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Inés Kuperschmit is a Partner with Olivarez Madruga Lemieux O’Neill. Ms. Kuperschmit is a specialist in children’s rights and education law. She oversees the firm’s special education practice. Ms. Kuperschmit has extensive experience with the entire life cycle of special education disputes, from Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings, Resolution Sessions, and Mediation through Due Process and litigation. Ms. Kuperschmit also handles California Department of Education and Office of Civil Rights complaints. Ms. Kuperschmit co-founded and ran a legal services nonprofit which trains and advocates for parents in the area of education civil rights. Ms. Kuperschmit brings her expertise working with parents and students to now assist school districts in quickly and equitably resolving education disputes. Previously Ms. Kuperschmit worked as a children’s rights lawyer focusing on complex cases at the intersection of the Foster Care, Juvenile Justice, mental health and Regional Center systems.

Erin Dawkins is an experienced business leader with a passion for creating and enabling cultures that succeed and grown in ways that are inclusive, collaborative, empowering and impactful. She has a proven background for visionary strategic thinking, execution & achieving ROI, team building and purpose. She started her career in corporate management consulting and has used her business acumen to create long-lasting solutions for both for-profit and non-profit brands.

At EJD Consulting, Erin provides executive management and leadership, branding and marketing, and social impact and philanthropy. Before serving in her role at EJD Consulting, Erin was Senior Vice President, Brand and Operations at House of Taylor — The Elizabeth Taylor Companies, where she served as the primary and lead executive related to Elizabeth Taylor's lifestyle brands, including developing purpose-driven business strategies benefiting The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Prior to that, Erin was a Senior Division Director of the Office of the Senior Vice President (OSVP) at NYU Langone Medical Center, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers. Erin has designed and managed capital campaigns ranging from $10 million to $350 million for national and international non-profit organizations. She is passionate about issues related to women & girls and underrepresented communities and continues to serve as a volunteer in this capacity.

Erin serves on the Board of the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, and on the Advisory Board for CareerSpring LA.

Erin earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Dartmouth College and her Master of Business Administration from Cornell University.

Stephan Ceryanek began his career in mortgage banking. After several years, he realized that this choice was not a perfect fit. Stephan discovered that being of service was an imperative for him in terms of his personal growth and professional development. He began volunteering at the fledgling AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) in 1985. After a few months he was offered a position in the finance department and became one of the first five employees at APLA. Stephan was instrumental in writing and implementing financial and general agency policies and procedures, managing the finance department, preparing budgets and financial reports and serving on the management team. After several promotions Stephan became Chief Financial Officer in year eleven of his thirteen-year tenure at APLA.

After a brief sabbatical Stephan accepted the position of Vice President of Finance/Controller at The Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) in 2000. For the next sixteen years, Stephan oversaw EIF’s finance department, produced budgets and financial reports and managed the audit process until he retired in 2017. Stephan remains active in community service.

Born and raised in Central Pennsylvania, Mike  made his way through New York City, Washington D.C. and finally settled in LA in 2016. He has spent the majority of his career working with start-ups at varying stages of maturity, starting with LivingSocial where he focused on new initiatives, with a heavy emphasis on entertainment and live events. Mike opened a music venue for LivingSocial and quickly saw an opportunity to create a more equitable financing option for artists leveraging rapidly growing streaming revenue. In 2014, MIke co-founded Chime, which leverages debt and equity financing to provide fair financing to artists. 

In 2016, Mike  joined Todd Wagner’s effort to change the charitable fundraising landscape with Prizeo and Charitybuzz, working with celebrities and causes to maximize their fundraising potential. Bringing more tech to cause, they expanded an already great business into live events, and worked hard to align a celebrity’s commercial focus (album, film, book, merchandise release) with their cause of choice. He found early on that aligning all stakeholders from a business and philanthropic perspective produced outsized results for both initiatives. After raising millions for deserving nonprofits and having the good fortune to work with great partners like Lizzo, Carson Wentz, Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Steve Carell, Pete Davidson,  Dead & Co., Charlize Theron, United Airlines, NBC, Adult Swim, and Netflix, he decided to dive deeper back into tech and join Capsule, the country’s fastest growing digital first pharmacy.

Misty Espinoza is a Marketing and Communications professional with over 15 years of experience who has forged a unique professional path with roles at The Walt Disney Company, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, and premier public relations agencies, including Rogers and Cowan. Career highlights include managing the red carpet at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, coordinating media relations for the 2007 Takashi Murakami retrospective, developing social media strategies for the world’s most famous Mouse, managing communications for three biennial Stand Up To Cancer telecasts, and corralling puppies with Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart to promote pet adoption.

Misty has spearheaded projects that have received national media coverage in outlets including Good Morning America, USA Today, People Magazine, W Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times. Additionally, she has extensive digital marketing experience managing partnerships with Facebook, YouTube, and top social media influencers. 

