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

Fryday also served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy (‘09-‘13) as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). He served overseas in Yokosuka, Japan, where in addition to his legal duties, he augmented the Navy’s 7th Fleet’s Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief efforts during ‘Operation Tomodachi’ following the March 11th earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. He was also stationed in the Office of Military Commissions, working on the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detainee cases, and testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the closing of Guantanamo.

Before serving in the Armed Services, Fryday worked as a political advisor and organizer on local, state and national campaigns, including the 2004 and 2008 Presidential elections.

Josh received his law degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law, and clerked in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California as well as the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

He also received his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors. He later served on the UC Berkeley Alumni Board of Directors (06-09), where he co-founded the Equity Scholarship to increase diversity on the UC Berkeley Campus.

He is a fellow with the Truman National Security Project, a Term-Member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and currently sits on the Board of Directors for Demos.

Josh is married to Mollye Fryday, an educator, and they have three energetic young boys, Shay, Calvin and Tam.

Prior to running for U.S. Congress in California in early 2017, Alejandra was founding Managing Editor of #EmergingUS at the Los Angeles Times, a digital platform founded by Jose Antonio Vargas that explored the emerging American identity. Alejandra previously served as Senior Advisor for Innovation and Communications Strategy for Univision Network News.

From 2009-2012, Alejandra worked in The White House, initially as Special Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, and later as the first White House Deputy Director of Hispanic Media. In this role, she developed and implemented the White House’s multimedia communications strategy in relation to the U.S. Hispanic community and briefed President Obama in preparation for interviews with Hispanic media. Previously, Alejandra worked on The California Endowment’s Agricultural Worker Health Initiative, which focused on improving the health and living conditions of California’s agricultural workers.

Alejandra holds a Master of 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 has been appointed to 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. She currently sits on the Advisory Board of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, the Executive Advisory Board of the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, and the Board of Advisors for UCLA’s Center for Diverse Leadership in Science, and is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Alejandra is a volunteer teacher for Inside Out Writers, through which she teaches a weekly creative writing class to incarcerated young women in Los Angeles’ Central Juvenile Hall.

Wally Adeyemo served as deputy national security adviser for international economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council, serving as President Barack Obama’s senior international economic adviser. 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 Capps has spent 20 years developing strategic communications and issue advocacy campaigns for the nation’s highest profile public officials, including President Bill Clinton, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Secretary John Kerry’s presidential campaign, as well as leading non-profit organizations. She 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.