[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”50px”][vc_raw_html][/vc_raw_html][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

April Siruno

Chief of Staff
NaFFAA

Born in a suburb of Detroit and raised in Caribou, Maine, Mrs. Siruno expresses her love for the environment as a customer service specialist in the outdoor industry. April has consulted for Oliver-Zhang Law doing business development, marketing, and operations. She previously worked as the communications and social media specialist at the Migration Policy Institute, an independent nonprofit nonpartisan think tank in DC. She obtained her MBA from Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business in 2012, where she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Leadership Development Program for Minority Managers. April has a BA in Sociology and Politics with a concentration in Asian American Studies from Mount Holyoke College, where she helped rebuild District 2 of the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue (FIND, Inc.), and an alumnae of the Commission of Filipinos Overseas Lakbay-Aral Program. April has also volunteered with KAYA: Filipino Americans for Progress helping with their voter registration efforts and online communications strategies. Mrs. Siruno’s professional memberships include the American Marketing Association and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]PHA+SSBhbSByYXcgaHRtbCBibG9jay48YnIvPkNsaWNrIGVkaXQgYnV0dG9uIHRvIGNoYW5nZSB0aGlzIGh0bWw8L3A+[/vc_raw_html][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Rachelle Arizmendi

Councilmember, Sierra Madre, CA

Rachelle Arizmendi was first elected to the City Council in 2014 and re-elected in 2018.  In April 2017, she was selected to serve as Mayor by the Council and is currently a City Council Member. In addition to representing Sierra Madre on the Foothill Workforce Development Policy Board and Collaborate PASadena, she serves as an Advisory Member of the South Coast AQMD Local Government & Small Business Assistance Advisory group and a Board Member on the League of California’s Cities (LOCC) Women’s Caucus. She is also a CA Governor Appointee on the California Department of Food & Agriculture, Board President of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, and Board Member/Governing Committee Chair of the National Coalition of Asian Pacific Association of Community Development. Rachelle is the Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of PACE (Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment).

Born in Carmel, California, Rachelle is a graduate of San Diego State University where she earned 2 Bachelor’s degrees prior to pursuing her Master’s degree at Eastern Illinois University. She’s a dietitian by education and has taught Nutrition courses at Pasadena City College. Rachelle, her husband Fili, and dog Madison, have resided in Sierra Madre for over twelve years.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]PHA+SSBhbSByYXcgaHRtbCBibG9jay48YnIvPkNsaWNrIGVkaXQgYnV0dG9uIHRvIGNoYW5nZSB0aGlzIGh0bWw8L3A+[/vc_raw_html][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Juanito Amor

Trustee, FilAm Vote Co-Director
NaFFAA

Biography is on the way![/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]PHA+SSBhbSByYXcgaHRtbCBibG9jay48YnIvPkNsaWNrIGVkaXQgYnV0dG9uIHRvIGNoYW5nZSB0aGlzIGh0bWw8L3A+[/vc_raw_html][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Faith Bautista

Board Member, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Community Advisory Board, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Ms. Faith Bautista is the President and CEO of National Asian American Coalition, a HUD-approved home counseling agency and the nation’s leading Asian American nonprofit advocating against foreclosures, advocating for greater economic and small business development and in advancing the growing economic and social power of Asian Americans. Appointed by President Trump’s Administration in 2017, Ms. Bautista is currently serving a 4-year term as one of the five members in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Community Advisory Board, and a member of the advisory boards for Federal Communication Commission on broadband adoption and diversity, and for the California Utility Diversity Council. She also serves as the President and CEO of National Diversity Coalition, a non-profit advocacy organization comprised of community organizers, faith-based leaders, and business owners. Ms. Bautista also serves as and is one of the Founders of The Capital Corps, LLC. She serves on the corporate advisory board for First Republic Bank, Royal Business Bank, Citizens Business Bank, Charter Communications, and was a former advisory board member for CIT/OWB. Ms. Bautista is a member of the Charter External Diversity and Inclusion Council (EDIC). 

Faith Bautista advocates in the halls of Congress, in the California legislature, and in front of key federal legislators such as the Federal Reserve, FDIC, OCC, FHFA, FTC, FCC and SEC and among America’s Fortune 500 corporations, as a major voice for the ethnic minority.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]PHA+SSBhbSByYXcgaHRtbCBibG9jay48YnIvPkNsaWNrIGVkaXQgYnV0dG9uIHRvIGNoYW5nZSB0aGlzIGh0bWw8L3A+[/vc_raw_html][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Jessica M. Caloza

Commissioner, Board of Public Works, City of Los Angeles 

Jessica Caloza is a Commissioner on the Board of Public Works in the City of Los
Angeles. She was appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in February and
confirmed by City Council in March 2019. She is the first Filipina American to serve on
the Board.

Previously, Jessica served as Mayor Garcetti’s Director of Scheduling since 2017,
overseeing the Mayor’s entire scheduling operation — including strategic planning, day-
to-day logistics, and coordination with various Departments and agencies. She also
served as Deputy Director of Scheduling, and came to the Mayor’s Executive Office
from the Office of Immigrant Affairs, where she managed policy proposals, grant
programs, and civic engagement initiatives focused on expanding access to resources
for immigrant communities.

Prior to joining the Garcetti Administration, Jessica served in the Obama Administration
in the U.S. Department of Education — where she worked on Congressional and
legislative affairs, student data and privacy, immigration policy, and gender equity
issues. She has also been a campaign aide to several members of Congress for their
reelection campaigns, including former Rep. Xavier Becerra of California; former Rep.
Mike Honda of California; and Rep. Albio Sires of New Jersey. In 2012, she was a
community organizer for President Obama’s reelection campaign in Virginia and helped
lead various field offices.

