Causa Justa :: JustCause, a community organization that builds solidarity and power among Black and Latino communities across the Bay Area for tenant and immigrant rights. She is a queer mama and artist who led development and finance work with POWER in San Francisco for ten years prior to POWER’s merger with CJJC. Her prior experience included fundraising, leadership development and grassroots organizing work with youth and community organizations around welfare rights in Atlanta, Georgia, and gender equity programs with EDUCA in Oaxaca, Mexico. She served as the Board Treasurer of the DataCenter for three years. Hot cocoa, adventures with her family and visions of a more just and loving world keep her going!

Karla is the Founder and Art Director at Provecho!, a design studio specializing in branding and packaging for the food and beverage industry in San Francisco. She and her family moved from Mexico to California at a young age and has been a transplant ever since . After Graduating with a Graphic Design degree from San Diego State University, she started her career as an intern at a local agency in San Diego and eventually landed a design studio job. After moving to the Bay Area she became the Senior Designer at Ghirardelli Chocolate and soon left to start her own business. She served on the Board CUAV, Community United Against Violence for two years and is now starting her second year on the Board of AIGA SF, where she hopes to mentor other young people of color in the design world. When she is not behind her screen or at a Photoshoot, you can find her on the dance floor teaching salsa or social dancing to all things Latin!

Rob’s career spans years in automotive supply chain. Previously at one of history’s most iconic automotive companies, Ford Motor Company, he’s now at Tesla, a company currently making history. At a previous company, Rob worked and lived in China to help coach a newly structured purchasing group. Now at Tesla, Rob is a Global Supply Manager, responsible for active/passive safety components, autopilot system sensors and chassis electronics. Rob has a degree in Business Management/International Business and a minor in HR Management from Oakland University (Michigan). While at Ford, Rob chaired one of Southeast Michigan’s LGBT professional networking organization known as MERGE. He’s been involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and has a Little he still visits when in Michigan. Rob enjoys traveling the world, meeting new people, seeking new adventures and recently took on attempts at rock climbing. He met his partner, Jose, in a group step class while they both used a “fake it till you make it” approach to rhythmically keep up to a class full of badass middle-aged women.

Jose is a Senior Graphic Designer at Unity Technologies, a development platform that enables creators to build games and experiences in 2D, 3D, VR and AR. Prior to moving to San Francisco in 2015, Jose was a Creative Director and Graphic Designer for a magazine publishing company in Detroit. He graduated from the College for Creative Studies with a degree in Communication Design. Jose recently taught an eight-week design course to middle school students in Oakland through Inneract Project’s Design Youth Academy. Back in Detroit, Jose served as a volunteer and committee member at Affirmations, the largest LGBTQ community center in Michigan. He strives to bring value to the everyday through design awareness. He enjoys exploring the Bay Area by foot, spending downtime under the sun, relaxing with his partner Rob and their pup Buddy or renting a car and driving down California’s coast.

Born in Taiwan, Amelie Wen graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in English. Over the past two decades she has carved out a niche consultancy, advising on operational and financial issues for clients in the creative services. She has managed projects, departments and studios for Pentagram, Vanderbyl Design, Volume, Chen Design, and MINE™—among many other design, architecture, photography, and advertising firms. She is currently the Director of Operations at Turner Duckworth.

Christopher Simmons is a Canadian-born, San Francisco-based designer, writer, design advocate, and educator. Under the auspices of his San Francisco design office, MINE™, Simmons designs and directs brand and communication design projects for clients ranging from Facebook and Microsoft to the Edible Schoolyard Project, and Obama for America. His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions ranging from the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art to the Smithsonian Institution. He has been interviewed on design issues by The New York Times, NPR, and the CBS Evening news, but happily voices his opinions in informal settings as well. He is a past president of the San Francisco chapter of AIGA and currently serves on AIGA’s national board.