2023 Rising Leaders Cohort

As an Associate at Hirsch Philanthropy Partners, Tracy supports impactful and innovative issue-based giving strategies, program initiatives, and cross-sector collaborations to help individuals, families, and foundations reach their highest philanthropic goals. 

She brings nearly a decade of nonprofit leadership, management, and fundraising experience to her work across multiple program areas. Prior to joining the firm, Tracy was Development Director for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, a 10,000-member bicycle advocacy organization that works closely with the City of San Francisco to provide sustainable community organizing, urban planning, and political advocacy solutions to the city’s congested transportation network. She leverages her fundraising and nonprofit background to hone a nonprofit-centric approach to transformational philanthropy. Tracy holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Davis. 

Tracy's work is driven by a sense of community and belief that we are all connected. Our collective actions, no matter how small, can have a huge impact. Tracy cares deeply about people and protecting our planet, and is motivated to support basic human needs and to empower the voices of women and BIPOC communities through her work at Hirsch Philanthropy Partners. 

Nilofar Gardezi is the Program Officer and Grants Manager at the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation, where she leads arts & culture and education grantmaking in support of underserved children and families in Contra Costa County. 

Previously, Nilofar served as a senior analyst at the University of California, Office of the President where she led strategic planning and evaluation efforts for UC’s statewide research and extension programs serving all Californians. 

Nilofar serves as a mentor for the ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship program, supporting recent humanities PhDs at national and community based nonprofit organizations to advance projects promoting a more just society. She previously served on the Board of Directors for Arts for Oakland Kids, which raises money to fund hands-on art education programs in underserved Oakland public schools. 

Nilofar earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in African American Studies from Yale College. 

Lisa is the 2020-2021 Executive Fellow for Well Being Trust, where she supports the advancement of mental health policy across their social determinants portfolio and partnerships.   

Prior to joining WBT, Lisa invested seven years working and learning in the space of health equity and urban planning in New York City and the Bay Area. In NYC, Lisa led the community engagement strategies for two large-scale federal grants at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, including the development and publication of “The Active Design Toolkit for Schools” in partnership with the NYC Department of Health and the creation of the community engagement research strategy for Mount Sinai’s expanded environmental health center. Since her return to California in 2015, Lisa has continued on her path of understanding of how urban development, land-use regulations, and socio-political dynamics affect health and well-being—supporting research and policy efforts at the Public Health Institute’s Center for Climate Change and Health, the Inclusive Cities Lab at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Urban Research and Development, and the World Institute on Disability.  

 Lisa holds a B.A. in Health Care and Social Issues from the University of California, San Diego, and dual Masters degree in public health and city planning from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Summer Iqbal is a Program Associate in Environment at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. She works on climate change, transportation, and the reduction of U.S. economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions. She supports the grantmaking and the evaluation and strategic development for the U.S. climate portfolio and the India and electrification climate portfolios. 

Previously, she was a contract specialist at the California Department of Water Resources. While a contract specialist, Summer prepared and advised on multi-million-dollar service contracts for the Office of the Chief Counsel and Headquarter Operations and Maintenance. In this capacity, she acted as quality control for decentralized programs and led the contract management training for the Department of Water Resources. She also was a member of the emergency Incident Command team and served as the department’s representative at the State Contracting Advisory Network. Prior to that, she was a program assistant at Chab Dai, an anti-human trafficking nonprofit organization. 

Summer has a bachelor’s degree in political science, as well as minors in English and environmental policy analysis and planning from the University of California, Davis. 

With a background in non-profit management and operations, Martha Joseph has over a decade of experience supporting California’s most vulnerable communities. She currently uses her skills as the Senior Associate of Development at Tipping Point Community to further their mission to support growing nonprofits to better serve the Bay Area’s most at-risk populations. Before her time at Tipping Point, Martha provided operational and programmatic support at John Burton Advocates for Youth, an organization serving California’s foster and homeless youth. Starting as their intern, she eventually worked her way to become the Operations Manager, where she assisted with legislative initiatives, strategic planning and grew their keystone program, the Burton Book Fund, by 400%, expanding it from a local pilot program to a statewide initiative supporting thousands of foster youth at 96 campuses throughout the state. 

As a young LatinX woman who grew up in the foster care system, Martha is intimately familiar with the struggles that individuals trapped in the cycle of poverty face as they try to improve their lives. Her focus for the past decade has been on public service, political advocacy, non-profit operations, and capacity building through data management. With a degree in Education from San Francisco State University, her hope is to use her skills to engage others in the fight for equity. Her guiding principle on progress is best summed up by her television hero, Leslie Knope; in the understanding that “no one achieves anything alone.” Martha currently serves on the LifeMoves board as the DEI+B committee chair and on the New Leaders Council board where she is entering her second year as the Chapter Advancement chair. She currently lives in San Leandro with the three loves of her life, her husband and two orange cats, Meatball and Cheeto. 

