Council Executive Assistant for Councilmember Farrah Khan, Finance Deputy for Dave Min for State Senate, Member of the Youth Advisory Board for Congresswoman Katie Porter, APAICS Fellow in the Office of Congresswoman Judy Chu, and is currently Chief of Staff to Mayor Farrah Khan.

She is a founding member of Irvine Democratic Club and supports their mission to create awareness on local issues and advocate for Irvine’s vulnerable communities. She also serves on the Board for the Islamic Center of Irvine (ICOI) Young Professionals in an effort to create a safe space for professional development and community engagement for Muslims. Her vision is to make Irvine a more inclusive and welcoming community.

Hi everyone, my name is Taja, and I am born and raised here in San Diego. I have worked with individuals experiencing homelessness for the last 17 years. I currently work as an advocate for one position and I work as a career coach for another. I am 34 years old I am currently updating my master's degree in social work. I believe that God gives us all blessings and resources and we have to share those with everybody and show his love at the same time. Thank you so much for reading my bio

Caelie is a California Climate Action Corps Fellow with Tree San Diego, a non profit focused on urban greening and environmental justice. Her professional interests are in ESG, impact evaluation and communications in the field of biodiversity conservation. She continues to expand her expertise in social innovation to better understand how businesses, governments and non profits can work together to make the human experience a more sustainable one.

As an entrepreneur, my greatest blessing has been the ability to work from home while raising my three children, who are now adults. Along my journey, I've come to understand that aiming for significance is more important than success. While I'm grateful for my numerous achievements in sales, banking, and real estate, what truly fills me with joy is having managed a real estate brokerage where I helped agents, loan officers, and staff members achieve their dreams. I've built lifelong relationships with clients and have helped both buyers and sellers in times of financial hardship. Additionally, I'm now investing in real estate myself.

However, the most important aspect of my life is my faith in Christ, which I've shared with those I've come across in the marketplace. It's been incredible to see God work in the lives of the people He's placed in my path. Spending time with my family, especially my grandchildren, is also one of my greatest joys. When I have some personal time, you'll find me playing chess, tennis, or dancing. Taking a drive down Highway 101 and admiring the ocean is also a fantastic way for me to reflect on life.

As a woman, I believe in leading with love and serving others. I have so much more I could say, but I wanted to leave you with this note. 

Carolina is a startup mentor and business advisor with more than 10 years of experience in entrepreneurship.

Carolina is passionate about business model innovation and the application of complex business theories and strategies into the day-to-day operations of early-stage startups, “small” but powerful (as she always likes to highlight) businesses, and nonprofit organizations.

She has a strong background in research and innovation as a Molecular Biotechnology Engineer with a master's in Biological Sciences from the University of Chile. Carolina is also a former panel reviewer for the Chilean National Agency for Research and Development and a former Innovation and Entrepreneurship Specialist at the hub of technology APTA (Andes Pacific Technology Access) in Chile, where she mentored entrepreneurs and connected with several tech-based companies across the country.

Carolina is the founder of Vitrotech SpA and co-founder of Klein Biotecnología Ltda, two Chilean start-up companies actively focused on consulting services and translational research respectively. Carolina has been Director and Co-director of several R&D and innovation grants as a result of her fundraising skills and business acumen.

She worked for 3 years as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of California Riverside. In this capacity, she mentored entrepreneurs and supported the development of small businesses and scalable start-ups in the Inland Empire. Carolina was also responsible for outreach activities to promote entrepreneurship within the faculty and student base at UCR.

Nowadays, Carolina is the Senior Lead of Business Innovation and Research at Caravanserai Project, a hybrid social impact venture where she supports several businesses in Southern California.