Outside of government, Jessica is active in the Asian American and Filipino American
community. She serves on the Leadership Council for the Center for Asian Americans
United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE). In 2014, she was also selected as one of ten
delegates for the Filipino Youth Leadership Program (FYLPro), a national leadership
program led by the Ambassador of the Philippines. Jessica previously served on the
boards of KAYA: Filipino Americans for Progress, the FYLPro Executive Committee,
and the Philippine Humanitarian Coalition.

A graduate of the University of California, San Diego, Jessica is a proud first-generation
immigrant and lives in Historic Filipinotown with her husband, Matt, and their cat.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]PHA+SSBhbSByYXcgaHRtbCBibG9jay48YnIvPkNsaWNrIGVkaXQgYnV0dG9uIHRvIGNoYW5nZSB0aGlzIGh0bWw8L3A+[/vc_raw_html][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Joselyn Geaga-Rosenthal

Commissioner, Department of Building and Safety, City of Los Angeles

Joselyn Geaga-Rosenthal, L.C.S.W. is a licensed psychotherapist by profession. She received her B.A. in Social Work at UCLA in 1969 and her Masters in Social Work at USC in 1971. She has been licensed by the California Board of Behavioral Science Examiners as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 1973. She is a published author of articles in the mental health field and has been a faculty lecturer at the Cal State University Los Angeles, Department of Social Work.

Joselyn worked in three Los Angeles County departments between 1971 and 2006, and these provided her opportunities to research and study best practices in both direct patient care and management systems. Currently she is in private practice providing psychotherapy at student health centers in community colleges in the Los Angeles area. Her volunteer community work over the past decades has earned her numerous awards and recognitions such as Pioneer Woman Award from the Los Angeles City Women’s Commission (2005); 100 Most Influential Filipina Woman in the USA (2009) and Global 100 (2013), awards from the USA Filipino Women’s Network; Community Service Award from the Philippine Consulate General of Los
Angeles (1990).

She served on many nonprofit boards and citizens commissions including the Los Angeles County Mental Health Commission (1994-2006), Asian Pacific American Friends of the Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles Music Center (1992-2004), Friends of the Echo Park Branch Library which established the only collection on Philippine heritage and culture in the L.A. City Public Library system (2014 to present) and is Mayor Eric Garcetti’s appointee to the Board of Building and Safety Commission (2014 to present.) She brings to this last position her decades long interest and passion in safeguarding our planet’s resources and reversing climate change through principles of permaculture and sustainability.

She draws inspiration from the lives and community service of her late parents Jose V. Geaga and Remedios V. Geaga. The corner of Temple and Alvarado Streets in Historic Filipinotown was named “Remy’s Square” in honor of her mom.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]PHA+SSBhbSByYXcgaHRtbCBibG9jay48YnIvPkNsaWNrIGVkaXQgYnV0dG9uIHRvIGNoYW5nZSB0aGlzIGh0bWw8L3A+[/vc_raw_html][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Marlan Maralit

Director, ACE Collaborative, NVM

Marlan Maralit has demonstrated a strong commitment to a broad range of movement work, from organizing to leadership development. As a second-generation Filipino American, his earliest exposure to social justice was shaped by the pioneers of the farm worker movement in California. He has worked as an organizer, educator and consultant with labor and non-profit organizations including SEIU, SEIU-UHW, AFSCME, Center for Community Change, Make the Road NY, Organization for Black Struggle, and the LA Black Workers Center. Marlan Maralit currently serves as director for the ACE Collaborative, a project of New Virginia Majority, to increase the civic engagement of one of the fastest growing Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the country.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]PHA+SSBhbSByYXcgaHRtbCBibG9jay48YnIvPkNsaWNrIGVkaXQgYnV0dG9uIHRvIGNoYW5nZSB0aGlzIGh0bWw8L3A+[/vc_raw_html][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Eric Salcedo

Field Director
AAPI Vote

Eric Salcedo has been the National Field Director for APIAVote since September 2014. Previously, he served as the Asian American Liaison and Community Outreach Coordinator for the Illinois Attorney General.

For the past twenty years, Eric had been an active leader in Chicago’s Asian American community. He served on the boards of Public Allies Chicago and the Leadership Center for Asian Pacific Americans, focusing on the development of young adult leaders. In 2007, he was the field director and key strategist for an Asian-American candidate for Chicago’s City Council.

He later became a founding member of the political action committee Asian American Action Fund of Greater Chicago.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]PHA+SSBhbSByYXcgaHRtbCBibG9jay48YnIvPkNsaWNrIGVkaXQgYnV0dG9uIHRvIGNoYW5nZSB0aGlzIGh0bWw8L3A+[/vc_raw_html][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

April Siruno

Chief of Staff
NaFFAA

Born in a suburb of Detroit and raised in Caribou, Maine, Mrs. Siruno expresses her love for the environment as a customer service specialist in the outdoor industry. April has consulted for Oliver-Zhang Law doing business development, marketing, and operations. She previously worked as the communications and social media specialist at the Migration Policy Institute, an independent nonprofit nonpartisan think tank in DC. She obtained her MBA from Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business in 2012, where she received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Leadership Development Program for Minority Managers. April has a BA in Sociology and Politics with a concentration in Asian American Studies from Mount Holyoke College, where she helped rebuild District 2 of the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue (FIND, Inc.), and an alumnae of the Commission of Filipinos Overseas Lakbay-Aral Program. April has also volunteered with KAYA: Filipino Americans for Progress helping with their voter registration efforts and online communications strategies. Mrs. Siruno’s professional memberships include the American Marketing Association and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row]