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Case Manager | email
Community Educator | email
Camille was born in Fort Worth, Texas in the 80’s to a mixed-race mother and an African-American father. After years of heat, swimming holes and big trucks her family moved to the most unlikely of locations, the Netherlands; spending the duration of her adolescence here lead to an exposure to several immigrant and refugee communities from areas such as Afghanistan, Curacao, Angola and Indonesia. It was here she became privy to some of the pain and struggles of communities forced to negotiate direct exposure to very intimate and violent instances of war and colonialism. Above all else it was the strength and resiliency of these communities that truly inspired Camille to have a more detailed understanding of her own story as a young American woman of color in a globalized world. Camille engaged in her first civil protest in Brussels, Belgium at the age of 15 and continued a tradition of compassioned engagement as she returned to the states years later.
With a vested interest in healing and sustainable change, Camille moved from years of mobilization-activism in educational spaces to the direct service field supporting young people through violence-based traumas. Camille has worked with youth from ages 10-25 in a variety of support capacities whilst always strengthening her firm resolve that healing from violence is achieved primarily through educational and loving means. In the Bay Area for almost a decade and an avid practioner of Buddhism, Camille currently fills her time with Graduate Studies in Education with an Emphasis in Social Justice and Equity at San Francisco State University while making time for her queer family and her 7 pound Chihuahua who is affectionately named, Texas.
Office Manager | email
Frolayne began her work in social justice through a research group examining the impact of reported domestic violence in court mediation at San Diego State University. Inspired by personal stories and critical dialogue, she continued her activism through an internship at a domestic violence transitional house in San Diego, where she was later hired on as staff. She returned home to the Bay Area to work at AACI's Asian Women's Home in San Jose, a domestic violence shelter serving the Asian/Asian Pacific Islander immigrant community. She then joined SFWAR to continue her work in deconstructing a culture which promotes violence and the oppression of marginalized communites.
Frolayne sat on the board of Filipino American Coalition for Environtmental Solidarity (FACES), spearheading the Face2Face program which coordinates political/eduational trips to the Philippines. Currently an FACES advisory board member, Frolayne is now learning how to balance school, activism and motherhood. Her spunky 3 year-old daughter is a continual source of laughter, joy and life lessons.Family has been the catalyst that deepened her commitment to work toward ending oppression in all forms.
Volunteer & Hotline Associate | email
Director of Volunteers & Hotline | email
Teresa joins the staff of San Francisco Women Against Rape as the Director of Volunteers and Hotline after being a volunteer for 5 years. Initially she volunteered doing outreach and fundraising, then transitioned into medical advocacy which she still does today. She has been active in movements to end state and interpersonal violence through organizations such as the Riley Center, Free Battered Women, Challenging White Supremacy workshop, And Castro for All, and POWER. As a part of this work she organized, through workshops and discussion groups, white social justice activists to challenge white privilege and white supremacy. She believes that as a queer woman it is important for her to focus particularly on challenging racism within queer communities. In a previous life she was a big tech geek, so she used that skill to build websites for social/racial justice agencies pro-bono when she had free time. She's now a mama of two children and is working within the school system to help develop an understanding of the impact sexual assault and trauma has on children.
Development Director | email
Born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, Alma attended Fine Arts School and graduated as a Photographer. She has performed a diverse range of jobs throughout her life, from art photography to farm work, from construction to Audio Visual Tech, janitorial work to management work. She has been Bookings Coordinator for The Women's Building for the last 8 years!
She grew up in a household supported by women, giving her firsthand experience with the struggle it takes to survive as a woman in an oppressive social setting. She has also been able to witness the empowerment that self-sufficiency and mutual care does to one family and could do in a whole community.
As the latest addition to the SFWAR team, she is honored to join as the new Development Director hoping to build further the grassroots support to strengthen our effort to fulfill our mission and as a community end sexual violence.
Director of Community Initiatives | email
Bio coming soon...
Development Associate | email
Born into the birthplace of suburbia, Briana moved at the age of 18 from Long Island to San Francisco, where she attended the University of San Francisco. After mapping the city’s community gardens and acting as a (vegan) milkwoman delivering jars of local hummus to people’s doorsteps by bicycle, she received a BA in Environmental Studies. On the side, Briana studied wildlife ecology abroad in Tanzania and gained her first non-profit work experience with Akili Dada, a Kenyan women’s leadership and education organization committed to increasing representation of underprivileged women in leadership. Briana has been known to enjoy fiction from Oprah’s Book Club, make to do lists, bake anything you can put vanilla icing on, and daydream how a community can thrive without the trauma of violence.
From human trafficking to trail construction to queer politics to education, Briana has continually worked with women focused around gender based violence and oppression. She is honored and inspired to be joining the SFWAR team as Development Associate. She deeply believes in investing in a community free of sexual assault.
Director of Counseling | email
In 2001, Lisa began her journey with anti-violence work in Santa Fe, NM as a staff advocate and program director for her local rape crisis center. She worked with middle and high school youth to challenge stereotypes and behaviors that lead to all forms of violence and oppression. She organized forums to break silence and address sexual violence within Native American Pueblos in northern New Mexico and provided opportunities for both youth and adults to develop an experiential based understanding of systems of oppression, and the abuse of power and privilege that leads to violence. She later organized and facilitated groups for bi-racial young women of African descent dedicated to exploring positive body image, self-esteem, and building spiritual awareness of self.
For four meaningful years, Lisa participated in the organizing core of the People of Color Institute for Creating Change, an annual conference sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). The conference has a 28+ year history as the largest gathering of queer people of color in the country.
Lisa actively integrates her activism with music and healing work. She has organized women's singing and healing circles, and has contributed her vocal gifts to a wide range of artistic spaces including, the Vagina Monologues, Sins Invalid and Artist Against Rape.
As a New African healer, activist, educator, facilitator, vocalist, and Mother, she brings her enthusiasm, experience, and joy for healing to SFWAR as the Director of Counseling.
Executive Director | email
Janelle returns to the staff of San Francisco Women Against Rape as the incoming Executive Director. She has been active in the movement to end violence against women for over ten years working with the University of Michigan Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, the YWCA Rape Crisis Program of Greater New Orleans, INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, the Hate Crimes Project of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans, and as Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Orleans (UNO) and Director of the UNO Women's Center. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan. Her doctoral work examines US based Black women's mobilization to confront sexual and domestic violence. She is excited to once again be connected to community based organizing efforts to challenge violence against women.
