Flowering Hope interns!
Flowering Hope would like to welcome Sareesha Nile! Sareesha is entering her Senior year in the fall at University of Victoria, B.C. in Canada. With a focus interest on youth, Sareesha has been instrumental in working with Flowering Hope to develop a Female Youth Health and Hiking Program, which we will be launching in July. The program, created to align with Flowering Hope’s mission, incorporates hiking, art, and an outdoor classroom approach to discussions and information centered around healthy relationships, personal and sexual health, and self-empowerment for teen girls. Welcome Sareesha! |
The Board
As we grow and become more established entering into our third year, Flowering Hope is actively looking to now transition from the Kitchen Table Board by recruiting new Board Members representing a broad range of skills and backgrounds. If you are passionate about women, girls, gender equality, gender equity, fundraising, hiking, art, or technology please inquire about Board openings at info@floweringhope.org.
Mary Ann Ellison, Board President
Mary Ann is also the Founder and Executive Director of Flowering Hope. She holds an LLM in US Legal Studies from Golden Gate University, an LLB from University of Auckland, a B.S. Finance from Arizona State University, and a CA Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential from San Francisco State University. She has worked with women and girls for her entire personal and professional careers, whether as an employer to rural women and teen girls, an elementary school teacher, a CASA volunteer, or a mother of daughters. Areas of legal research have included the Best Interests of the Child standard as applied to Children of Incarcerated Women; Best Interests of the Child as applied to Dependency Court Proceedings; and Teen Pregnancy and Public Policy. She is passionate about gender equality and equity and knows that gender-based violence is a barrier to truly achieving these goals.
Aileen Frances Joy, Secretary
A graduate of UC Santa Cruz, Aileen has worked with several community organizations (alternately as volunteer, intern, and staff member), focusing on issues as diverse as mental health, sustainable agriculture and publishing. She had worked for a multicultural women's press and currently works as Office Manager for Tenants Together and is pursuing her Masters Degree in Comparative Literature at San Francisco State University.
Chris Ellison, Treasurer
As a graduate in Physics from Waikato University (New Zealand) and B.Commerce from University of Auckland, Chris has worked as an economic advisor to Tonga, an economist in New Zealand, a venture capitalist in San Francisco, and as a New Zealand dairy farmer. He has sat on the Board of both nonprofit and corporate organizations, in the United States and in New Zealand.
Chris currently resides with his wife and daughters in California and runs the farms virtually, spending a total of 3-4 months/year onsite in New Zealand. He is also beloved "house dad" to daughters, epitomizing the ultimate role model of utmost respect to all women, girls, and daughters.
Lina Malova, Cultural and International Advisor
Lina is a graduate of International Relations from San Francisco State University. She has worked as an intern for 5WCW building a database and as a Fellow for the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women (SFCSOW). In March 2013, Lina participated in SFCSOW panel discussions at the 57th Commission on the Status of Women, in New York, attending as a delegate to WIN (Women's Intercultural Network). There, she presented her unique micro-finance business model, Merry-Go-Round, demonstrating how a small self-generated community loan can have a significant impact on low income women. Through Merry-Go-Round, women from Lina's home community were able to create a jewelry line which is sold through Malaika International Jewelry. The profits from jewelry sales made it possible for the women to build a borehole (well) in their village enabling easy access to water.
Christina Clark, Clinical Health Advisor
Originally from the UK, Tina received her BA in Nursing from Northumbria University. After moving to the Bay Area over 25 years ago, Tina earned her MSN, Family Practice from UCSF. Through her extensive career in specialized nursing, Tina was Co-Director of the HIV Team for Correctional Medicine Consultation through UCSF Correctional Medicine for 6 years, providing specialty consultation to the California prison system through telemedicine and on site visits. Tina was most recently a Board member of Project Open Hand, San-Francisco-based organization providing home delivered meals, groceries and nutrition counseling to people living with HIV/AIDS.
Currently, Tina works as a Nurse Practitioner and Residency Instructor for the UCSF Nursing School at Glide Health Services, a clinic in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district.