With 25 years of experience in the affordable housing industry, Emily Jacobs oversees a diverse property portfolio, multifamily and single-family lending, real estate development, and acquisitions for the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC). She also leads a team of professionals in Acquisitions, Development, Loans and Grant Programs, Rehabilitation, Portfolio Management, Property Management, and Real Estate Budget and Finance. Her experience includes real estate development, asset management, property management, and resident services. Ms. Jacobs has a strong background in the development and oversight of tax credit and bond-financed developments. Prior to her current role, she served as the Vice President of SDHC’s nonprofit affiliate and development arm, Housing Development Partners. Prior to joining SDHC, Ms. Jacobs worked for nearly seven years for Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation, a San Diego nonprofit developer, overseeing company and portfolio operations. She also worked for several years as a real estate development coordinator for a national nonprofit developer in Central California. Ms. Jacobs holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Science from Humboldt State University and a National Tax Credit Compliance designation.

Vicki Estrada is the President and Founder of Estrada Land Planning.  Her responsibilities include running the office, land planning, urban design, and landscape architecture for a variety of projects including community planning, master-planned communities, infill, parks, and streetscapes for public and private entities.  She is particularly skilled in providing community facilitation services and strives to make all of her projects sustainable, context-sensitive, unique, and responsive to community and client needs.  Vicki understands diverse community values, natural values as well as the creative and technical aspects of design.  Reconnecting with the natural aspects of a site is a key objective for each of her projects.  She is known for developing design solutions that lead to consensus on difficult issues.  Vicki is fluent in Spanish.

How many people do you know who has taught English as a second language in Japan; started a campaign to bicycle across Vietnam to fight poverty; served as a champion for women in business; portrayed the first woman to become a dentist in the United States; worked in international cosmetics; sold medicinal mushrooms; written a series of acclaimed children’s books; run a blog called Dandelion Women; and made their living as a financial services professional and insurance agent? If you were at Chico State in the late ’80s and early ’90s you might have met such a person. Her name is Melissa Northway, and yes, these are just some of her credits. She’s also mom to Kate, an aspiring musician, and wife to Lou for over 25 years.

Melissa is fearless, and her strong entrepreneurial spirit has motivated many of her choices. When she came back to the United States after studying abroad, she started exploring companies she thought might be successful in Japan.

“I’m open to trying new things even if I’ve never done them before,” said Melissa. “It’s important to push ourselves.”

Combining her love for business and exploration, she moved into the import-export market with cosmetics and skin-care products. Then she met someone who was knowledgeable about medicinal mushrooms, for which there was a huge market in Japan. Just like that, another one of Melissa’s business ventures took off.

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While her focus is on insurance and retirement planning, Melissa says “my reward is helping people get their plans together and feel secure.” She especially wants to help young women with goal setting, particularly as an offset to the financial constraints that have traditionally been put on women. “People don’t recall that until the law was changed in 1988, women weren’t able to sign a business loan without a man,” she observed.

Helen Woo, An Excellent R & D Tax Credit and the ambassador of the Irvine chamber of commerce and RBN. She is also a single mom and a member of the Filipino American Chamber of OC. She always goes the extra mile for her clients and has an excellent referral program for her business-to-business connection. She is always juggling a million things at a time which makes her an incredible woman.

