Board Members & Staff

Noor Kazmi, President

In July 2011 Noor Kazmi was appointed president of the Girls Think Tank, having served as vice president in 2010/11 and as an active volunteer since 2008. Noor grew up in Montclair, California and moved to San Diego in 1994. In 2005, Noor graduated with honors from the University of Southern California with B.A. in International Relations. While at USC, Noor served on the board of the Muslim Student Union, and helped to organize USC’s first “Fast-A-Thon” which raised money for supplies for the thousands of homeless along Los Angeles’ skid row. After college, Noor worked as a counselor and program coordinator for a summer camp for children and adults with developmental disabilities.

While in law school, Noor served as a member of Street Law, which enabled volunteer law students to teach basic legal concepts to students in inner city high schools. It was also during law school when Noor learned of the Girls Think Tank.

Since Joining GTT, Noor has been actively volunteering with the Winter Survival Backpacks as well as the Basic Dignity Campaign, bringing clean drinking water and public restrooms open 24/7 to downtown San Diego. During the first half of 2010, Noor organized the gathering of 5,000 petition signatures from San Diego residents who supported the campaign. During the latter half of 2010, Noor worked with other volunteers to seek input and consensus from community groups as to the type and location of the restrooms. Noor is an attorney with the firm Robbins, Geller, Rudman & Dowd and is an avid Dostoyevsky reader, as well as a macaroni n’ cheese enthusiast.

Cecilia Brennan, Vice-President and Compliance

Cecilia Brennan joined the Board in early 2011 and in August 2011 was appointed as Vice President. She is a member of the Operations Committee, assisting with statutory and regulatory compliance issues. Cecilia is a local attorney working with public sector clients on a variety of issues related to education and municipal law. A native of Los Angeles, Cecilia relocated to San Diego in 2006 to work on a major civil rights case related to housing and immigration issues. She has also represented individual and class plaintiffs in a variety of consumer, housing, and disability rights issues.

Cecilia decided to attend law school after years of organizing and activism in Los Angeles around youth development, educational equity, and economic justice. She believed that she
could more effectively address the civil and human rights issues she was passionate about in this way. With this in mind, Cecilia attended UCLA School of Law and graduated with a focus in public interest law and policy in 2004. While in law school, Cecilia was instrumental in founding the historic National Latina/Latino Law Student Association, which now has active chapters in nearly every state in the country. She also started the UCLA chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, an organization focused on promoting human and civil rights in the law.
 
Prior to attending law school, Cecilia assisted in co-founding two nonprofit organizations focused on education and community development in Los Angeles. In that work, Cecilia was
able to gain invaluable experience and skills in building community power through “popular education” practices. Cecilia is excited about being able to utilize her knowledge and
experience in all levels of GTT work, and is proud to serve on its Board. 
 
In addition to working with GTT, Cecilia spends her free time with her family (including playing with her daughter Anaís), reading, cooking, playing traditional son jarocho
music, and mentoring high school students interested in pursuing a career in law.

Kate Kowalewski, Treasurer & Operations Chair

Kate is the treasurer of the Girls Think Tank. She has been an active volunteer and supporter of the organization since 2008 and joined the board in February 2010. 

Kate is a partner in the law firm of Robbins, Geller, Rudman & Dowd LLP, and focuses her law practice on the investigation of potential actions on behalf of defrauded investors, primarily in the area of accounting fraud.  In addition to being an attorney, Kate is a Certified Public Accountant. Kate received her Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Accounting from Ohio University in 1994, her Masters degree in Business Administration from Limburgs Universitair Centrum (currently known as Hasselt University) in Diepenbeek, Belgium in 1995 and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego in 2001.

Kate recently served as the President of Lawyers Club of San Diego (2009-2010), the largest specialty bar association in San Diego County. Lawyers Club is dedicated to the advancement of women in law and society, to supporting and improving the administration of justice, and to promoting equality of the sexes in our society. Kate continues to remain an active member of Lawyers Club and currently sits on the organization’s Advisory Board.

Michelle Hoskinson, Secretary & Research Chair

Michelle A. Hoskinson has been an active volunteer with Girls Think Tank since 2009.  Michelle was born and raised in San Diego.  She graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration and Minors in Music and Sociology from San Diego State University ("SDSU") in 2005. While at SDSU, Michelle helped found the SDSU Chapter of Unite for Sight, a student volunteer organization that conducts free vision screenings and collects eyeglasses to donate to communities in need around the world. 

In 2009, Michelle graduated cum laude from Thomas Jefferson School of Law. While attending Thomas Jefferson, Michelle was awarded the CALI Award of Excellence for Environmental Law and Music Law. She received the State Bar of California Wiley M. Manual Award and a Distinguished Service award for her pro bono work for the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program. She also received the Student Volunteer of the Year Award from the Sierra Club after volunteering as a legal intern.  Michelle continues to work with environmental acitivists who oppose irresponsible land development.  She is currently an attorney with a firm that represents financial institutions in mortgage banking law.

