Staff Bios
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Central Management

Julie Castro Abrams – Chief Executive Officer
Julie Castro Abrams is a national leader in microfinance and women’s issues. Following a 20-year nonprofit career in Chicago, Julie joined Women’s Initiative for Self Employment as CEO in 2001. As CEO, she led the transition of Women’s Initiative from a founder-led organization to a rapidly growing non-profit. Under her leadership, the organization has expanded throughout the Bay Area, increasing the number of women served tenfold. In addition, Julie has led the creation and implementation of significant new services which contribute to the success of entrepreneurs and economic growth in the communities served. During her tenure, Women’s Initiative has been recognized by the Urban Institute Best Practices Foundation, the Equal Rights Advocates and Cisco Innovation in Technology, among others. Julie has served on the Board of the California Association for Microenterprise Opportunity (CAMEO), on the OneCalifornia Bank Advisory board and is a highly sought after speaker and expert on microenterprise in the U.S. She is the recipient of the League of Women Voter’s “Women Who Could Be President” Award, SBA Advocate of the year 2009, Human Rights Award from the Commission on the Status of Women, the Women of Color Action Network Award, and the Trailblazers Award for Community Leadership from Leadership California’s Legacy of Leadership awards. Prior to her work at Women’s Initiative, Julie served as Deputy Director and Director of Development and Marketing at Chicago’s Merit School of Music. Julie’s previous positions include Director of Development at Community Christian Alternative Academy and principal at the Catalyst Group consulting firm. She has also held positions with the Illinois Pro-Choice Alliance, the Chicago Department of Health, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Julie studied for her masters degree in Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago and she has a BA in Human Development and Social Policy from the school of Education at Northwestern University. She currently lives in Novato with her husband and two children.

Elizabeth de Renzy – Researcher and Data Analyst
Elizabeth de Renzy joined Women’s Initiative in August 2007 with nine years of quantitative and qualitative social science research experience. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, she returned last year after over 12 years in Germany. As a graduate student at the University of Bielefeld in Germany she has led seminars on statistics and quantitative social science research methodologies and has worked as a Research Assistant in international research projects on credit unions, working conditions for women in the financial and retail sector and on financial regulation. As Researcher and Data Analyst in the Research and Public Policy department at Women’s Initiative, she is optimizing the research and reporting so the agency can look at the effectiveness of services and understand clients’ needs. She holds an MA in Sociology.

Elizabeth Lanyon – Grant Writer, San Francisco and North Bay Region
Elizabeth moved West shortly after graduating from college in Vermont, to pursue a career that would combine her passion for writing and a desire to serve the community. She started working at a small youth serving non-profit and realized that her skills were much better fit for fundraising. Elizabeth began grant writing to raise funds for a youth garden, and her experience grew from there to secure contributions from foundations, the private sector and government - to provide people with opportunity to achieve their dreams. She joined Women’s Initiative in November 2010 as a Grant Writer, working with the development team to engage the community in our mission to support women entrepreneurs in their path for achieving self sufficiency. She is a member of the Multi Cultural Alliance – a branch of the Association of Fundraising Professionals – learning alongside other development professionals and sharing best practices. Elizabeth received her B.A. in English from Green Mountain College in Vermont and an A.A. Professional Degree in Marketing from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco. She lives in Berkeley and enjoys practicing yoga, exploring the East Bay via bicycle and tending to her garden.

Ellen Snook – Marketing Communications Director
After 20 years working for various advertising agencies and public relations firms, Ellen joined Women's Initiative in 2008 as the Marketing Communications Director. She oversees all marketing activities for the agency including messaging and branding, website development, ongoing communications, media outreach, material development, and event management. Her previous experience includes work in Chicago, Washington DC and San Francisco, managing public relations and marketing for various clients including Pillsbury, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, KPMG, and Nestle. Ellen holds a B.A. in English from Grinnell College. She lives in Oakland with her husband and two beautiful children.

