PERSONAL PROJECTS + PRO BONO

Co-Founder of a social club & community for DINKs and SINKs

DINK = Dual Income, No Kids | SINK = Single Income, No Kids

PARALLEL is a unique social club and membership community in Los Angeles, designed for those in mid-life (35-55) who happen to be doing life without kids (by choice or circumstance). We curate lively social events, thought provoking experiences and invaluable resources to help elevate life and relationships for our members.

Community. Belonging. Connection.

The Great Reconnection is an event series I launched in Los Angeles to foster meaningful connections (social + professional) between friends of friends, through curated, live, in-person events throughout the year.

Created an event series

Built a Nonprofit and produced some projects

In response to the death of George Floyd and national protests in 2020, I launched a nonprofit organization called Engage Public Safety (EPS) with a mission to engage everyday people (the public) in addressing the public safety challenges in our cities.

As a civic engagement nonprofit, EPS creates opportunities for the public to participate in creating a safer community through curated community engagement projects, educational virtual conversations and training.

www.engagepublicsafety.org

NEXTGEN TALKS: The Future of Policing

PROJECT

We partnered with the National Millennial & Gen Z Community (NMC) to develop a project to give young people an opportunity to engage in thought provoking, educational discussions to inform perspectives and help generate ideas to share with law enforcement executives.

NMC members released a 10-episode video podcast series capturing interviews and conversations with experts representing differing perspectives on the current issues around policing and social justice -- from activists to researchers to law enforcement.

Visit Youtube to view podcast series

PROJECT

It’s Okay Not to be Okay

We partnered with former NBA All Star and mental health advocate, Metta World Peace to develop a virtual conversation series to provide a safe space for the community to discuss the common mental and emotional reactions people were having following George Floyd’s death, national protests and calls for racial justice.

The program also featured a special talk by ​Lieutenant Robbie Williams, a Black police officer who at that time, was featured in an article in People magazine about how he felt “too Black to be blue” and “too blue to be Black”.

Created a disaster relief project for Hurricane Harvey 2017

When Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston in 2017, my team at Hetty Group sprung into action and organized a disaster supply drive so that Los Angeles residents could help disaster victims in Houston in a meaningful way. We launched #LATruck4Houston and invited the public to fill a 26’ UHaul truck with disaster supplies for us to hand deliver to victims in Houston. Within a record 2.5 days, we put together the entire operation:

  • Leveraged my network to arrange partnerships with:

    • the Redondo Beach Police Department to host the supply drive in their parking lot

    • the ATF Headquarters in Washington DC (ATF = Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives) to have ATF agents meet us in Houston unload the truck once it arrived.

    • the San Antonio Police Department to allow our UHaul truck to park safely in their parking lot overnight during our 3-day ground tip to Houston so the truck wouldn’t get broken into.

  • Researched who would be the recipients of our disaster supplies in Houston (instead of dropping off at the Red Cross or at a big warehouse, we wanted to directly deliver to those in immediate need)

  • Fundraised on GoFundMe to pay for the UHaul truck, gas, bins and other supplies

  • Built a communication and outreach plan, created a press release with the Redondo Beach Police and secured local media coverage to invite the public to donate supplies

  • Recruited more than 20 volunteers to help sort, pack and load all donated disaster supplies into the truck

  • Planned all logistics, the run of show, the 3-day ground trip to Houston, and the flight back to LA

  • Secured a DJ to play music and create excitement during the disaster supply drive event (he volunteered!)

  • Launched a Facebook page so the public could follow our journey and witness their donations being hand delivered

  • Created #LATruck4Houston branded t-shirts for all volunteers (free! donated by the vendor)

Our team of 3 barely slept, to organize it all within 2.5 days. Once the truck was full, we drove for 3 days to drop off the supplies at a church in Beaumont, TX, where we were joined by 25 ATF agents to unload the supplies. The project was a huge undertaking but an amazingly rewarding experience. We were proud to bring together law enforcement, the community and volunteers to create a grassroots disaster response project creating engagement opportunities for families in LA wanting to help others in meaningful ways.

  • Meeting Supply Recipients in TX

  • Supply Recipients with ATF Agents

  • ATF Agents - awesome to work with!

  • ATF Agents Unloading Supplies

  • Supply Drive Day Volunteers

  • Loading Supplies into the UHaul

  • Volunteers setting up

  • Loading it up

  • The DJ keeping vibes alive

  • Families Donating Supplies

  • The Supply Drive

  • Families Donating Supplies

  • ATF Agents Getting Ready to Help

  • Our UHaul

  • ATF Agents Unloading Supplies

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