Mimi is the Program and Grants Associate at Metta Fund. She brings eight years of experience in public health as a community health educator and program manager. Her previous work was in chronic disease surveillance, evaluation of nutrition, physical activity and food security programs as well as tobacco policy initiatives. She has a passion for working with diverse stakeholders to solve challenging public health problems. Mimi has worked with the Metta Fund program team for two years to provide quality service to grant partners and grant seekers during the grantmaking cycle, assist in learning and evaluation for Metta Fund, and support the team in designing and implementing key strategies to strengthen the work of Metta Fund’s nonprofit partners. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health with an emphasis in community health education from San Jose State University. 

Robia is a Program Associate at the James Irvine Foundation, where she works to expand economic opportunity for the people of California. In her role, she supports grantmaking across various initiatives as well as the assessment of new opportunities for impact.  

Previously, she was a Research Analyst for the South San Francisco Unified School District. There, she collected and analyzed student data to help school and district administrators make informed decisions about their student’s learning. Prior to this, she worked at Tandem, Partners in Early Learning, a nonprofit organization that works to provide children with early learning opportunities that spark joy and close the opportunity gap. 

Robia earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she studied Economics and Comparative Literature. Though she is originally from Los Angeles, she now calls the Bay her home. 

Claudia Leung is Just Beginnings Collaborative's new grants manager, helping build a movement to end child sexual abuse (CSA) that is responsive, creative, and survivor-centered. She is responsible for co-creating a comprehensive grant making program with senior staff, stewarding partner organizations through the process from applicant to grant recipient, and envisioning strategies for transforming philanthropy's response to CSA. Claudia has a diverse background in social justice, philanthropy, government, nonprofits, communications, and arts and culture. Previously, she served as the Communications Manager with California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Claudia also served on the Community Investments team at the San Francisco Arts Commission, where she supported and refined grant making processes for the nationally-renowned Cultural Equity Endowment Fund. Claudia spent six years at the Oakland Museum of California, in various capacities from digital communications to membership. Prior to that, she worked at several Bay Area arts and culture organizations, including the Center for Asian American Media and the Korematsu Institute, and spent two years as a museum educator at the Science Museum of Minnesota. She has been a member of Asians 4 Black Lives since 2015, practicing nonviolent direct action in support of the movement for Black lives, and organizes non-systemic responses to harm with the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective. Claudia has an emerging visual arts practice and her work can be found on Instagram at @verbal.visual. She was born and raised in the South Bay Area cities of Mountain View, Cupertino, and San Jose, and holds a BA from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Kenichi serves at the nexus of nine site teams at the GreenLight Fund, a national venture philanthropy nonprofit. His role focuses on pipeline development, due diligence, and data/knowledge management. Prior to a career in philanthropy, Kenichi had the privilege to serve communities in Bosnia, Haiti, the U.S., and Somaliland/Somalia as an educator and project manager. His most formative experience was in Somaliland where he served as a Math Teacher and as Assistant Headmaster at the now internationally accredited Abaarso School. Kenichi holds a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University, and an M.A. in Business for Social Impact and Finance from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. Born in Japan, raised in New England, and now based in Berkeley, he is also a proud Evertonian, an aspiring table tennis player and snowboarder, and dreams of one day opening a restaurant led by immigrants and refugees. 

Jennifer Paniagua serves as the Program Coordinator at Hispanics in Philanthropy and works in the development and implementation of programmatic strategies, including support on grantmaking, partner outreach, relationship management and other activities. Jennifer works closely with the Migration and the Multiracial Democracy Building teams. 

Previous advocacy work has revolved around Central American representation in higher education, racial and cultural differences within the Latinx community, and the impact of migration policies across borders. 

Originally from Los Angeles, Jennifer holds a Bachelor’s degree in History with a focus in the Black diaspora in Latin America from the University of California; Berkeley. She finds joy in painting, dancing, and reading. 

Meital is an Associate at Hirsch Philanthropy Partners, providing comprehensive research and analysis, grants stewardship, and nonprofit capacity building resources for individuals, families, and foundations to create social and philanthropic impact. While working across many projects and giving areas, she particularly focuses on health equity grantmaking and supporting nonprofit organizational sustainability. In addition to her role at Hirsch, Meital serves on the Ambassadors Council for New Door Ventures advancing local workforce development, skills training, job placement, and education for Bay Area youth. 