Diana Weston – Senior Grant Writer
Diana Weston shifted her career focus eight years ago from working in the for-profit arena of Finance to the human services, nonprofit world focusing on grant writing and development. Diana started at Women's Initiative for Sef-Employment in October 2010 in th eOakland office serving women of the Bay Area. Diana is excited to be part of the WI grants team, sharing the vision of Women's Initiative, communicating its successes and engaging the community in our mission to support women entrepreneurs in their path for achieving self sufficiency. Diana's expertise's are in writing and reporting for private and corporate foundations, city, county, state and federal grants, relationship development and fundraising events. This is Diana's fourth year as a co-facilitator for Grant Writers Anxiety Support Program (GASP) and is excited to help and support new and intermediate grant writers. Diana is also on the Board of Directors for Development Executives Roundtable (dersf.org) and Angels of Choices. Diana volunteers her time co-facilitating the Children's Group for Angels of Choices, a new non-profit that supports families with addiction issues in San Mateo County. Diana has her Bachelors of Arts in Humanities and Psychology from New College of California. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her family, friends and her doggie Bandito!

San Francisco and North Bay Region

Nicole Levine –Executive Director, San Francisco
Nicole Levine has more than 20 years experience in the Bay Area private and nonprofit sectors, with a special focus on economic development. She has a long history with the Women’s Initiative including serving as a volunteer, program assistant and business trainer at different times in her career. Her professional background includes serving as the interim executive director for Urban Solutions and the Oakland Ballet, and executive director for Wardrobe for Opportunity. She also spent four years providing microloans and business assistance at OBDC Small Business Finance. Leveraging her experience in the nonprofit sector, she has worked with HP, Agilent and Chevron to strengthen their community and grant making programs. Nicole earned an MBA from UC Davis and is honored to be on the advisory board of the Bay Area Women’s and Children’s Resource Center, a Tenderloin nonprofit where she has been volunteering since she was a teenager.

Sofia Campos – Client Services Coordinator for San Francisco
Sofia joined Women’s Initiative in 2008 where she currently develops a wide range of social welfare and outreach programs for underserved and immigrant communities throughout Northern California. These programs focus to enable the clients of Women’s Initiative to advance their business ideas. Sofia received her Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from the Jesuit University ITESO in Guadalajara in 2002. As part of an International Studies program she spent a year abroad at the University of Cordoba in Argentina. After graduating she worked with the Mexican International Cultural Festival to globally promote and create cultural awareness of the people of Latin America and their heritage. After moving to San Francisco in 2003 she worked at the Mexican Consulate as Education Liaison for the Institute of Mexican Abroad Program funded by the Mexican Government.She came to Women’s Initiative with over six years of experience serving in education, public service, and management positions, and continues to make valuable contributions both to the organization and its clients.

East Bay Region

Thais Rezende – Executive Director, East Bay Region
Thais has more than 10 years of experience in the non-profit world. She joined Women’s Initiative in 2005 as client services coordinator and quickly moved to managing this area. Within few years she became the Program Director at Women’s Initiative and lead the agency’s expansion efforts into Contra Costa, Marin County, and the Silicon Valley. She was also the lead developer of the successful post-training program “SuccessLink” which has propelled client businesses into the next level. During her tenure as Program Director the agency tripled the number of women it had served since it’s foundation. In 2009 Thais became the executive director in San Francisco and Marin county and after coming from her maternity leave she took the same position in the East Bay. Thais came to Women's Initiative with many years of experience in the non-profit arena, working as Public Relations Manager in her native Mexico where she helped open three virtual libraries and consistently provided services to more than 300 homeless children. She moved to the Bay Area, 14 years ago, and worked for the Mexican Consulate as part of The Mexican Communities Abroad Team where she helped implement and develop health, educational and business trade programs. Her background includes journalism work both in TV and print. She holds a B.A. in International Relations from her native Mexico and is fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.

Molly Frandsen – Client Services Coordinator
Molly joined Women’s Initiative in September 2011 as a Policy and Research Fellow, where she conducted interviews with ALAS clients and developed an online guide for starting a home-based child care business. She assumed the Client Services Coordinator position in January 2012 and is excited to interact with the clients. Molly graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Bachelor’s degree in Feminist Studies and Spanish in June 2011. During her time at university, she interned at a Rape Crisis Center and a Labor Union. She spent a semester abroad in Santiago, Chile, where she taught computer classes at a women’s organization. These experiences confirmed Molly’s dedication to forwarding economic justice for women, and this led her to Women’s Initiative.

