Our Team

Joe has been the leading advocate for the state’s new Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for low-income families. Joe not only lobbied California to pass the credit, but in 2015 when the state didn’t allocate enough money for outreach, Joe created CalEITC4Me. This community organizing program has connected working California families with $2 billion of state and federal Earned Income Tax Credits. This spring, CalEITC4Me led a grassroots organizing campaign that won a massive expansion of California’s EITC so that next year, 3x more working families – 1.7 million in total – will be able to earn the CalEITC.

He is Co-Founder of Aspiration.com, an online financial company built for everyone. Aspiration serves people at the heart of their financial lives – their banking account – in a trust-based model that empowers people to choose whatever fee they think is fair (even zero) and enables them to bank, invest, and spend in accordance with their values. Aspiration’s approach has made it the fastest-growing and most beloved consumer financial company in America.

Joe also serves on the board of the Sierra Club Foundation, the Economic Innovation Group, and the Jefferson Awards Foundation, which engages over 1 million young people each year in volunteerism and public service. He serves on Board of Trustees of the University of California, Riverside School of Public Policy. Joe also volunteers at Casa Teresa, a homeless shelter for pregnant women in Orange, California.

A native of Southern California, Joe is a graduate of Servite High School in Anaheim and Harvard University. He lives in Los Angeles with his rescue dog Bruce.

For more information, please email joe@goldenstateopportunity.org

Prior to joining GSO, Amy spent nearly seventeen years working to ensure that everyone could have a family if, when, and with whom they wanted as the Vice-President of Special Projects at NARAL Pro-Choice America and as the State Director for NARAL Pro-Choice California. Amy launched NARAL's first, innovative, multi-level corporate engagement initiative to educate, engage, and mobilize the corporate sector to support reproductive freedom. Amy led, with other stakeholders, the unprecedented and historic Don't Ban Equality declaration that secured more than 360 CEO signatures in support of the business case for reproductive freedom.

Amy has also been an innovative advocate for reproductive freedom for women and families throughout California. Under her leadership, California is the only state to successfully regulate anti-choice fake women's health centers and hold them accountable for their false advertising. Amy's background in campaigns and elections, grassroots and grasstops organizing and coalition building has positioned NARAL as one of the top advocacy organizations for reproductive freedom in the state. Under Everitt’s leadership, California has been a pro-choice pioneer - defeating extreme anti-choice measures, electing pro-choice majorities to both chambers of the state legislatures, passing groundbreaking legislation like the Duty to Dispense Act and the Reproductive FACT Act, and growing NARAL’s membership to over 200,000 strong.

She has worked on campaigns throughout California including Kamala Harris for SF DA, Kathleen Brown for Governor, SF Supervisor Wille B. Kennedy and numerous state assembly and senate races. While at the Democratic National Committee she focused on redistricting, establishing the first Rural Caucus and electing Mark Warner Governor of Virgina, Jim McGreevy Governor of New Jersey, Kathleen Sebelious Governor of Virgina and Dave Freudenthal Governor of Wyoming and re-electing the North Dakota federal delegation in 2002.

Outside of politcs, she lived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for three years serving as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce of HCMC and as a freelance journalist for the Vietnam Business Journal and the Vietnam Investment Review. Amy was also the Country Manager at the U.S. Trade & Development Agency for Southeast Asia bridging business opportunities for American companies with infrastructure needs in developing countries.

Amy currently sits on the Board of the Center for Civic Engagment and is active with the Silicon Valley DemFems. Previously, she served as the Board Chair for Emerge California, Board Chair for the UCSC Alumni Council and on the Steering Committee for the Civil Rights Coalition of CA.

She is a 5th generation Californian with deep roots in San Francisco and Newman, CA who attended UC Santa Cruz (BA, Politics) and UC San Diego, School of Global Policy & Strategy (MPIA). She currently lives in Burlingame with her three kids and, more often than not, with her nephew-dog, Eddy.

Sandra Lyon serves as Vice President of Golden State Opportunity. With experience working with and providing strategic counsel to principals, elected officials, political candidates, and organizations at the federal, state and local level, her portfolio of work in electoral politics, operational management and event production expands nearly two decades.

