Staff
Eveline Shen, MPH, Executive Director
eveline@forwardtogether.org
Since Eveline's leadership began in 1999, Forward Together has become widely recognized for its innovative role in the Reproductive Justice Movement—working with grassroots communities; providing thought leadership; developing effective tools and resources for evaluation, training, and documentation; and organizing for long-term systemic change. Eveline serves on the board of the Movement Strategy Center and is a member of the Bay Area Social Justice Funders Network advisory committee. She has also served as Principal Investigator for two National Institutes of Health grants that explore the intersection between environmental justice and reproductive justice. Women's eNews named Eveline one of their 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. She was a 2009 Gerbode Fellow and holds a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley in Community Health Education.
Adriann Barboa, New Mexico Field Director
adriann@forwardtogether.org
Adriann Barboa is a Chicana, Native New Mexican born and raised in Albuquerque, where she is a single mother of two. Adriann joined Forward Together in March of 2012, but has been closely connected to Forward Together and Strong Families through the partnership and support of Young Women United (YWU). Adriann served as the Director of YWU for the past 8 years and is happy to find a role that can continue to make use of her strengths and attributes in gender and reproductive justice. She has helped to build networks and collaborations across difference in her home state of New Mexico, and in her work with national networks. As Field Director for Strong Families New Mexico, Adriann connects across issue areas, geography and difference to advance the work and capacity that is happening in New Mexico and in connection to the Strong Families national movement work led by Forward Together. Adriann brings 10 plus years experience in the social justice sector, working primarily on issues of gender, reproductive, anti-violence, education and youth justice in communities of color.
Moira Bowman, Deputy Director
moira@forwardtogether.org
Moira Bowman joined Strong Families in November 2007 and works primarily from Portland, Oregon. As Deputy Director, Moira builds and manages an effective staff team and plays a lead role in the strategy and implementation of the Strong Families initiative. Relying on more than 20 years of experience working with social justice nonprofits, Moira also provides technical assistance to a number of our allies.
Moira has been active in the social justice movement for the last two decades on issues of economic and racial justice, LGBTQ rights, and gender justice. She brings extensive experience in movement building, organizing, political education, and technical assistance. As Director of the Gender Justice Program at Western States Center, Moira worked to build regional capacity (in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming) to counter the Right's agenda and to build progressive power for low-income families, communities of color, and LGBTQ communities. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Basic Rights Oregon.
Hillary Brooks, Finance and Operations Director
hillary@forwardtogether.org
Since arriving at Forward Together in early 2009, Hillary has greatly enjoyed the geeky processes of overhauling accounting practices, upgrading both office technology and online presence, and anchoring the organization's dynamic operations and HR during an exciting period of growth. A former administrative director at Media Alliance, Hillary worked for over a decade as an accounting and Mac consultant to nonprofits, small businesses, magazines, and individuals. As an activist for reproductive and civil rights, she did grassroots organizing with groups including the Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights. She also put her politics into song, primarily in the jazz group Maroon, which she led while living in New York City, where she also curated and performed in the Jazz Against War concert series. Hillary got her BA at Boston University, majoring in communications research with a focus on images of women and people of color in the media, and received an MFA in jazz performance at California Institute of the Arts. A single mother by choice, she currently most often makes music and other joyful mischief with her young daughter, Willa.
Mai Doan, Youth Organizer
mai@forwardtogether.org
Since moving from Southern to Northern California, Mai has worked in youth organizing helping develop programs for Filipina and Latina youth in San Francisco's South of Market community. Additionally, Mai has codeveloped a hip-hop writing workshop series that focused on gender, oppression, and healthy relationships; helped lead a campaign to fight for free and accessible space for low-income, immigrant, and queer youth in San Francisco; and taught poetry at Berkeley Tech through June Jordan's Poetry for the People teaching residency. She has been exploring the integration of creative writing, cultural work, and youth organizing for the past four years. Through her work with SAFIRE, she continues to pursue her passion of developing transformative spaces for young people that lead to both self-empowerment and collective action. She holds a BA in Women and Gender Studies from San Francisco State University.
Jonathan D'Souza, Manager of Online Engagment
Jonathan joined the Forward Together team in early 2013 as the Manager of Online Engagement. He has been a native of the San Francisco Bay Area since birth, spending a few of his childhood years living abroad with his extended family in Bombay, India. He was a highly creative and artistic child, never letting the boundaries of the page dictate where his vision would end. He has never been more than 10 feet from a computer since the first time he powered on his Commodore 64. For more than 10 years he has worked to help make the world a better place for people, both on the front lines and as an organizer. At the University of California, Davis, while earning B.A.s in Gender Studies and English, he created grassroots campaigns to advance and increase awareness of Women’s and LGBT rights. Professionally, he focuses his technical aptitude to help increase the capacity of organizations to connect with current and prospective members and to organize more efficiently. At home you will find him cooking, organizing his unusually large music collection, and spending some quality time with his partner and Phoenix, their dog.
Nina Jacinto, Grants Manager
nina@forwardtogether.org
Nina is a second-generation South Asian American whose love for writing and commitment to working in the Reproductive Justice Movement led her to join the Forward Together family in 2011. Prior to her grant writing and development work, Nina was a racial justice blogger for WireTap magazine and a writer on topics of reproductive and sexual health for EmpowHer Women's Health. Nina received her BA in English and a minor in Gender Studies from Pomona College, where she was an active leader in the student of color community.
