Staff and Board - Oakland Literacy Coalition
OLC Staff
Sanam Jorjani
Founding Co-Director
Sanam’s career in education is all about keeping language, learning and community at the heart of our shared experience. A skilled facilitator, she connects people and ideas to break down silos and help people and organizations work better together. In her role as Co-Director, Sanam is responsible for the strategic development and direction of the coalition network, initiatives, and partnerships.
Sanam started her role as Co-Director in 2016 after four years of supporting the coalition and leading the Oakland Reads campaign, while a part of the Rogers Family Foundation. Prior to her work with The Coalition, Sanam coordinated international projects at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she completed her Masters. Growing up bilingual she was a cultural translator between herself, her family, and her American surroundings. Fortunate enough to grow up learning her home language surrounded by a strong Iranian community, Sanam is a lifelong advocate for learning and language to power identity and social change.
She has served as a volunteer Delegation Advisor for YMCA Youth & Government for 10 years, supporting high school youth leaders. She has served on the board of BANANAS Inc. since 2016 and is a 2019 Surge Institute Fellow. Sanam lives in Oakland, and grew up in the East Bay by way of Iran and is on a continuous journey to improve her Farsi and Persian Cooking.
Favorite Book Growing Up: Swimmy by Leo Leoni and The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Cassie Perham
Founding Co-Director
A lifelong bookworm, Cassie is a wholehearted believer in the transformative power of literacy. In her role as Co-Director, Cassie is responsible for the growth and development of the OLC as an anchor organization for Oakland’s literacy efforts. Cassie leads the organization’s operations, fund development, and strategic partnerships.
Cassie previously managed the coalition’s programs and operations out of the Rogers Family Foundation, where she served for six years leading the foundation’s early literacy grantmaking and initiatives aimed at increasing third grade reading achievement. Cassie moved to Oakland in 2008 as an AmeriCorps VISTA, supporting service learning programs in elementary schools. Cassie holds a BA in International Relations from the University of California, Davis and a Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Management from San Francisco State University. Cassie lives in Oakland with her family of book-lovers.
Favorite Book Growing Up: Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Julia Nihar Sen
Reading Everywhere Program Manager
Julia is a mixed race (Bengali and white), disabled educator, activist, community builder, mama, and Bay Area native who has been working with youth and families for the past 20 years. An avid reader and self proclaimed book nerd since a young age, she loves nothing more than sharing the love of reading with community. Julia worked in K-8 schools as an educator and classroom teacher, as well as at family resource centers building and supervising family support programs, all with under-resourced BIPOC communities around the Bay Area. These experiences taught her the power and importance of building relationships and working as an ally, of listening to and learning from families, and that marginalized people are the best ones to find solutions to their problems. Julia lives in Berkeley with her partner and two children, and the best part of her day is reading with them before bed. You can find her in the garden or drumming in the streets.
Favorite book growing up: It’s a tie between the Ramona Quimby series and Bridge to Terabithia
Alia Gabres
Senior Program Manager
Alia Gabres is a lover of all things programs, engagement and storytelling.
She has worked with creative and diverse communities globally over the span of 10 years in various roles such as Program Director, Lead Producer for Industry and Creative Initiatives and Independent Artist. She has worked in program and strategic development in various institutions and organizations including non-profits, local governments and start-ups. She is most passionate about programs that are designed and sustained by communities for communities.
Alia has a Masters in Community and Cultural Development from the University of Melbourne. She is the Author of the recently published children’s book Haboba’s House; as well as the Intersectionality in the Arts chapter in the 2019 published text The Relationship Is the Project. She is also a member of the Oakland based Black Literary Collective.
As a first generation Migrant she now calls Oakland home by way of Melbourne, Australia and Keren, Eritrea.
Favorite Book Growing Up: Window by Jeannie Baker was my favorite picture book in Elementary School
Jasmine Brown
Development Manager
Jasmine’s professional and volunteer background focuses on uplifting everyone’s story, expressed via nonprofit management and fundraising work in diverse areas of the nonprofit sector including education, arts, social services, and healthcare, for 25 years. Thrilled to bring her skills and ideas to support literacy in Oakland as OLC’s Associate Director of Development, she loves the collaborative nature of fundraising and the collaborative synergy of OLC’s mission and metaphor of literacy as liberation; building blocks for a healthy, resilient, and just society.
Jasmine has loved sharing the joy and open doors of reading since she came home from kindergarten and taught her younger sister to read. She has taught English as a second language in the U.S. and Viet Nam, edited a national newspaper, studied linguistics, volunteered in schools, and discovered many a hidden treasure on used bookstore shelves. Jasmine lives, works, plays, bikes, volunteers, and reads in the sparkling East Bay community. She and her family are avid library patrons, and have more books at home than space for them.
