2018-2019 Advisory Board
Dante Alvarado-Leon
Founder, MentorRoom and Latinas Engineering Leadership Program
Business Product Specialist at Facebook
Dante Alvarado-Leon is a Business Product Specialist at Facebook working on Instagram Ads and Shopping. He graduated with a Business Administration degree, and a concentration in Technology and Entrepreneurship, from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Dante is very passionate about entrepreneurship and about creating opportunities for his community. As a result, he has founded two social impact programs, MentorRoom and the Latinas Engineering Leadership Program. He is also tech advisor to the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. In 2017, Dante became a Bay Area Inspire Awardee and an OZY Genius Winner for his work with MentorRoom, a virtual mentorship program that connected first-generation college students with diverse professionals in tech. Just recently, Dante became a Westly Prize Winner, as the Co-Founder of the Latinas Engineering Leadership Program, an initiative designed to prepare Latina college students pursuing a degree in Computer Science to land their first internship, and empower them to become future leaders in the tech industry. Growing up in the US-Mexico Border exposed Dante to communities with little resources and limited access to technology, education, and mentorship. He has made it a personal mission to make a positive impact in his community by using the opportunities he has working in Silicon Valley, and bringing that back to his border community and beyond.
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Founder, MentorRoom and Latinas Engineering Leadership Program
Business Product Specialist at Facebook
Dante Alvarado-Leon is a Business Product Specialist at Facebook working on Instagram Ads and Shopping. He graduated with a Business Administration degree, and a concentration in Technology and Entrepreneurship, from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Dante is very passionate about entrepreneurship and about creating opportunities for his community. As a result, he has founded two social impact programs, MentorRoom and the Latinas Engineering Leadership Program. He is also tech advisor to the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. In 2017, Dante became a Bay Area Inspire Awardee and an OZY Genius Winner for his work with MentorRoom, a virtual mentorship program that connected first-generation college students with diverse professionals in tech. Just recently, Dante became a Westly Prize Winner, as the Co-Founder of the Latinas Engineering Leadership Program, an initiative designed to prepare Latina college students pursuing a degree in Computer Science to land their first internship, and empower them to become future leaders in the tech industry. Growing up in the US-Mexico Border exposed Dante to communities with little resources and limited access to technology, education, and mentorship. He has made it a personal mission to make a positive impact in his community by using the opportunities he has working in Silicon Valley, and bringing that back to his border community and beyond.
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Benjamin Bac Sierra
Author, Community Innovator
Professor at City College of San Francisco
Benjamin Bac Sierra was raised by a widowed mother and the San Francisco Mission streets. After his honorable service in the United States Marines, Ben completed his B.A. in English at U.C. Berkeley, earned a teaching credential and a Master’s from San Francisco State University, and merited a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Currently, he is a professor at City College of San Francisco, an advisor for HOMEY SF, and a community innovator and speaker throughout the Bay Area. His first novel Barrio Bushido was presented a “Best of the Bay Award” and an “International Latino Book Award.” In 2016, U.C. Hastings College of the Law La Raza Students Association honored him as an Alumnus of the Year.
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Author, Community Innovator
Professor at City College of San Francisco
Benjamin Bac Sierra was raised by a widowed mother and the San Francisco Mission streets. After his honorable service in the United States Marines, Ben completed his B.A. in English at U.C. Berkeley, earned a teaching credential and a Master’s from San Francisco State University, and merited a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Currently, he is a professor at City College of San Francisco, an advisor for HOMEY SF, and a community innovator and speaker throughout the Bay Area. His first novel Barrio Bushido was presented a “Best of the Bay Award” and an “International Latino Book Award.” In 2016, U.C. Hastings College of the Law La Raza Students Association honored him as an Alumnus of the Year.
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Rita Bullwinkel
Author, Arts Educator
Rita Bullwinkel is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and the author of the story collection Belly Up, which won the 2018 Believer Book Award and was named one of the best books of the year by both The San Francisco Chronicle and BuzzFeed. She is a recipient of awards and fellowships from Brown University, The MacDowell Colony, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, The Drue Heinz Foundation, and Vanderbilt University, where she was a Commons Writer in Residence. Both her fiction and her translation have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. She has taught classes on the uses of invented language and foreign language as tools for world building at the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, The Nashville Public Library, The Nashville School of the Arts, The Hugo Writers Workshop, Vanderbilt University, and other institutions.
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Author, Arts Educator
Rita Bullwinkel is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area and the author of the story collection Belly Up, which won the 2018 Believer Book Award and was named one of the best books of the year by both The San Francisco Chronicle and BuzzFeed. She is a recipient of awards and fellowships from Brown University, The MacDowell Colony, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, The Drue Heinz Foundation, and Vanderbilt University, where she was a Commons Writer in Residence. Both her fiction and her translation have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes. She has taught classes on the uses of invented language and foreign language as tools for world building at the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, The Nashville Public Library, The Nashville School of the Arts, The Hugo Writers Workshop, Vanderbilt University, and other institutions.
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Dr. Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, Ed.D., L.C.S.W.