Misty holds a BA in communication and drama from Stanford University. She calls sunny Los Angeles home, where she resides with her four-legged partner-in-crime, Jake. 

Vikki Karan is the founder and CEO of Vikki Ventures LLC. Vikki is dedicated to expanding the giving space and making it more inclusive through the practice of creating everyday philanthropists. She brings her over 20 years of experience to guide people and organizations in creating and building out their philanthropic brand which includes establishing, operationalizing, and managing their charitable operations. She inspires and educates others on how to give strategically.

Vikki graduated cum laude from New York University and earned her Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law. She spent 14 years in the talent agency business, 10 of those years running the Client Services Department at Endeavor & WME. She then went on spend 6 years at Omaze, as the Director of Business Affairs and Philanthropic Relations.

Vikki currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Social Impact Fund and the Warehouse Alliance. She resides in Los Angeles with her husband and their daughter.

Deidre Lind is an award-winning community leader respected as an expert in philanthropy and civic partnerships with impact-driven results. Lind launched the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles (“Mayor’s Fund”) in 2014 as a platform for public/private partnerships focused on innovation and effectiveness. She departed briefly in June 2018 to lead Pfaffinger Foundation, one of the oldest private foundations in Southern California, and returned to the Mayor’s Fund in March 2020 to lead the organization through its unprecedented COVID-19 response efforts. Lind also currently serves as the Founding President and Executive Director of the California Volunteers Fund in partnership with the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom.

In partnership with then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, Lind founded the non-partisan, non-profit Mayor's Fund as a platform for the private sector, philanthropic organizations and individuals to come together to invest in the City and address the most pressing needs of Angelenos. Reporting to an independent Board of six civic leaders, Lind devoted almost eight years to the Mayor's Fund in two stints, raising more than $126 million from more than 12,000 donors to support more than 80 City-wide initiatives. Key programs include launching free community college in Los Angeles, expansive COVID relief for hundreds of thousands of Angelenos, government innovation efforts including the launch of the City’s first centralized Procurement Office, doubling the City’s youth workforce development programs, supporting expanded immigration/citizenship initiatives and leading numerous gender and racial equity initiatives.

Among other recognitions, Lind and the Mayor's Fund were recognized with HUD's Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships in 2017 and with Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies designation in 2023. In March 2023, newly-elected Mayor Karen Bass selected a new Board and leader for the Mayor’s Fund and continues to serve the organization in an advisory capacity.

Lind has built her career over two decades leading corporate responsibility and philanthropy programs, including serving for a decade as Mattel’s chief global social impact strategist where she launched their two-percent pre-tax profit annual commitment, and delivered the Company’s

first global sustainability assessment. Lind served as the President of a private foundation and has consulted to a number of corporate and nonprofit clients and government entities. She currently serves as Chair of the Boards of ExpandLA and Accelerator for America Action, a national civic infrastructure advocacy organization, as well as on the Board of the Social Impact Fund and the Public Policy Committee of LA’s BEST, an afterschool enrichment program. In 2021, Lind served as Co Chair of the Working Group coordinating the Council on Foundation’s virtual Annual Conference, Leading Together.

A native of Los Angeles, Lind received her BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Masters degrees in Social Work and Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

Sonya Lockett has a strong belief in the power of media in all of its forms to change culture, change hearts, change minds and to change the world. She has spent her career as a social impact professional and creative content curator using media to drive social change and connect with diverse audiences.

Sonya currently serves as the Chief Impact Officer for One Community (fka Good Films), a film finance and social impact company, where she oversees the design and implementation impact campaigns. Previously, she led a culture strategy and social impact consultancy, Next Slate, working with organizations, brands and influencers to move the needle on issues they cared about. As the Vice-President of Social Responsibility for BET Networks and Executive Director of the BET Foundation, Sonya developed BET’s social responsibility initiatives and was responsible creating and executing strategies that leveraged the network’s platforms to engage consumers in social change initiatives. The network campaigns under Sonya’s leadership garnered numerous awards including the TV Cares “Ribbon of Hope Award,”an NAACP Image Award and the 2007 Emmy Award for Best National Public Service Campaign.

Prior to joining BET, Sonya served as Director of Communications and Marketing for LIFEbeat, the Music Industry Fights AIDS, a non-profit organization dedicated to using the talents and resources of the music industry educate young people about HIV/AIDS. While at LIFEbeat, she was responsible for all communications and marketing activities, development of strategic partnerships and legislative outreach.

