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 the 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 Virginia, Jim McGreevy Governor of New Jersey, Kathleen Sebelious Governor of Virginia and Dave Freudenthal Governor of Wyoming and re-electing the North Dakota federal delegation in 2002.

Outside of politics, 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 Engagement 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.

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.

Cynthia V. Guerrero is a Partner at public affairs firm California Strategies and brings the highest caliber of expertise to her clients with unmatched advisory experience specifically relating to the technology sector. She provides clients with corporate strategy and public policy guidance, working collaboratively with them to achieve goals and overcome any crisis. Her 20-year experience in tech policy and finance has distinguished her as one of the well-known experts in the industry.

Guerrero advises world-renowned Silicon Valley companies on how to navigate the regulatory process, which often trails innovation, and provides valuable strategic counsel to Tech Startup companies looking to position themselves in California’s competitive technology sector. Her business and policy acumen also includes a deep understanding of the banking, finance, and investment securities industries, making her uniquely qualified to provide clients with keen insight on legislative, regulatory, and business challenges that directly affect the corporate bottom line.

Prior to joining California Strategies, Guerrero founded CG Consulting Group, Inc. in 2003 where she dedicated her time ensuring client success by strategically navigating the legislative process and overcoming regulatory hurdles at the federal and state level. Her previous work includes serving as the California Director for TechNet, the leading bipartisan network of CEOs that promotes the growth of the innovation economy, where she nurtured long-term relationships between technology leaders and policymakers at the state and federal level. She has also worked at the Rand Corporation and in the investment securities industry for top firms such as Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group, Barclays Global Investors, and Merrill Lynch.

Guerrero has her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with an emphasis in Pre-Law and a minor in English Literature from Mount St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles. She graduated with a master’s degree in Public Policy specializing in Economics and International Relations from Pepperdine University and is currently enrolled at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business Executive LEAD program. She serves on the Board of Advisors for Pepperdine University, School of Public Policy, the National Board of Directors for New Leaders Council, and the Board of Directors for Golden State Opportunity.

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 Virginia, Jim McGreevy Governor of New Jersey, Kathleen Sebelious Governor of Virginia and Dave Freudenthal Governor of Wyoming and re-electing the North Dakota federal delegation in 2002.

Outside of politics, 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 Engagement 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, which 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.

Sandra Pérez González has devoted nearly two decades to civil and human rights as an activist in community and advocacy based organizing while serving organizations that include Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), Parent Revolution, PowerPAC.org, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), National Association of Latino Elected/Appointed Officials Educational Fund (NALEO) and Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE). The daughter of immigrants, Sandra was born and raised in San Bernardino and now lives in east Los Angeles County with her husband, 3 children, 4 dogs and 1 cat. Sandra attended the University of La Verne where she majored in Political Science and Public Administration.

Storytelling is Dannie's joy and she has 15+ years of experience as a program executive and diversity and inclusion expert. She has managed international, national and statewide communications departments and campaigns reaching millions of people to advance social justice and human rights issues such as poverty, racial, gender, LGBTQ and education equity at several non-profits including GLAAD, Equality California, International Museum of Women, California Charter Schools Association and Community Coalition.

At The Solutions Project she led communications strategies focused on climate change solutions for the organization and its frontline grantee partners. She created and executive produced the groundbreaking 8-week live digital series “Climate Curious,” reaching a weekly average of 150,000 people in 46 countries.

Dozens of corporate, academic and community venues have welcomed Dannie as an expert presenter on many of these topics including, Fortune 500 companies Best Buy and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Dannie has contributed to the success of organizations by raising their profile with key stakeholders, assisting with fundraising, lobbying on behalf of legislation at the California State Capitol, crafting innovative programs, integrating new and traditional media strategies and refining messaging to reach targeted audiences.

Early in her career, she was director of Black/Africana Studies at two universities and worked as a journalist at several newspapers. Dannie has secured placements in top-tier media outlets including CNN, The Los Angeles Times, Telemundo, Univisión, Essence, Lifetime.com, and MSNBC among others.

Working at some of the best film and television companies in the entertainment industry as a development film/TV assistant, Dannie served under some of the top executives in the industry where she honed her storytelling and consumer marketing skills.

Dannie has served on 20 boards of directors and committees and has been awarded 14 honors, scholarships and full academic tuition fellowships while earning her four distinguished academic degrees: B.A., Liberal Arts, West Virginia University, M.A., Black Studies, The Ohio State University, M.A., Women’s Studies, The Ohio State University, and J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law.