Michelle was introduced to GTT in 2009, when GTT was gearing up its Basic Dignity Campaign to bring water and 24/7 restrooms to downtown San Diego.  As head of the Research Committee, she organized research efforts to determine how restrooms and water could be made available 24/7.  Michelle also assisted in drafting the petition supporting the campaign that garnered 5,000 signatures and was presented to San Diego City Council.  Michelle looks forward to continuing GTT’s Basic Dignity Campaign for water and restrooms and is eager to continue taking action to make basic dignity available to all who live in her sweet home San Diego.

Rachel L. Jensen, Community Liaison

Rachel co-founded Girls Think Tank in October 2006 and held the position of President from until July 2011. As Community Liaison Chair, she now focuses  more of her time to engaging with stakeholders across the community.

Rachel is an attorney and partner in the law firm of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, based in San Diego, California. At the firm, she prosecutes nationwide class actions against insurance companies and other large corporate actors.

Rachel received her undergraduate degree in International Affairs from Florida State University. As a college student, Rachel founded a collegiate chapter of the National Organization for Women and revamped the previously dormant Women’s Educational & Cultural Center, serving as the Center’s student director and board member for two years. She also served as a student senator in the student government association. In her senior year, Rachel interned in Governor Chiles’ office to work on immigration and domestic violence issues.
 
Rachel received her law degree from Georgetown University Law School in 2000. During law school, she served as the founding Editor-in-Chief of the First Annual Review of Gender and Sexuality Law, a publication of The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law. She also taught Street Law at a public high school in Washington, D.C. After graduating from law school, Rachel joined the law firm of Morrison & Foerster, before clerking for Judge Ferguson on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She later spent a year abroad clerking for the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, and the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), in The Hague, Netherlands.
 
In October 2007, Rachel helped organize a three-day World Conference on Japanese Military Sexual Slavery held at UCLA. She has assisted on a number of human rights cases and presented on her experiences at the ICTR, including a panel presentation on The Security of Africa with co-panelists John Prendergast, Karin Ryan, Bobby Bailey (Invisible Children), and Daniel Akech James (one of Sudan’s “Lost Boys”), at the Bishop’s School in Spring 2007.
 
Rachel believes passionately in human rights and the right to be treated with dignity no matter one’s life circumstances. Please contact Rachel at girlsthinktank@gmail.com if you would like to get involved in our homeless outreach and advocacy program.

Helen Zeldes, Fundraising

Helen Zeldes is an activist armed with a law degree, a businesswoman and social entrepreneur who long ago realized the efficacy of people to people exchange, supporting indigenous artisans, weaving human rights & the environment in to business with a passion. Ms. Zeldes takes on corporations by day as a class action lawyer at Zeldes & Haeggquist, LLP, owns a local artisans gallery (engaging in fair trade for more than 20 years) and works to further the rights of women by night.
 
Helen is a proud supporter of GTT because she believes in, “Microactivism. The hands-on kind. At the end of the day, we have created a hundred winter survival backpacks for our homeless neighbors and hand them out. Whether in San Diego or Sudan, women coming together over the dinner table make a difference. Our success story is not grandiose but every day, common and growing. Aren’t we not a world of micro-communities, banded together through empowerment of each other, a collective voice breaking through the silence? What a better world we will be.” Helen believes GTT provides a much needed forum for people to turn ideas in to action, find support and make a difference.
 
Helen has spent far too many years in school (in California and Hawaii), her favorite job is raising a wily little girl, dreams of the day when all women will enjoy equal rights and freedoms and believes that giving back is not an option but a civic duty. 

Audra Rosenberg, Communications & Membership Chair

Audra joined Girls Think Tank in 2008 after hearing about GTT’s Winter Survival Backpack project. She’d been looking for a way to help the homeless community and was impressed with the effort and success of the Girls. As well as handling membership for GTT, she has also had a key role in planning GTT events and development of technology to support the organization. 

Audra is a Louisiana native and moved to San Diego in 2006 from New Orleans. She owned a continuing education company in the US and Caribbean for 12 years and is now a marketing manager at an IT company. She graduated with a B.S. from University of Miami, majoring in Advertising and Psychology, and minoring in Marketing. She completed further coursework at University of New Orleans in Entrepreneurship and Business Administration.

In San Diego, she has also served as a Big Pal (youth mentor) and in the Friendly Visitor program (for isolated seniors) through Jewish Family Service. Her interests in GTT include helping to create solutions for homeless people, as well as helping seniors in the community.