Meital has a bachelor's degree in Economics and International Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. While studying at the University of Pittsburgh, Meital led research into assessing the impact of economic development initiatives on women in rural India. Prior to joining Hirsch, she also served as a New Sector Fellow and Impact Analyst working to end poverty with Tipping Point Community and as a human rights advocate with American Jewish World Service. 

Daniel Sanjines is a program coordinator at The California Wellness Foundation where he provides program support related to grantmaking. His responsibilities include maintaining grantees’ files, acting as a liaison between grantees and the program staff, and coordinating the grants management process. Prior to joining Cal Wellness in July 2015, he worked with Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Beyond the Bell Youth Services program for nine years as a program manager, where he was responsible for onsite safety and program compliance with federal, state, and local regulations. He also took on special assignments in LAUSD’s Foster Care Youth Outreach Program. Daniel also has volunteered at the DASH Center (Domestic Abuse Self Help Center) at Van Nuys, CA courthouse, where he assisted litigants requesting restraining domestic violence restraining orders. He is also a volunteer football coach at James Monroe High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State University, Northridge with an emphasis in criminology and criminal justice. 

Rachel joined the Koret Foundation in 2018. As program officer, Rachel supports Koret’s grantmaking portfolio for the Jewish community, which focuses on developing a flourishing Jewish community in the Bay Area, Israel, and globally through its Jewish Peoplehood and US-Israel Bridge Building initiatives. Prior to Koret, Rachel served as the assistant director of community engagement at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, focusing on strengthening the community through relational engagement and programming. 

Rachel earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California School of Social Work and a Master of Arts in Jewish nonprofit management from the Zelikow School at Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion. Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, Rachel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in history and religious studies. She lives in San Francisco with her husband. On the weekends, they are often walking through the city in search of the best scones and almond croissants. 

Laura Schultz serves as the Program Associate - Grants at The Health Trust in San Jose, CA. Laura manages many of the logistics of the grantmaking process for both large Health Partnership grants and smaller Community Grants. She maintains the grants database and hard copy files and provides technical assistance during the application and reporting processes for grantee partners. To her career in philanthropy, Laura brings over a decade of experience working on the other side of the coin, as a grant writer for nonprofit organizations large and small. Her vision for the future of philanthropy includes clear, trusting, and equitable relationships between funders and community partners. 

Laura received her Bachelor of Arts in Religion with a minor in Psychology from Hendrix College. In her free time, you can find her performing with Bay Area Showcase Chorus, a women’s barbershop chorus in San Jose. 

Hilary is a Program Manager at Blue Shield of California Foundation. In this position, she is responsible for executing the Foundation’s overall grantmaking and providing programmatic support to advance the Foundation’s mission to make California the healthiest state and end domestic violence. Hilary partners with nonprofits across the state who are developing policy and innovative solutions to heal from and prevent domestic violence. She also serves on the Foundation’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee. 

Prior to joining Blue Shield of California Foundation, Hilary was a Program Manager at the Olympic Club Foundation in San Francisco, where she managed grant program operations, built relationships with nonprofit partners, and executed the grantmaking strategy. She previously worked in fundraising and communications at Citizen Schools, an organization focused on providing students with hands-on learning opportunities and career mentors, where she wrote grant proposals, cultivated donor relationships, and organized major fundraising events. 

Hilary holds a bachelor’s degree in human development from UC Davis and minors in psychology and sociology. 

Linh Tran is a Grants and Compliance Specialist at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. In this role, she advises program teams on grantmaking compliance policies and procedures throughout the grant lifecycle. Her work also includes reporting, training, and supporting improvements to the grants management system. Prior to the Packard Foundation, Linh was in a grants management role at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation where she oversaw the due diligence and workflow of grant recommendations from Donor and Corporate Advised Funds. Earlier in her career, she held a fellowship position at the East Bay Community Law Center where she coordinated development efforts and managed evaluation reports for the Community Development Block Grant funds. Linh holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, San Diego. 

Ellie Young is the Development Associate at the East Bay Community Foundation. As the Development Associate, Ellie provides crucial administrative and strategic support to the Foundation’s growing development team. Prior to working in philanthropy, Ellie was a fundraiser for progressive political candidates at the state, county, and local level throughout California. Ellie attended the University of Vermont where she majored in both History and Political Science, and minored in Religion. Ellie enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, game nights, and going to and performing in theater productions. Originally from Irvine, Ellie now lives in San Jose with her partner and their adorable cat, Rue.