She also enjoys screenwriting and acting in theatre, film and television along with spending time with her two fur babies.

Since 2016, Ari has served as Principal of Breakstone Consulting, which provides grant writing, research, strategy, and fundraising services to clients across sectors. He previously served as Institutional Giving Manager at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Grant Writer at the Asian Art Museum, and Event Coordinator at Gladstone Institutes, among other positions.

Ari is from Berkeley, California, and graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a double BA in Anthropology and History. He has been an active participant in electoral and political organizing since 2012, particularly around progressive taxation issues. He enjoys gardening, cooking, walking around Lake Merritt, and hanging out with his young nephew.

Sabrina De Santiago serves as the Policy and Research Director for Golden State Opportunity. 

For more than 15 years, Sabrina has worked to build stronger and more prosperous communities through policy, advocacy, and government affairs.

During her time in Washington, D.C. she was an advisor on economic policy, housing policy, and appropriations to several Members of Congress, including former U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (NY), U.S. Senator Tom Udall (NM), and U.S. Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA). She was also a Director of Government Affairs for the Center for American Progress focusing on economic and security issues.

Most recently Sabrina oversaw the Community Engagement unit at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the largest homeless Continuum of Care in the nation. 

A native Angeleno, Sabrina now lives in Pasadena with her husband and daughter. She is a fervent pizza and Dodgers fan.

Allison Hayes is a graphic designer based in Los Angeles. A native Oregonian, she graduated from the University of Oregon and holds degrees in both graphic design and photography.  She has spent much of her career at a full service design firm working with a multitude of companies ranging from sports and lifestyle to tech and finance and in media publishing. Her work has also appeared in Southbay and Ventura Blvd magazines. Her passion as a designer centers around designing for small businesses and nonprofits.

Annie Kastler has been working on campaigns to advocate for change since 2018. She has worked on several public health campaigns with the coalition SF Kids vs Big Tobacco, where she mobilized the community to take action against tobacco companies exploitative marketing practices. She went on to run a canvassing office to raise funds for the ACLU and Doctors without Borders, and worked with SEIU-UHW as a digital organizer to win better contracts for healthcare workers during the pandemic. She hopes to bring her experience in developing and empowering volunteers to this role to further GSO’s critical work.

Aonya uses her experience in media outreach, strategic messaging, and digital strategy to reach diverse audiences and drive social change. Aonya has worked in California politics for elected leaders at the federal and city levels, leading communications and community engagement strategies around a diverse set of public policy issues including criminal justice, environment, and social welfare. She was the communications deputy for L.A. City Controller Ron Galperin and the press secretary for Congresswoman Karen Bass. Aonya also previously worked with young men of color at a South L.A. nonprofit and has advised campaign, labor, and nonprofit organizations with BerlinRosen. A native Angeleno, Aonya is a graduate of Wellesley College, where she studied political science.

Ryan Scholl has been running digital advocacy, fundraising and organizing campaigns for progressive, non-profit organizations for more than 10 years and is excited to bring this experience to bear in furthering Golden State Opportunity's important work.

Ernesto began his career at the American Embassy in Manila as a citizenship assistant where he documented children born out-of-wedlock of Philippine mothers and American servicemen, those born in Hawaii whose grandparents worked in the sugar plantations not knowing that their children could avail of US citizenship.

After immigrating to the United States, he worked at the Whitman-Walker Clinic and the D.C. Bar where he set up legal clinics and recruited pro bono attorneys to provide representation on cases involving, discrimination, landlord & tenant, public benefits, family law, and immigration. Prior to joining GSO, he also worked for the California Medical Association and recently at the San Francisco Community Health Center serving the homeless, LGBTQ, and communities of color in the city.

He loves to travel, learn languages, and lived in Germany for one year in 2016. He resides in the East Bay with his husband and their rescued dog, Dolly.

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.

A native of the Coachella Valley, Angelica Villanueva has spent over 15 years in community service. She has extensive experience working in VITA and other asset-building programs in East Riverside County. Her focus was on creating partnerships with cities and non-profits with the goal of providing programs aimed at improving communities through education, financial services, and growing much needed direct service programs in these hard-to-reach communities. She worked in various county departments, such as the Dept. of Public Social Services, Community Action Partnership, and the Office on Aging to advance causes close to her heart. Her focus on outreach and partnership, with a focus on asset building in rural low-income communities, has been a driving force in her career. During her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her children, reading, coaching soccer, and enjoying the outdoors.