SHelly Kapoor Collins
Shelly Kapoor Collins is founding partner of the Shatter Fund, a returns-driven fund investing in technology companies led and started by women. Shatter is the culmination of Shelly's entire career of working in the tech industry as a founder, investor, and advisor. She has extensive experience in mentoring and empowering women in the US and abroad. Shelly was a tech advisor for the campaign of state Attorney General Kamala Harris and helped her hire the first chief information officer at the state Department of Justice. During President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign, Shelly served as national co-chair for technology. Shelly will share her journey developing an unparalleled network of female operators built over 20 years, providing investments in some of the most exciting female companies, including GlamSquad, UrbanSitter, Hello Alice, On Second Thought, Talk Media News, Kraus Aerospace, and more. Shelly earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Maryland where she studied studied management-information systems, business and coding and attended Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
Lande Ajose
Lande Ajose is Executive Director of California Competes, and spearheads the organization’s work calling for a Higher Education Investment Board to provide innovative solutions for coordinating the state’s education and workforce challenges. An expert in education and job training of low-income adults, Lande has extensive experience in developing effective change strategies through her work at Informing Change where she directed complex client projects related to education, poverty alleviation, workforce development and issues of inequity. Community college success was a major focus of Lande’s previous work both at MDRC, where she managed a comprehensive evaluation of the Achieving the Dream initiative, and during her tenure at the James Irvine Foundation. Named to the California Student Aid Commission by Governor Jerry Brown, she currently serves as interim Chair. Lande holds a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Studies from MIT and an M.A. in Urban Planning from the School of Public Affairs at UCLA. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Occidental College. Lande graduated from University High School in 1983.
Panelists
Marjan Philhour
Marjan is an accomplished small business owner and working mom with two decades of experience in public service. She graduated from UC Berkeley. Her first job out of college was in the office of the late Congressman Lantos. In Washington, D.C., Marjan moved on to work with Democratic women leaders and the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Her work in D.C. revolved around the rights of women, the environment, labor, and education. Marjan returned to California to work in the office of then-Governor Gray Davis as a Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff. Following her time in Sacramento, Marjan moved to work on the Presidential campaign of Senator John Kerry. She opened her own small business in San Francisco about a decade ago, with the goal of supporting candidates running for office and helping nonprofits with strategic communications, fundraising, and campaigns.
Su Yon Yi
Su Yon is currently an immigration attorney at the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office where she represents immigrants in deportation proceedings. Su Yon and her family immigrated to the United States from Korea and later she graduated from UC Berkeley earning her bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Before returning back to school, Su Yon worked with advocacy organizations for immigrant right and healthcare reform. In 2010, She received her J.D. from UC Davis, Law School being the first in her family to go to college and law school. After graduating from law school, she realized how injustices and racial biases shape the criminal justice and immigration systems and moved to New York to work as an immigration attorney at Queen’s Law Associates, Public Defender. Su Yon works tirelessly advocating for immigrants and amplifying their voices and rights throughout the Bay Area.
Dr. Lizette Ortega Dolan
Lizette Ortega Dolan is a first-generation Latina who began her education career as an English language student. She earned her BA from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2002, She earned a Master’s from Harvard Graduate School of Education and an EdD in Educational Leadership from St. Mary’s College of California. She was awarded the Kalmanovitz School of Education Award in Spring 2013. Lizette has over 20 years of experience in education and was most recently the vice-principal at Carondelet High School and the Middle School Head at Park Day School in Oakland, California. She served as Co-Chair of Northern California People of Color in Independent Schools (POCIS) for several years and continues to serve as lead Advisor. She also served as co-chair of the National White Privilege Conference (WPC) Youth Action Project (YAP) for many years.
Vanessa Vigil
Vanessa Vigil (also known as "Vavi") is a curator, visual artist, and the founder of Oakland-based art show Not Ur Baby. Across different mediums, the queer 23-year-old Bay Area native artist uses her work to create controversial conversations and platforms to lgbtq and poc. Vigil started Not Ur Baby in 2015 as an empowering fem-dominant art, performance show and benefit against human trafficking. Not Ur Baby has evolved to become a movement and community platform
Sarah Ladipo Manyika
Sarah Ladipo Manyika was raised in Nigeria and has lived in Kenya, France, and England. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and for several years taught literature at San Francisco State University. Sarah currently serves on the boards of Hedgebrook and the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. Sarah is a Patron of the Etisalat Prize for Literature and Books Editor at ozy.com. Her second novel “Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun” was shortlisted for the 2016 Goldsmiths Prize