News

Meet Community Leader, Mayrose Munar, Known For Making A Difference!

Q: Please share with us your how career path started?MM: It was never a conscious decision where I sat down and planned my education then arrived at this destination. Opportunities were presented, and I jumped at the chance. I would say it was 20% luck, 30% intuition, and 50% hard work. My first job was with a Honolulu law firm in loan transactions and real estate. The Internet began to take shape around this time and after two years I moved to the San Fra..

Meet Marina Shiferman, Real Estate Agent for Zephyr Real Estate

Q: How long have you been in the Real Estate business?MS: 6 yearsQ: Can you share with us how your career started in Real Estate?MS: The first thing that attracted me towards the real estate business was the flexibility of the schedule and the opportunity to be my own boss. After I got into the business my career really started after a few months of really hustling and working, I had to build my client base out of nothing, so I had my work cut out for me. ..

Meet Lia Izenberg, Founding Executive Director of OneGoal

Q: After receiving your bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan … how did Stanford University land on your radar for your master’s degree?LI: Ultimately, I decided that I wanted two things: assess my career to that point and where I wanted to go and also learn more about what didn’t know about educational inequity.I chose Stanford because I wanted to do an interdisciplinary program. The POLS (Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies) program ..

Meet Music for Minors Executive Director Sonja Wohlgemuth

Q: Tell us about your nonprofit and what you all do.SW: Music for Minors partners with schools and school districts to ensure that elementary music is part of children’s well-rounded education. In the current school year we are reaching 25,000 students in 68 schools throughout Silicon Valley, providing over 900 classes every week. We are committed to providing access for all, and that means serving under-resourced schools and communities where both the cha..

Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Champion For Equality & Women’s Rights

Q: Growing up, did you know you wanted to be a Politician?Congresswoman Speier: I worked on my first political campaign when I was 16, and I was hooked from that moment on. I later interned in Congressman Leo Ryan’s office, and then returned to his office to work for him after I finished law school. It was after our fateful trip to Guyana, where Congressman Ryan was assassinated, and I was shot, that I decided to dedicate my life to public service. I dist..

Meet Maria Pappas, Vice President of Development at The Tech Museum

Q: Tell us about your time working with the American Heart Association?MP: The AHA was a great training ground. I had an incredible experience and learned so much while I was there. My first two years were in the LA office, then I came back to the Bay Area where I was originally from. After about 6 years, I was promoted to Executive Director here in Silicon Valley. Then I had my first child and made a tough decision to go part-time. Stepping out of the ED ..

Meet Celeste Perry, Host KOFY TV & DJ 98.5 FM KFOX

Q: What was it like moving to the Bay Area from Honolulu?CP: I came to a different kind of paradise in San Francisco. While I love the beaches, the landscape and aloha spirit of the Islands, I wanted to try my luck in a major radio market. San Francisco was the perfect spot for me, and like Hawaii, the cost of living in San Francisco was high, so it immediately felt like home.  Q: How did you get your first media job … as a chicken?CP: I was an unpaid inte..

A Conversations with Katie Jacobs Stanton, CMO of Color & Former Vice President of Global Media at Twitter

Q: Can you share with us your experience working at the White House and State Department?KJS: Working in the Obama Administration was the honor of a lifetime. At the White House, I served as the Director of Citizen Participation, trying to make it easier for citizens to engage with the government using digital platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. At the State Department, I worked in the Office of Innovation, helping the government use..

Meet Aja Aguirre, Luxury Property Specialist at Pacific Union International, Oakland & Montclair

Q: How long have you been in the Real Estate business?AA: Long enough to be a member of The Oakland/Berkeley Association of REALTORS® Young Professionals Network (YPN)! It’s a special committee that works hard to welcome and support those who are new to our uniquely competitive and dynamic East Bay market … through exciting networking events that are genuinely fun to attend, and help the community achieve success with local resources and proven tools. This..

Meet Candace Hirleman Archer, Vice President, Audience Development at Disney ABC Television Group, ABC7 KGO-TV

Q: Tell us about your position as Vice President of Audience Development at ABC7?CH: My job is about creating a relationship with audiences. Like any good relationship … sure, we want you to like us, but what we really need is your loyalty. I have the privilege of leading an amazing team of creative producers, marketers, and designers as we develop and share ABC7’s brand story. Our team’s purpose is to build awareness and loyalty by both elevating our cont..

Meet Valerie Aliwarga, Real Estate Professional at Compass – San Francisco

Q: You moved around quite a bit in your early years, what was that like?VA: I was born in Indonesia and have an international family, which has allowed me the opportunity to travel and learn new cultures around the globe. We moved back to the states to live with my mother's family … when my parents divorced, I traveled the world. It was difficult to constantly be the “new girl” until I learned to accept the blessing and opportunity of meeting new people. ..

Meet Megan Micco, Broker Associate at Compass, East Bay

Q: Your career started out in luxury jewelry design and sales. Tell us how you found this career path?MM: My brother-in-law from my first marriage was a luxury jewelry designer based in Paris. I had recently graduated from UC Berkeley and was pondering my career direction. He asked me to help him with product placement for his Art Nouveau Jewelry line. I was recruited by the owner of the jewelry store and the rest is history.Q: You also worked in the lega..

Meet Lynn Reid, Real Estate Professional at Compass Real Estate, San Francisco

Q: How many years did you live in Cape Town South Africa? What was it like?LR: I was born in Cape Town and lived there until I was 32 years old when I immigrated to the USA and was lucky enough to land in Marin County. As a child, Cape Town was a fantastic place to live. It was very beautiful and easy to get around with good schools and lazy days on the beach. As I grew older and began my career as a social worker, I became more aware of the gross racial ..

Meet Amy Levins, Broker – Associate at Compass, San Francisco

Q: You spent the early part of your career working in New York … tell us a little bit about your experience living and working in the Big Apple?AL: Working and living in New York City was a great experience for me. Being a San Francisco native and a graduate of UCLA, I adjusted easily to the east coast city life. Soon into my Public Relations career, I became aware of my entrepreneurial drive. I realized one way to be successful at an agency was to develop..

Meet Ariel Vincent, Realtor at Park North Real Estate

Q: How long have you been in the Real Estate business?AV: I’ve been in the business a little over 2 years. Q: Tell us how your career started in Real Estate?AV: I started working for a furnished rental startup in San Francisco called HomeSuite. I was a leasing agent there and transitioned into a few other roles within the company before I came into residential sales full time. Q: What geographic areas and types of properties do you handle?AV: I handle al..

Meet Maria Medina, News Anchor at  KPIX 5, CBS 

Q: How did your career start as news anchor? MM: I actually started delivering the news when I was in eighth grade! I love saying that. My first job was delivering newspapers … I actually wanted to be a newspaper reporter. But then a TV station had me on its morning show when I was in my last year of college and the anchors told me I should try TV news and offered me an internship … I was hooked. Sometimes I would spend 16 hours a day in the newsroom just ..