Lyon's background includes work at the Democratic National Committee and state party committees in Florida and Connecticut, leading national direct mail firms, and the American Federation of Teachers. She served as the national director of President Barack Obama’s direct mail operation in 2012 and on the creative team of Obama's 2013 inaugural committee. She most recently served as Managing Director of the national Need to Impeach campaign, based in San Francisco.

Lyon is originally from the Finger Lakes region in Upstate NY. She is a graduate of Arizona State University, with included studies at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. If not working, she can either be found at a local art studio trying her hand at throwing on a potter's wheel, or spending time with her rescue dog Leo Winston.

Tim has a background in political operations, logistics, communications, and finance for some of the most prominent figures in American government and politics.

After a five-year tenure in the U.S. Congress with Representative Gene Green and then Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Timothy joined President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign as Director of Scheduling for First Lady Michelle Obama. Working in the same capacity for the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Committee, he was then appointed to Ambassador Susan Rice’s senior staff as Director of Scheduling and Advance at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City. Following Ambassador Rice’s return to the White House, he served in the same capacity for Ambassador Samantha Power before joining the Los Angeles-based finance team of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2015. Following the November 2016 elections, he joined GSO Founder Joe Sanberg and the GSO team to assist in the mission of combating poverty in 2017.

Originally from Texas, Timothy currently lives in Los Angeles where he enjoys spreading the greatness that is Texas BBQ brisket.

Previously, Alejandra served as Senior Advisor to Ariel Investments President and Co-CEO Mellody Hobson. She was also founding Managing Editor of #EmergingUS at the Los Angeles Times, a digital content platform focused on exploring the intersection of race, immigration, and identity in America. Prior to that, Alejandra served as Senior Advisor for Innovation and Communications Strategy for Univision Network News. From 2009-2012, Alejandra served in the Obama White House as the Deputy Director of Hispanic Media. In this role, she developed and implemented the White House’s communications strategy directed towards the Hispanic community around a broad range of issues.

Alejandra holds a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and graduated cum laude from the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California. Alejandra is a former Commissioner for the California Children and Families Commission, also known as "First 5 California", which convenes, partners in, supports, and helps lead the movement to create and implement a comprehensive, integrated, and coordinated system for California's children prenatal through age 5 and their families.

Alejandra currently serves on the Boards of Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, the California Community Foundation, and Harvard Kennedy School's Journal of Hispanic Policy, and is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy. She founded LATINX & BRCA in partnership with Penn Medicine’s Basser Center for BRCA, which is the first awareness campaign on the BRCA gene mutation that targets Latinos and offers Spanish-language educational materials. In 2017, Alejandra was awarded Penn Medicine's Basser Center for BRCA's inaugural YLC Distinguished Advocacy Award for her tireless advocacy around BRCA-related cancers

In that capacity, he was responsible for coordinating the policymaking process related to international finance, trade and investment, energy, and environmental issues. Mr. Adeyemo also served as the president’s representative to the G7 and G20. He has held several senior management positions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, including senior adviser and deputy chief of staff. In that role, he advised the secretary of the treasury on a range of issues, including international economics and financial regulation. Mr. Adeyemo served as the Treasury Department’s chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s provisions on macroeconomic policy and worked extensively with Congress and international counterparts to advance the president’s agenda. After the passage of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, Mr. Adeyemo served as the first chief of staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In that capacity, he helped to build the bureau’s initial executive leadership team and served as a member of the CFPB Executive Committee. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Mr. Adeyemo was an editor for the Hamilton Project, a program at the Brookings Institution focused on advancing public policy proposals that contribute to long-term economic growth. He holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Laura is serving her first term on the Santa Barbara School Board and serves on the board of the Community Environmental Council and Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Laura runs her own public affairs practice, Mission Partners, providing services in media relations, crisis communications, project management, and development strategies and focusing in five issue areas: poverty, climate, food systems, education, and immigration. Laura began her career in government and public service by serving four years in the Clinton White House, working first as an aide to George Stephanopoulos and then as a speechwriter for President Clinton. She was Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s Communications Director in the U.S. Senate, serving as his primary spokesperson and developing strategic communications plans on a wide range of issues. In 2003-2004, Laura was a senior aide to John Kerry in his presidential campaign. She has built a reputation as a respected advocate for environmental, ocean conservation, and climate issues through her roles as SVP for Government Affairs and Communications at Ocean Conservancy and as Communications Director for the Alliance for Climate Protection the non-profit founded and chaired by Vice President Al Gore.