Favorite book growing up: Then There Were Five, and the whole Melendy Quartet, by Elizabeth Enright; The Once and Future King by T. H. White; biographies of Helen Keller; The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis; and Chinese Children’s Rhymes by my grandmother, Ruth Hsu.
Allyson Bogie
Program Manager, School Library Partnerships
Allyson Bogie joins Oakland Literacy Coalition as the Program Manager for School Library Partnerships with twelve years of experience in WCCUSD as a teacher librarian and district librarian. Prior to her time in WCCUSD, she taught English and ELD at Roosevelt Middle School for four years. Allyson earned her BA in Sociology at Smith College, and her Masters in Library and Information Science at San Jose State University. Allyson is thrilled to lead the integration of the Friends of the Oakland Public School Libraries into the Coalition, and to deepen the relationship between Oakland’s school libraries and the literacy work across the city.
Allyson grew up in Oakland and still has her original Oakland Public Library card. She now lives in Berkeley with her family and when she’s not working, she can be found reading, baking cookies, or walking among the redwoods.
Favorite book growing up: Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
Heather Appel
Communications Manager
Heather is a lifelong reader, writer, and storyteller who believes in the transformative power of books. As a baby, she was an early talker and a later walker, so the family joke was that she read a book to learn how to walk.
She has worked as a community organizer, journalist, and nonprofit communications manager, helping to amplify voices of frontline community members and organize for better healthcare, housing, and schools. She grew up in Denver, CO and spent her early adulthood in New York City before moving to Oakland in 2013. She has a master’s degree from the Newmark (CUNY) Graduate School of Journalism.
Heather lives with her daughter and their two cats, Ivy and Bean.
Favorite book growing up: The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble and the Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Anjali George
UC Berkeley PSI Intern
Anjali George is a 4th year undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, studying Sociology with minors in Public Policy and Theater. A Bay Area native, she comes from a family of educators and grew up as an avid reader, inspiring her passion for literacy and educational justice today. As someone who has absolutely loved books her entire life, she wants to help the next generation of readers find their own love and joy in reading. Anjali firmly believes in the power of learning to read and loving to read, as well as the growth and equity that literacy can offer to all. Through her work and studies, she strives to listen to and uplift voices from marginalized communities and learn from what they have to share. With her academic background, Anjali hopes to explore the intersections of literacy, justice, and equity and build community relationships in the process. In her free time, you can find Anjali reading, exploring nature, dancing, or baking.
Favorite book growing up: The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
Yareli Arreola
Events & Outreach Coordinator
Rokiyah Taylor-Wright
Lead Family Book Connector
Board of Directors
Dulce Torres-Petty
Board Co-Chair
Dulce Torres-Petty is a native from Mexico City who migrated to the United States in 2006 and has dedicated her professional career to work in the education non-profit world ever since. Dulce currently works as the Brilliant Baby Senior Program Manager for the Oakland Promise where she’s committed to support families to pursue their dreams and aspirations for their babies with early investments in their education. Dulce holds a deep commitment to support and empower families through the powerful practice of sharing books and stories, and is honored to support the Oakland Literacy Coalition in their efforts to increase literacy levels in this city that she loves deeply. Dulce is also a big sister, a daughter, a wife, and a proud parent of an Oakland native toddler.
Tiffany Furrell
Board Co-Chair
Tiffany Furrell has over a decade of experience in analyzing and reporting data, including work in public policy and the tech sector. She holds an Economics undergraduate degree from University of California, Los Angeles with a minor in Education Studies. For the last 8 years she worked in Oakland at Pandora Media, a leading music and podcast streaming platform. Tiffany is a co-founder of the Pandora Mixtape Community, an employee resource group focused on helping Pandora be the best it can be by supporting its racially and ethnically underrepresented employees as well as its surrounding communities.
Wanting to better connect with the community of Oakland and utilize her passion for childhood literacy and education, Tiffany is excited to work alongside the team with the Oakland Literacy Coalition.
Matt serves as Chief Operating Officer at The Christensen Fund, a SF-based private foundation focused on protecting biocultural diversity. Prior to joining Christensen, Matt spent 13 years at several educational nonprofits, including CollegeSpring and Reading Partners, where he played a number of roles including Chief Operating Officer, Chief of Staff and Chief Regional Operations Officer. Matt lives in Oakland with his wife and two children and is passionate about education, literacy, equity, and his community.
Allison Lopez
Board Secretary
Allison Lopez is an employment specialist at East Oakland Community Project and works with families and veterans to secure employment and increase their income. She has her M.A. in Linguistics and has supported students in many different classrooms and is passionate about adult literacy. She spent six years teaching for and coordinating the college prep program at Prison University Project, a college program in San Quentin, and learned from students how the lack of support for students, teachers, and families leaves a lasting impact. Allison is excited about joining the board and supporting inclusive literacy efforts in Oakland!