Julia Yoo, Development Chair

Upon graduation from law school in 1998, Julia Yoo founded the Law Center for Women Prisoners, a nonprofit organization designed to assist incarcerated women. The Law Center, in partnership with externship programs through the University of Colorado law school, provided legal assistance to hundreds of incarcerated women for a variety of issues from prisons’ failure to provide adequate medical care to termination of parental rights.

 In 2000, Julia began litigating on behalf of incarcerated people for violation of their Constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment. She has filed suits against private and public prisons for failure to provide appropriate and timely medical care and for sexual assault committed by prison staff. She has represented eight incarcerated women in the state of Colorado alone, all of whom prevailed in their lawsuits, their settlements totaling over $1,000,000.00.
 
In 2003, Julia joined Gene Iredale and began litigating on behalf of people whose Constitutional rights have been violated by wrongful arrest or the use of excessive force, as well as wrongful death. Julia has given lectures and presentations on the rights of incarcerated people, most recently in 2008 at the National Lawyers’ Guild conference in Detroit, and to various law enforcement and legal organizations. She has also guest lectured at Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado.
 
In the past nine years, Julia has been actively involved in nonprofit and charitable activities outside the practice of law. She has sat on numerous Boards of Directors of various educational and criminal justice organizations. She has served on the Board of Directors of Rescu Academy, a school for at-risk children; Wellesley College San Diego Club, where she served as Alumnae Admission Representative; and Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, where she remains on the advisory board.

Candyce Covington, Online Marketing and Communications

Candyce Covington has recently joined the Board and is a member of the Communications committee, assisting with all mediums for communicating with the community, volunteers, and in general those who want to get involved with Girls Think Tank. Much of her efforts include managing Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the website properties. Candyce works in sales and marketing for a San Diego digital marketing agency focused on leveraging the power of the internet to help businesses grow.

Candyce holds a bachelors degree in Marketing and Communications and also a Masters of Public Administration, where she focused on grant writing, public policy and administration.

Brook Larios, Media & Public Relations

Brook Larios is CEO of PlainClarity Communications, where she helps businesses and individuals build credibility through focused listening, strategic methodology and by employing creative tactics in public relations, marketing and copywriting. Prior to launching PlainClarity, Larios directed PR and marketing efforts at Cal-a-Vie Health Spa and two non-profits:  The California Center for the Arts, Escondido and i-SAFE America. As a reporter, Larios spent considerable time writing about homelessness in San Diego. She now focuses on food – and food justice. Her articles appear online and in publications across San Diego County and she contributed to the recently published Memories of Paulo, a reflection on the influential educator’s life and work. Her blog, FoodHuddle.com, is dedicated to dishing the delicious. 

Skylar Ritchie, Development and Research

Upon receiving her Master’s of Arts in International Peace and Justice Studies with a concentration in Post-Conflict Development from Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, Skylar worked as a research assistant for the Palestinian Center for the Dissemination of Democracy and Community Development. Skylar traveled extensively in the West Bank to conduct interviews within refugee camps, NGOs and Universities. Skylar also worked as a project coordinator and manager for Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, focusing on International Relations and Middle East foreign policy where she was responsible for daily news briefings, research, field work, media engagement, outreach to scholars and diplomats, conference attendance and participation. Skylar joined Girls Think Tank Board of Directors in September 2011 on her return and relocation to San Diego. 

Emily Crowley, Programs Chair

Emily also joined the GTT Board of Directors in September 2011. She is a civil rights and criminal defense attorney. After graduating from California Western School of Law, Emily volunteered with the California Innocence Project, investigating inmates’ claims of innocence. She currently volunteers for the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program, where she mediates disputes between juveniles in the Girls’ Rehabilitation Facility of the County of San Diego Probation Department and the New Lawyer Division Continuing Legal Education committee. Emily serves as a volunteer speaker for the American Civil Liberties Union Constitution Day, and provides pro bono legal services to homeless veterans for Homeless Court in Stand Down.  Emily has volunteered more than 100 hours for Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties, and earned a scholarship in a writing contest to travel to Washington D.C. to participate in the March for Women’s Lives.

Jacky Vel, Operations Manager

Born and educated in England, now a long-time resident of Southern California, Jacky has spent 20+ years working in an international technology based business environment.  Her business development activities took her across Europe, Asia and the Americas where she frequently experienced the “poverty gap” between those that have and those that do not.  More recently Jacky has focused her attentions on business solutions that empower individuals to narrow that gap. She has worked with communities in East Africa, Mexico, Haiti and elsewhere on collaborative sustainable community development initiatives that empower individuals and help their communities to thrive.

In her role as Operations Manager at Girls Think Tank, Jacky hopes to develop an even larger 'coalition of the willing' to identify and overcome the route-causes of injustice and indignity and to expand the positive impact the organization is having in San Diego.