I was born and raised here in Sunny San Diego and though I have traveled often, I only lived outside of San Diego for three years when I moved to Denver after my undergraduate studies. I attended Grossmont Community College where I studied Psychology with an emphasis on Human Sexuality and Child Development. I transferred to San Diego State University with a major in Psychology and minors in LGBT Studies and Women’s Studies. While doing my undergrad, I was a McNair Scholar and spent much of my time doing research in Sexuality Education, Intimate Partner Violence, and Psychology. I did an internship with San Diego Family Justice Center, Dress for Success Program, and License to Freedom. After my graduation, I moved to Denver for a bit, where I did internships at the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Gender Identity Center of Colorado. Ultimately, the cold, and the desire to connect with the community, brought me home. I was accepted into San Diego State University’s Women’s Studies Master’s Program and moved back to San Diego. I elevated my edible gardening from a few potted porch plants and a tower garden to a plot at Mt. Hope Community Garden. One plot turned into three and before you know it, I was adding “farmer” to my bag of tools and participating in the conversation around sustainability, regenerative agriculture, food justice, and environmental justice and bringing my kinda-radical intersectional views to the tables and spaces I occupied. I worked as an Associate and credentialed substitute teacher for about three years after my MA and started to study birth work in my spare time. I became a certified doula with For the Village and began supporting families during their prenatal period, birth, and postpartum. I have a passion for learning and believe in holistic, traditional healing, so I decided to add to my toolbox by taking certification training programs such as Grandma’s Hands Herbal Postpartum Healing from the Black southern perspective, The Nafsa Project School traditional Moroccan postpartum healing, Milk Magic Educators from Nurturely and a Childbirth Education from Birthing From Within. I became a Climate Ambassador for Environmental Justice and started an organization called P.H.A.T.C.R.O.P.S. an acronym for Providing Healthier Alternatives to Communities Reclaiming Our People’s Sustainability and I took a permaculture design certification program with San Diego Sustainable Living Institute. If all that wasn’t enough, I run a spiritual-based home business, Asha Nia, where I handcraft gemstone jewelry and other spiritual tools, and an organization called Resilience Building Knowledge which focuses on safety, rescue, and defense training in our communities. Where do I plan to go from here?? Well, one goal of PHATCROPS is to establish local food forests in communities living under food apartheid and to continue to educate folks on the significance of growing their own food and collective permaculture. Asha Nia would love to have a brick and-mortar to showcase the jewelry and spiritual crafts we make with enough room for a yoga class. I will continue to work with For the Village while also building up my birth work business Nefer Het Ankh which translates to Beautiful House of Life, where I offer full-spectrum doula services, childbirth education, and lactation education classes as well as some traditional cultural birth and postpartum practices such as the Hamam bath (traditional practice in Morocco). Nefer Het Ankh will one day become a holistic birth center. My love for learning will only push me to continue from here.

From a Catholic nun to a financial coach entrepreneur, I must say, it sparks interest in people by asking me a lot of questions! I have two businesses, I help people as a 1) Financial Coach and a 2) Hydration Specialist. The financial coaching came over eight years ago when I left the Catholic order of Sisters in 2014. They gave me my old car and $6000! How long does $6000 last in California?! I heard in my spirit that “you better learn something about money, or it is going to manage you.” I was blessed to find an entrepreneur at the time- my new business partner, Mike, who had lost his left leg and his right eye in the Afghanistan war, he was building his business in the financial services industry! Mike was helping people save money, get out of debt, and plan for retirement. How many people do you know who need financial education these days? So I was encouraged and got my State license in 2015. I began receiving valuable financial training in this industry. I reach out to friends and social media, along with meeting people through networking. Mike soon went off to disability retirement, but my other business partner Karlo, the CEO of Innergy Financial, gave me an opportunity in this business 8 years ago and I am grateful to him to share to clients this valuable information about life insurance, buying/sell agreements, and indexed annuities! (What they don’t teach in our schools!) What makes me unique in this business? I am a people person who cares! For me, it is all about building long, lasting relationships. I find that my client’s problem is solved by asking questions and really learning who is my client. Making sure my clients are satisfied with their policies are managed; along with meeting with clients every year for their annual reviews and maintaining contact through calls, emails and texts is the key to great business relationships. I love seeing the smiles on their faces when they see the finished complimentary financial plan that will give them hope again to succeed and live their dreams! As a Hydration Specialist, I’m with an amazing company that is in 23 countries. I started just drinking the alkaline, ionized water that my high school friend gave me and I noticed a huge difference in my body. I always say to folks, “if you don’t have your health, how can you do your business?” And if it made a difference to me, why not help others feel better too because the root cause of sickness and disease is dehydration! Stay hydrated and financially fit, everyone! For more information …Email Gail at Gail@InnergyFinancial.com Or to find out more about this water, please see the link. Demo.MyGoToWater.com