Kalpana Krishnamurthy, Policy Director
kalpana@forwardtogether.org
Kalpana joined the Forward Together team in March 2013 as the Policy Director. Working from Portland, OR, Kalpana will be helping to develop and implement Forward Together's policy shift and civic engagement strategies. Most recently, Kalpana spent eight years as a field director at Western States Center focusing on building the racial justice and gender justice programs at the Center. She served as the primary author of the Oregon and Nevada legislative report cards on racial equity. She helped to develop and lead the Uniting Communities work, which works to help organizations of color meaningfully engage their own LGBT constituents of color.
Prior to Western States, Kalpana worked in philanthropy at both the Third Wave Founadation and the Ms. Foundation for Women. She also brings experience organizing on issues of reproductive health and rights, and youth organizing. Kalpana grew up in Oregon and graduated from the University of Oregon. She is the mother of two fabulous boys, Sachin and Kavi.
Shanelle Matthews,Communications Manager
shanelle@forwardtogether.org
Shanelle is a blogger, creative and all-around communications enthusiast. Prior to Forward Together, she worked as a freelance journalist contributing to media chiefly in the nonprofit sector, including Women's eNews and the Women's Media Center. After witnessing the birth of her first nephew, Gavin, Shanelle was inspired to examine Black women’s maternal health and co-founded a birthing justice collective in Oakland that is committed to transforming the birth experiences of women from the African diaspora. She is passionate about healthy debate, protests with a cause, and cheese. She holds a BA in Journalism from the Manship School of Mass Communications at Louisiana State University and is on the board of the National Network for Abortion Funds. She is co-editor of Birthing Justice -- Saving Our Lives, an anthology of critical essays and personal testimonies exploring childbirth from a radical social justice perspective, slated for print Fall 2013. She lives in Oakland, CA with her partner.
Maria Nakae, MPH, Development Director
maria@forwardtogether.org
Maria joined Forward Together in 2006 as a New Voices Fellow and Alliance Building Coordinator. After three and a half years of supporting Forward Together's national movement building work, she joined the development team in 2010. Maria previously worked in community-based research, outreach, and program development on a wide range of issues including reproductive health, domestic violence prevention, parenting and child development, and mental health. Her interest in reproductive justice is fueled by her work with community– and school-based programs to increase access to reproductive health services for youth in low-income immigrant communities and communities of color. She holds a BA in Psychology from New York University and an MPH from UC Berkeley.
Akasha Orr, Office and Events Coordinator
akasha@forwardtogether.org
Since joining Forward Together in 2010, Akasha has worn many hats, including that of office manager, conference events coordinator, volunteer coordinator, and staff morale booster. Along her path, Akasha has since become a contributor to the Forward Together blog and is currently being groomed as the newest member to join the Forward Stance training team. What she loves most about working with Forward Together is the support and encouragement she receives to develop both personally and professionally, which in turn increases her contribution to the organization. Akasha is a transplant from Los Angeles, where she worked in the entertainment industry as an actress, singer/songwriter, and poet. She currently shares lead vocals in the El Cerrito–based electropop band The Seshen. Her commitment to social justice grew out of participation in various LGBTQ campaigns, as well as environmental preservation efforts and animal rights activism. A yogi and student of naturopathic methodology, Akasha’s journey is focused on bringing harmony to body, mind, and soul through humanitarian work and the performing arts. She holds a BA in Speech Communications from Hampton University.
Robin Ryan, Bookkeeper
robin@forwardtogether.org
Robin's arrival at Forward Together as Bookkeeper came about as a result of a desire to apply her full-charge bookkeeping skills to the social justice arena. After 15 years as a freelance bookkeeper in San Francisco for individuals, small businesses and Burning Man, the political foreground that Oakland now assumes called her to cross the bridge to non-profit accounting. She believes that a strong staff should be supported by the financial health of its organization, and that both are key elements to building and maintaining a sustainable movement. Robin's activist roots began in her home state of Louisiana, but were transplanted to California via Brooklyn over 20 years ago. She currently lives in San Francisco, where she is raising her daughter and Occupying the streets. She is crazy for Buddhist meditation, bicycling, yoga and home cooking, and is now working towards a certificate in library information technology.
Jeanine Shimatsu, Executive Assistant
jeanine@forwardtogether.org
Jeanine is a fourth generation Japanese American and a second generation Chinese American. Originally from Southern California, she moved to the Bay Area to attend UC Berkeley. Having both studied and worked at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health, Jeanine is especially interested in issues related to health care access and reform. Her commitment to social justice grew out of her experience case working at the Suitcase Clinic, a student-run clinic that provides medical and social services to underserved communities in the East Bay. Since joining Forward Together in 2011, Jeanine has served as a liaison for the Executive Director and Deputy Director. In her free time, she can be found pursuing different hobbies, including bookbinding and baking delicious treats.
Amanda Wake, Youth Organizing Manager
amanda@forwardtogether.org
Amanda is yonsei, fourth generation Japanese American, and a third generation community organizer. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz in American Studies in 2006, where she was an active student organizer and codirector of the Engaging Education Center. She previously worked as a social worker for a mentoring program for children who have a parent in the prison system. Amanda's work at Forward Together combines two of her passions: community organizing and youth programming. She manages Forward Together's youth organizing programs that support young Asian women and men in Oakland in creating change that uplifts their families and communities. These youth bring Amanda constant inspiration and energy to keep the work moving forward.