Founder and Executive Director of Ayudando Latinos A Sonar, ALAS
Assistant Professor, University of San Francisco
Dr. Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga has specialized in working with Latino mental health and advocating for the many voices who are often silent in the mental health field and in society. Her specific work focuses on working with farmworker children and families. As the Founder of ALAS, Dr Hernandez-Arriaga uses the arts as a safe space to work with the families at all levels. ALAS is a program focused on four areas, the arts of mariachi, ballet folklorico and drumming, education, La Misma Luna counseling services and social justice advocacy. Her work as faculty at USF in the Counseling Psychology department has given her the opportunity to work in developing crisis response care to victims of natural or social disasters. Recently Dr. Hernandez-Arriaga partnered with Bay Area Border Relief to begin working with children and their families to help them make a safe journey to the United States. Belinda has been working at the border, is involved in her community of Half Moon Bay and is actively working with children to give them a voice of strength. She is a mama of three and loves all the lessons her family teaches her ever day. She is committed to advocacy and justice and teaches with a determination to help her students find their voices of resistance and care.
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Founder and Executive Director of Ayudando Latinos A Sonar, ALAS
Assistant Professor, University of San Francisco
Dr. Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga has specialized in working with Latino mental health and advocating for the many voices who are often silent in the mental health field and in society. Her specific work focuses on working with farmworker children and families. As the Founder of ALAS, Dr Hernandez-Arriaga uses the arts as a safe space to work with the families at all levels. ALAS is a program focused on four areas, the arts of mariachi, ballet folklorico and drumming, education, La Misma Luna counseling services and social justice advocacy. Her work as faculty at USF in the Counseling Psychology department has given her the opportunity to work in developing crisis response care to victims of natural or social disasters. Recently Dr. Hernandez-Arriaga partnered with Bay Area Border Relief to begin working with children and their families to help them make a safe journey to the United States. Belinda has been working at the border, is involved in her community of Half Moon Bay and is actively working with children to give them a voice of strength. She is a mama of three and loves all the lessons her family teaches her ever day. She is committed to advocacy and justice and teaches with a determination to help her students find their voices of resistance and care.
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Eugene Johnson
Motivational speaker, Spoken Word Poet and Lyricist
Founder, iVisionary Academy
Eugene “Ace” Johnson is an Oakland native who has been intrigued with the power of words since his youth. He has since then developed his craft as a Motivational speaker, Spoken word Poet and Lyricist; creating a career in teaching individuals the power in discovering, developing and deploying their natural gifts and talents to evoke positive change. Ace Johnson is the founder of 501c3 Non Profit, iVisionary Academy and has developed a curriculum that uses the creative arts to teach leadership development and life skills to youth in under-served communities. Ace is passionate about holistic urban community development and has developed several programs dedicated to seeing people live out their full potential within these communities.
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Motivational speaker, Spoken Word Poet and Lyricist
Founder, iVisionary Academy
Eugene “Ace” Johnson is an Oakland native who has been intrigued with the power of words since his youth. He has since then developed his craft as a Motivational speaker, Spoken word Poet and Lyricist; creating a career in teaching individuals the power in discovering, developing and deploying their natural gifts and talents to evoke positive change. Ace Johnson is the founder of 501c3 Non Profit, iVisionary Academy and has developed a curriculum that uses the creative arts to teach leadership development and life skills to youth in under-served communities. Ace is passionate about holistic urban community development and has developed several programs dedicated to seeing people live out their full potential within these communities.
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Jayson J. Phillips
Senior Software Manager at Trilogy Education Services
Full Stack Web Development Instructor at UC Berkeley Extension
Jayson J. Phillips is a Senior Software Manager at Trilogy Education Services. At Trilogy, Jayson works on the learning platform that powers the student and instructor experience with the courses administered at dozens of continuing education campuses. In addition, Jayson is also a Full Stack Software Instructor at UC Berkeley Extension, empowering students to learn the skills needed to transition into careers in the tech industry. He is passionate about mentorship development and making the tech industry more diverse and inclusive. His avenues for this include his membership at /dev/color, mentoring in programs such as CODE 2040's Summer Fellowship, and volunteering with organizations like Black Girls Code and Citizen Schools. A New York native, Jayson enjoys the Bay Area and considers Oakland his second home.
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Senior Software Manager at Trilogy Education Services
Full Stack Web Development Instructor at UC Berkeley Extension
Jayson J. Phillips is a Senior Software Manager at Trilogy Education Services. At Trilogy, Jayson works on the learning platform that powers the student and instructor experience with the courses administered at dozens of continuing education campuses. In addition, Jayson is also a Full Stack Software Instructor at UC Berkeley Extension, empowering students to learn the skills needed to transition into careers in the tech industry. He is passionate about mentorship development and making the tech industry more diverse and inclusive. His avenues for this include his membership at /dev/color, mentoring in programs such as CODE 2040's Summer Fellowship, and volunteering with organizations like Black Girls Code and Citizen Schools. A New York native, Jayson enjoys the Bay Area and considers Oakland his second home.
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