Christiane Gonzalez – SuccessLink Specialist in Alameda County
Christiane comes to Women’s Initiative with three years of Change Management experience, working as Strategic Change Management Consultant in Price Waterhouse Coopers in Mexico City. When she moved to the Bay Area in 2000, she worked for the Consulate General of Mexico as part of The Mexican Communities Abroad Team as a International Trade Liaison where she leaded and coordinated different international trade mission trips, a group of Mexican, Latino and US entrepreneurs of the SF Bay Area to be part of a Mexico City Meeting of Hispanic Market networking of North America. She also worked for Vinos and Gournet, Inc., as their Operations Manager. Christiane holds a B.A. Business Management with emphasis in International Business from ITESM University.

Trainers/Consultants

Meet our trainers! Front Row: (left to right): Meredith Mehlberg, Sandra Murillo, Shannon Penn, and Gonzalo Martinez Metzler. Middle Row: (left to right): Marisela Barbosa, Norma Martinez Rubin, Suraiya Ahmed, and Maria Lo Valvo. Back Row: (left to right): Diana Estrada, Nika Quirk, Tonya Jenkins, Lorrie Williams, and Yolanda Butler. Not pictured: Karen Auguste, Jayne Speich, Carolyn Johnson, Milagros Acosta, Claudia Medina, and Susana Gama.

Meet our master trainers & consultants! (left to right): Nika Quirk, Sandra Murillo, and Shannon Penn

Lisa Cohen - Small Business Trainer and Consultant - San Jose, CA
Lisa Cohen has been a small business owner since 1997 and joined Women's Initiative in 2009. As a Small Business Trainer, she helps clients in various industries define a business idea, identify a target market, discover their break-even point, project their sales and cash flow, understand their competitive market climate, develop a pricing strategy and get out of their own way. Lisa is a certified HP LIFE Trainer, offering seminars to bridge the gap between business concepts and technology. Her warmth and professionalism make her a perpetual client favorite. Once the owner of small restaurants in Michigan, she is well-versed in the different aspects of the food and restaurant industries. Today, Lisa provides consulting for restaurants looking to streamline operations or develop methods for operational objectives. In addition to restaurants Lisa enjoys the real estate industry and has been developing, managing, and operating residential rental properties across multiple states since 2003. She is passionate about entrepreneurship and is confident that women business owners are the catalyst for community growth and economic change.

Sandra Murillo-Brucker – Senior ALAS Trainer
Sandra Murillo is a small business owner with an extensive background in finance and insurance. A former ALAS client, Sandra started her own insurance agency, MUR Insurance Services, in 1999. Sandra has broad business experience in sales, prospecting, customer and public relations, training and presentations, marketing, financial planning and loans. Sandra has built a strong reputation both nationally and internationally for her business start up acumen and for her work with Latinas in business. She is a frequent speaker on panels and in trade relations with Mexico. Sandra has built extensive networks that bring personal and professional growth to the women she serves at Women’s Initiative. In particular, Sandra brokers media exposure for women starting businesses. She is fluent in Spanish and has B.A. degrees in Industrial Psychology and Elementary Teaching from Mexico. Sandra is a licensed insurance broker in the State of California.

Gonzalo Martinez-Metzler – Small Business Trainer
Mr. Martinez-Metzler has over twenty years experience in the fields of urban planning, socio-economic development, labor relations and economic analysis in the United States and Latin America. He has managed and coordinated culturally diverse and multidisciplinary teams. His past experiences include financial management of internationally funded projects for the government of El Salvador, cooperative strategic planning for city governments, non-profit organizations and for profit enterprises. Mr. Martinez-Metzler has also extensive experience in teaching urban and regional planning, business planning, economics and quantitative literacy in English and Spanish. Mr. Martinez-Metzler earned two master degrees in Economics and Community and Regional Planning from the University of New Mexico.

Karen L. Auguste - Small Business Trainer
Karen has over 20 years of business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing communications experience. 12 years were spent in leadership roles in marketing communications working for Fortune 500 technology companies. The last eight years have been spent consulting with small businesses, non-profit organizations and minority associations to develop their advertising, public relations, graphic design, and event management programs. In addition, she teaches a series of marketing classes to entrepreneurs at the Renaissance Center in San Francisco. With a certificate from San Jose State’s marketing communications program, a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems Management from the University of San Francisco, and an MBA from the University of San Francisco, she has acquired the experience and education in business and technology that combines contemporary marketing principles with current business best practices; all with an emphasis on creating an effective, strategic plan that delivers measurable results.