Jenny is a native of Sacramento, California. After graduating from Sacramento State University in 2015, she joined State Senator Dr. Richard Pan's office as a district representative and later served as a Consultant for the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Legislative Caucus, working with the California State Legislature and API community leaders statewide. She served in active roles with various Democratic organizations in her local community as well as in a statewide capacity as an officer of the California Young Democrats. She currently serves as the Secretary of the California Democratic Party, the youngest woman to hold an officer position in state history. Jenny joined the Golden State Opportunity Foundation in June of 2018 as the Director of Strategic Partnerships.

Violeta Centeno was born and raised in the neighborhood of Echo Park, Los Angeles. Growing up she witnessed many disparities in certain regions of Los Angeles which lead her to a career path in Social Work. While earning her bachelor’s degree at California State University Los Angeles she interned at a family resource center in the heart of Boyle Heights. There she facilitated a Spanish parenting course as well as gained experience in case management skills. The approach to her work is to view each experience through a humanistic lens. Violeta now serves as the Los Angeles Community Organizer for Golden State Opportunity.

Sebastien Chaubard has been working with GSO since 2017, starting out as a program associate before earning his position as Outreach Manager. As Outreach Manager, Sebastien helps manage GSO’s State grants; duties include allocating grant resources and completing grant reports. Sebastien also serves as the Texting Director and oversees the program that reached over 1 million people in 2018. He has previously worked in public relations and for local campaigns.

In just two short year, Sebastien has helped GSO become one of the leading non-profits in California that helps families in poverty. He has always had a passion for helping families in need, and hopes to see every person in California have the opportunity to succeed. He comes from a family of Cambodian refugees that came to the U.S during the war in the 1970s. After coming the the U.S. his family spent a lot of years in welfare and they needed to receive food stamps in order to put food on the table.

Favorite Superhero: Batman - because instead of spending his billions of dollars on social programs and the community. He dressed as a Bat and beat up criminals!

Abigail Kilcullen is a native of the Washington D.C. area, having moved out to the Bay Area in August of 2017. She graduated from Boston College with a degree in Applied Psychology and Human Development, minoring in Sociology. As a way to channel her passion for social justice, she went on to complete a year of volunteer service in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps upon graduation, working as a Housing Rights Advocate at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, a nonprofit law firm in San Jose. Afterwards, she spent a few months doing prospect research at the Lieber Institute of Brain Development. She has now joined the Golden State Opportunity Foundation as the Corporate and Major Gifts Associate doing fundraising and program support. Her favorite food is fish tacos, so she constantly seeks out new taco spots in the Mission District of San Francisco to find the best ones around.

Blanca is the Inland Region Director, executing GSO's mission in the place where she has primarily lived for most of her life. Prior to this she worked with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials where her primary role was to engage and turnout Latino voters. She coordinated GOTV efforts across seven states in the 2016 Presidential elections.

Blanca has been committed to social justice efforts from a very young age and began her activism professionally as an apprentice in the labor movement where she was formally trained as an organizer. She has devoted her career to social justice causes ever since. She has volunteered countless hours to local organizations and knocked on many doors for local races and candidates who she believed to be the best person for the job.

During college Blanca studied in Vietnam and fell in love with the culture, people and food. She has returned there since and plans to visit the country again soon.

A Seattle native, Morgan graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and went on to spend a half-decade as an investigative reporter in New England, mostly with the public interest nonprofit VTDigger. More recently True worked as a strategic communications consultant for nonprofits, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. True loves the outdoors, hiking, camping and backpacking. He also enjoys playing pickup basketball and has coached youth teams in the past.

Jaun’s professional experience includes: organizing for Pete Aguilar for Congress, Field Coordinator for a number of city elections, and Regional Director for NextGen America, a youth voter engagement PAC. Juan has been working on GSO's efforts since the 2016 tax season.

Sofia is the Los Angeles County Program Manager. She currently coordinates partnerships, VITA events and outreach efforts in Los Angeles County. Sofia was raised in Westlake/MacArthur Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. She has worked extensively in the field of education as well as community organizing. She holds a B.A in History and Sociology from UC-Riverside. On her free time she enjoys traveling, hiking and baking Chrissy Teigen’s banana bread.