Kim Chegwin-Juarez, Physical Health Advisor
Kim is the founder of Team LOLA (Living Our Lives Actively), a Northern California company which offers nutrition education, running and fitness programs throughout the Bay Area. The mission of LOLA is to guide people to a healthier well-being by bringing people together to improve their health, accomplish goals, and be a part of a community. Kim has a been a featured nutrition and fitness contributor to books, television, radio and newspapers.
Kim holds a B.S. Nutrition from San Jose State University, and is also a busy mother while remaining actively involved in her community.
Mary Ann Ellison, Board President
Mary Ann is also the Founder and Executive Director of Flowering Hope. She holds an LLM in US Legal Studies from Golden Gate University, an LLB from University of Auckland, a B.S. Finance from Arizona State University, and a CA Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential from San Francisco State University. She has worked with women and girls for her entire personal and professional careers, whether as an employer to rural women and teen girls, an elementary school teacher, a CASA volunteer, or a mother of daughters. Areas of legal research have included the Best Interests of the Child standard as applied to Children of Incarcerated Women; Best Interests of the Child as applied to Dependency Court Proceedings; and Teen Pregnancy and Public Policy. She is passionate about gender equality and equity and knows that gender-based violence is a barrier to truly achieving these goals.
Aileen Frances Joy, Secretary
A graduate of UC Santa Cruz, Aileen has worked with several community organizations (alternately as volunteer, intern, and staff member), focusing on issues as diverse as mental health, sustainable agriculture and publishing. She had worked for a multicultural women's press and currently works as Office Manager for Tenants Together and is pursuing her Masters Degree in Comparative Literature at San Francisco State University.
Chris Ellison, Treasurer
As a graduate in Physics from Waikato University (New Zealand) and B.Commerce from University of Auckland, Chris has worked as an economic advisor to Tonga, an economist in New Zealand, a venture capitalist in San Francisco, and as a New Zealand dairy farmer. He has sat on the Board of both nonprofit and corporate organizations, in the United States and in New Zealand.
Chris currently resides with his wife and daughters in California and runs the farms virtually, spending a total of 3-4 months/year onsite in New Zealand. He is also beloved "house dad" to daughters, epitomizing the ultimate role model of utmost respect to all women, girls, and daughters.
Lina Malova, Cultural and International Advisor
Lina is a graduate of International Relations from San Francisco State University. She has worked as an intern for 5WCW building a database and as a Fellow for the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women (SFCSOW). In March 2013, Lina participated in SFCSOW panel discussions at the 57th Commission on the Status of Women, in New York, attending as a delegate to WIN (Women's Intercultural Network). There, she presented her unique micro-finance business model, Merry-Go-Round, demonstrating how a small self-generated community loan can have a significant impact on low income women. Through Merry-Go-Round, women from Lina's home community were able to create a jewelry line which is sold through Malaika International Jewelry. The profits from jewelry sales made it possible for the women to build a borehole (well) in their village enabling easy access to water.
Christina Clark, Clinical Health Advisor
Originally from the UK, Tina received her BA in Nursing from Northumbria University. After moving to the Bay Area over 25 years ago, Tina earned her MSN, Family Practice from UCSF. Through her extensive career in specialized nursing, Tina was Co-Director of the HIV Team for Correctional Medicine Consultation through UCSF Correctional Medicine for 6 years, providing specialty consultation to the California prison system through telemedicine and on site visits. Tina was most recently a Board member of Project Open Hand, San-Francisco-based organization providing home delivered meals, groceries and nutrition counseling to people living with HIV/AIDS.
Currently, Tina works as a Nurse Practitioner and Residency Instructor for the UCSF Nursing School at Glide Health Services, a clinic in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district.
Kim Chegwin-Juarez, Physical Health Advisor
Kim is the founder of Team LOLA (Living Our Lives Actively), a Northern California company which offers nutrition education, running and fitness programs throughout the Bay Area. The mission of LOLA is to guide people to a healthier well-being by bringing people together to improve their health, accomplish goals, and be a part of a community. Kim has a been a featured nutrition and fitness contributor to books, television, radio and newspapers.
Kim holds a B.S. Nutrition from San Jose State University, and is also a busy mother while remaining actively involved in her community.