Chris Angotti
Chris Angotti is an equity-driven operations leader, currently working as Director of Operational Systems and Special Projects at Envision Education. He began his career as a middle and high school teacher in New York City—an experience that defines his efforts in making learning and literacy accessible to all.
As an educator and OUSD parent, Chris admires the OLC’s impactful role as a hub for conversation and connection, and is proud to support the network’s vital effort to empower every single Oakland student as a reader.
Rachel Aoanan
Rachel Aoanan has worked in nonprofit finance for over seven years, and is an SVP in Risk Management & Compliance at the community development financial institution, Main Street Launch, which deploys business loans throughout the Bay Area.
She additionally comes with over ten years of experience in family services, operating a licensed daycare, serving as founder of an Oakland nonprofit child development program, and has worked for San Francisco State University’s (SFSU) Head Start program as an early childhood/parent educator.
She lives in Oakland with her husband, young daughter, and German Shepherd dog. She has a BA in Child & Adolescent Development and MA in Public Administration from SFSU. Rachel is excited to support the network’s efforts to drive strong literacy outcomes for long-term success.
Angela Barth
Angela Barth is an Education Consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Angela has her M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Special Education. She is passionate about early childhood literacy development. Her Master’s thesis evaluated successful literacy instructional strategies for students with diverse needs in Pre-K – 3rd grades. She supported students as a classroom teacher and served as a Manager and Director for Super Stars Literacy, an Oakland based literacy non-profit serving at-risk youth in K-2nd grades. Most recently, she has worked in education technology supporting Bay Area schools for the last 5 years. Angela is looking forward to supporting the Oakland community, promoting literacy development for all students!
Alexei Diaz
Alexei comes from a family of educators and during college got his first experiences as an educator himself, where he taught Mathematics for 8 years. Teaching to kids from the whole social spectrum, he experienced first hand the crucial role literacy plays in development and education, regardless of the subject. Alexei relocated from Mexico to the Bay Area in 2014, where he was surprised to realize that being so prosperous, the Bay Area is also very unequal.
He joined the OLC board hoping to close the gap in literacy and making it a universal right. Alexei works as a Software Engineer in the Tech Industry, but dreams of going back to teach math to kids in college once he retires. Favorite book growing up: A compilation of Sherlock Holmes stories, full of adventure, mystery, and smart reasoning!
Michelle Goldenberg
Michelle Goldenberg comes to us from the entertainment industry, as an Assistant Production Accountant for film & television. She has had the opportunity to work on such shows as That’s What I Am, Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings, the pilot episode of All-American, as well as All Hail King Julien, Dinotrux, and Dawn of the Croods – all three of which are DreamWorks Animation TV shows. Michelle has an undergraduate degree in Managerial Economics from UC Davis and a master’s degree in Communication Management from USC.
As a Bay Area native, Oakland holds a special place in Michelle’s heart. She credits her Grandma Cecilia (who had been a long-time resident), as well as Apple Garden Montessori of Oakland for making such a lasting impact on her early childhood development. Michelle recently moved back up north from the Los Angeles area and is excited to be of service to promote the importance of literacy and critical thinking skills within our community.
Kira Lewis Clark
Kira is a mixed-race East Bay local who is passionate about working together to dismantle systems of oppression for disenfranchised communities by providing resources, tools and supportive systems that uplift families and allow them to flourish. Supporting early children education is the foundation of her career as she started off as a toddler and preschool teacher before moving into family engagement and community development. Seeing how our youngest children and their families navigated additional barriers in order to access equitable education taught her to see the fuller picture of how to be an educator.
Kira is excited to support the amazing work OLC has been doing to create a network of literacy access across Oakland to support all children in families to enhance the love of reading and educational opportunities.
She lives in San Leandro with her beloved husband and dog! She enjoys acupuncture, house plants, and long walks around the beautiful Bay Area.
Kyra Mungia
Kyra is a passionate education advocate, committed to changing systems to improve outcomes across Oakland, particularly for students who are traditionally marginalized. She is an energetic, metric-driven team player with strong organizational skills and experience in leveraging available resources. As a former Oakland public school teacher, Kyra saw firsthand how under-resourced and underserved communities – most often communities of color – are treated.
Those disparities are what drove her to take a more systems-level approach as an Deputy Director of Education in the Office of Oakland Mayor Schaaf, where she leads early childhood education, collective impact, and teacher recruitment/retention efforts. Kyra holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Brown University and a Master’s Degree in Urban Education with a focus on Policy and Administration from Loyola Marymount University. She has a passion for kids, their wellbeing, and their educational opportunities. Kyra always gives 100%, except when donating blood. She enjoys mastering crossword puzzles with a cup of tea, exploring the Bay Area’s beautiful trails, and running into friends at Lake Merritt.
As a classroom teacher, Kyra has seen the power literacy has in shaping education and life outcomes for students, and she’s excited to be part of a collective impact team working to support a whole city of children & youth so that they learn and love to read.