Luis Nanez - Small Business Trainer
Luis Nanez is a small business owner with background in business administration, business Organization, and technology. He has over 18 years of experience running his LJN Services - Maintenance and Janitorial business since 1992. He studied Business Administration in San Marcos University in Lima, Peru. He worked in the data and statistic department for “Bolivariana Distributor”, a nationwide magazine distributor in Lima, Peru. He was a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Committee in Petaluma, California (2006). Luis has vast experience in sales, marketing and personal empowerment. He likes to educate his community by connecting with other non profits, city agencies to offer presentations to the Hispanic community in subjects such as: Financial Literacy, How to prepare a home budget and how personal credit works in the U.S. He believes everyone has the ability to succeed; they just need a helping hand to discover their potentials. Luis is also a licensed real estate agent in the state of California since 1999.

Nika N. Quirk, MBA – Small Business Trainer and Consultant
As a small business coach, consultant, and trainer at Women’s Initiative, Nika is a proven catalyst for insightful change and forward momentum for the agency’s clients. Women’s Initiative also benefits from her work developing programs. Nika has owned her own coaching and consulting business since 2002, after a 25 year career in the corporate world. In addition to an MBA from the University of Phoenix and an undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Human Resource Management from Oakland’s Holy Names University, Nika completed coach-training coursework at Coaches Training Institute in San Rafael and holds a Certificate in Training and Human Resource Development from UC Berkeley Extension. She is a Certified Small Business Advisor with The One Page Business Plan Company®. Currently, she’s engaged in a Ph.D. program in Humanities with a focus on Transformative Learning and Change.

Shannon Penn - Small Business Trainer/Consultant
Trained as a social worker turned business woman, Shannon Penn has extensive finance and marketing experience she brings to the classes she trains. If you need help with your cash flow and budgets Shannon will make you think you showed up to the world’s best party. Shannon holds an MSW and has an extensive repertoire of business connections and clients.

Susana Gama - Small Business Trainer
Susana obtained a BA in Business Administration in Mexico and offers extensive experience in the following areas: More than 20 years experience in Business Development and Business Banking. Acted as a Financial Counselor for micro business and medium size businesses in Mexico. Assisted in the implementation and development of a new program with the Chamber of Commerce and BNCI (National Bank of Interior Commerce) to help new and small businesses to obtain new lines of credit by submitting Credit and Tax Analysis to the decision makers. Successfully opened her own business in Mexico, before she came to U.S. Susana is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Yolanda Y. Butler – Small Business Trainer/Consultant
Yolanda has been an entrepreneur for 15 years and graduated in Business Administration from California State University, Hayward. She is alumni to Leadership Oakland (1991) and Oakland City Management Academy (1998). She has sat on various boards from Community Development Block Grant District IV to her most recent appointment in 2004, Contra Costa County Library Commissioner, District V. She brings a wealth of business resources, experience and contacts for new and growing businesses. She holds a certificate in Meeting and Event Planning from San Francisco State University. Although new to Women’s Initiative, she has served as a trainer/consultant for over 10 years. She is a known for her “creativity” in the training industry.

Jayne Hillman – Small Business Trainer/Consultant
Jayne has spent over 20 years as both an entrepreneur and early stage business development consultant to and with a wide range of businesses and organizations in both the private and non-profit sectors.  In this time, Jayne has consulted and coached hundreds of entrepreneurs in both the product and service industries in their effort to successfully acquire financing for and develop a sustainable business plan for their start-up or expanding businesses. As an entrepreneur, Jayne’s passion has been in working with and developing mission-driven companies focused on the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) sector.  This has included senior leadership roles at a leading natural foods company (Fantasia Fresh Juice Company), a community-focused yoga studio (Yoga Sangha), an eco-friendly nutritional supplement company (Zenergize). Whether applied in the private or non-profit sector, Jayne’s success has come from her ability to bring real world knowledge of starting up and expanding businesses to entrepreneurs seeking the know-how, the coaching and the capital to secure their success … and doing so with a personal commitment and integrity that both values and inspires the people she works with.  

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