Associate Director of Development & Operations

Thais has been involved in several social justice causes for many years: urban poverty and homelessness, food deserts, and child poverty. She is currently part of a homeless resources center, a community garden, and a children’s ministry. Through this labor of love, Thais has assisted unhoused individuals to obtain resources and nutritional foods, and secured school supplies for children in her community. 

Workers spend a great deal of time at their places of employment and Thais believes that that time spent should not be detrimental to the employees’ health and life chances. Thais fundamentally believes in the humanity of all workers, regardless of hierarchical structures. As such, she has advocated for equal pay for equal work, safety at the workplace, and has implemented anti-harassment and grievance processes so that workers feel safe in their work environments.

Executive Director

Stephen has a deep background as an advocate for social and economic justice – his career has been dedicated to work on economic inequality, affordable housing, refugees, and the environment. He was founding attorney with the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, helping to win asylum protection for individuals fleeing gender-based violence. Stephen has also worked to defend low-income tenants at the National Housing Law Project and fought for environmental progress with Save the Bay. Most recently he led the large policy team at Alameda County Community Food Bank, including successful community advocacy to support increases in Supplemental Security Income and the California Earned Income Tax Credit, and advancing the organization’s work on equity and inclusion.

Stephen’s professional path was shaped by his involvement with social movements in college (supporting Yale workers striking for equal pay and advancing the university's divestment from apartheid South Africa) and law school (volunteering while at UC Hastings with Ralph Abascal at California Rural Legal Assistance to overturn the anti-immigrant Proposition 187). Stephen lives in Berkeley with his partner of over 30 years; they have two children.

Director of Policy and Legal Services

Nicole was previously the 2010 - 2012 Ruth Chance Law Fellow with Equal Rights Advocates in San Francisco. Focusing primarily on ERA’s marginalized women worker campaign, she assisted low-wage, monolingual Spanish-speaking Latina clients with legal issues ranging from pregnancy discrimination to wage and hour disputes.

Nicole attended the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law, where she was co-president of the Latino Law Student Association and recipient of the Colorado Supreme Court Diversity Fellowship, serving as Legal Fellow to Colorado Supreme Court Justice Martinez.  She was also a legal intern with California Rural Legal Assistance, where she participated in field monitoring to ensure grower compliance with labor laws and health and safety standards, California/Federal OSHA health and safety standards, No Child Left Behind Act, and Department of Labor regulations on H-2 A seasonal guest workers.

Director of Communications & Research

Mara is a public health researcher and advocate whose work focuses on the intersection of health and labor. Her interest in occupational health developed during her years in the grocery industry – first as a grocery worker and later as a human resources rep managing workers’ compensation claims. As a graduate student at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Mara studied occupational health inequities, completed fieldwork with the Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP), and worked as a Research Assistant with the UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH). 

Mara is inspired by critical public health perspectives that centralize the social and economic determinants of health. She is committed to research justice paradigms and has more than six years of experience carrying out participatory and action-oriented research. She honed these skills while working with DataCenter, Research Action Design, and Human Impact Partners – collaborating with labor unions, worker centers, and community-based organizations including the Los Angeles Black Worker Center, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Justice for Families. Mara's background in journalism and experience in independent media collectives informs her approach to communications.

Occupational & Environmental Health Specialist

Maggie has 30 years of experience in occupational safety and health, primarily for or with unions, including the Service Employees International Union, the California Labor Federation, and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. She has worked as an advocate, educator, and curriculum developer with unions and allied NGOs. A common thread of her work is to assure workers’ voices shape the Workplace Safety program in their workplaces, and in creating and implementing public policy related to this.

Maggie wrote a book entitled A Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety. She has worked as a research coordinator for the University of California at San Francisco, Ergonomics Program. She also has experience as a union member, officer, and board member.

Chief of Staff & Equity

Jora is an attorney specializing in employment/labor law and has worked for over 20 years to advance social justice issues affecting marginalized populations. From 1991 to 1996, she worked alongside students and organizers to assist and organize workers in Maquiladora factories, created the first Asian American women's feminist conference and UCSD’s first women of color in activism class, and worked in coalition with students and faculty to petition for a fully funded UCSD’s Women’s Center.

During law school, Jora served as an Equal Justice Fund Fellow for Bay Area Legal Aid, and also clerked at the East Bay Community Law Center and the USF Street Law Program. Following law school, she worked for the law firm of Berg & Parker, LLP. From 2002 to 2005, she worked at Employment Lawyers Group with Robert Lazo, a plaintiff’s side employment and labor law firm. In 2005, Jora formed her own law firm, engaging in civil rights litigation and social justice oriented advocacy work in partnership with other law firms. While in private practice, Jora served as the Program Director for the East Bay VIP Mentors, Inc., assisting youth transitioning out of the California Youth Authority (CYA) and a pro bono staff attorney for the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL).

In 2010, Jora returned to the non-profit world by joining Equal Rights Advocates (ERA) as their Senior Staff Attorney where she was a part of the litigation team for Dukes v. Walmart and Mansourian v. UC Regents. She also served as the Campaign Leader for ERA’s Marginalized Women Worker Campaign.

Both before and during her legal career, Jora has shared her passion for social justice through artistic endeavors. Her experiences include touring the country as the Artistic Director of a guerrilla theater troupe, competing on the Berkeley and Oakland slam poetry circuit while in law school, and serving as a Board Member and performer with liquidFire.

Office Manager

Joan comes to Worksafe with more than 20 years of experience doing bookkeeping and administrative work for nonprofits and small businesses. She has worn many hats throughout her career and enjoys the challenge of helping small organizations build internal capacity. Most recently, she put her organizational and people skills to good use working for a nonprofit housing organization that supports people with developmental disabilities and other special needs.

Born and raised in the East Bay, Joan is a firm believer in the power of giving back to her community and is a long-standing volunteer with local schools and programs. When not working she enjoys doing genealogical research and hiking with her family. Joan believes strongly in people being treated fairly, equitably, and with respect. She is proud to be a part of an organization that champions the right to work in a safe and healthy environment.

Staff Attorney

Karín attended University of Pittsburgh School of Law where she founded the Latin American Law Students Association, reviving and rebuilding a prior organization. As President, she organized panels to engage the community by collaborating with student groups and attorneys from the Pittsburgh Area. 

Also, Karín was a recipient of the GE Global Law and Policy Diversity scholarship and attended a conference receiving training on cultural competency, humility, and implicit bias. She also received a tuition-free scholarship to complete a Healthcare Compliance certification at Seton Hall Law School where she learned how organizations develop appropriate procedures and protocols to comply with regulations.

Outside of school, Karín assisted Spanish-speakers in the Baltimore community access healthcare resources. Her interest in occupational health began when she was introduced to a Latino and immigration advocacy-and-assistance organization where she learned about quality of life issues facing workers. She is interested in evaluating the intersection between work and the social determinants of health.