A native of Baton Rouge, LA, Sonya is a graduate of Howard University. She is also a founding board member of Higher Heights for America, an organization dedicated to increasing the number of Black women in the political pipeline as well as a member of the Links, Inc. and Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. Sonya is a graduate of the National Association of Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) Executive Leadership Development Program, Women in Cable and Telecommunications Betsy Magness Leadership Institute and Harvard University’s Executive Education Program in Corporate Social Responsibility. Sonya was named one of NAMIC’s “Luminary” Award winners and CableFax’s Most Influential Minorities in Cable as well as one of Cable Positive’s Heroes in the Fight against AIDS and Black AIDS Institute’s Heroes in the Struggle. She was honored for her work in the community by New York Cares and received the Champion of Health Award from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

LAURA PROBST is a marketing and sustainability thought leader for CPG, luxury, real estate and media brands, having led impact at The Honest Company and built award-winning purpose and ESG programs for Blackstone, Paramount, and Dermalogica, among others. In her current position as CEO of Do Good: Make Money, she has helped dozens of COOs, CMOs and product development teams reduce operating costs, increase revenue, and gain access to additional capital through philanthropy, risk mitigation, and community investment. She is passionate about workforce development and equipping talent from diverse backgrounds with critical soft skills for success.

Laura was Head of Social Goodness for The Honest Company (2014-2017). At Honest, she led development of the brand’s research, education, government affairs, and thought leadership assets, helping to grow the company from $170M to over $300M in revenue and achieve its $1.7B valuation. Laura created and oversaw the Medical Advisory Board, and led all certification strategy, including Honest’s status as a certified B-Corporation. Working across Operations, Marketing, Product Development, Legal/Regulatory, Finance, and HR, Laura served as a member of the Executive Committee.

As a seasoned fundraiser and growth driven marketer, Laura has directly raised $79 million for for-profit and non-profit clients. Among her successful client engagements, she led development and implementation of  Dermalogica’s first-ever brand campaign across 25,000 accounts in 60 countries, helping to grow distribution to 80 countries and increasing revenues by 25% to $250M (2009-11). At WebMD (2008-2010), Laura drove creation of a new content development platform that delivered $20M in new business and 30% audience growth. Laura served as Chief Marketing and Development Officer for Kesem (2012-14) and grew program distribution of its college leadership institute from 20 to 41 states with a corresponding 171% increase in revenue.

Laura is a passionate mentor, opening her network to the next generation through her Women’s Accelerator professional development program. She got her start in South Africa, training aspiring entrepreneurs in product development and marketing through microfinance network Zizanani (2002). Laura then established mentorship and professional development programs for Step Up Women’s Network (2005-08), creating membership models and partnerships that grew the organization’s revenue by 300%. For Blackstone portfolio company EQ Office (2020-22), she led development of the company’s workforce development program, using skilled professional volunteers across the company’s network to mentor underemployed youth interested in property management and development. 

Laura is a Director for Kesem Los Angeles (nonprofit) and led fundraising and corporate engagement for 3 years. Laura served as Vice President of the Social Impact Fund (2015-2022). 

Laura is a frequent speaker on purpose-driven marketing, sustainability, and strategic partnerships. She holds a JD from UCLA School of Law, and a BA from the University of Virginia.

Jasmine Thomas is the Senior Director of Airband at Microsoft, a corporate initiative that promotes digital equity and inclusion among rural and urban communities through cross-sector partnerships.

Before joining Microsoft, Jasmine Thomas was the Director for Business Partnerships within the Community Investing & Development group at Citi based in their New York headquarters. Jasmine led the bank’s corporate relationships and engagements on civil rights, advocacy, and economic inclusion, including Citi’s Action for Racial Equity, which represents more than $1B in strategic business investments to help close the racial wealth gap. Jasmine arrived at Citi in 2011 and served as an International Program Officer for Citi Foundation for some $40M in grant partnerships annually across about 100 countries outside of the US. Prior to Citi, she was a program officer at Surdna Foundation and launched Strong Local Economies, a multi-million-dollar national investment portfolio that prioritized community and economic development as well as wealth-building projects targeting low- and middle-income families. Jasmine began her career in philanthropy at The New York Community Trust and managed a range of designated-funds and high-profile initiatives, including grantmaking and reporting for The September 11th Fund, Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund, Appalachian Fund, and the New York City AIDS Fund, a collaboration with VOGUE magazine and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. 

Jasmine gained a bachelor’s degree in Government & Politics with a minor in Afro-American Studies from University of Maryland College Park where she was also honored with the University President’s Award. She earned graduate degrees from both Teachers College Columbia University and New York University’s Silver School of Social Work. Jasmine also earned two MBAs from Columbia Business School and London Business School. In August 2021, she completed 5 years of service on the Board of Directors for the American Bankers Association Foundation. Currently, Jasmine serves as a board member of Pacific Community Ventures, Social Impact Fund, as well as an advisor to the Read Alliance and The Women’s Foundation of the South. Jasmine is also an active member of The Links, Incorporated.

Elizabeth has been a nonprofit professional for over 25 years, creating and implementing innovative organizational, marketing and educational strategies, with significant experience working on a senior level with many organizations. Since forming Intuition Consulting in 2008, she has specialized in working with advocacy organizations and other nonprofit and for-profit companies on strategies to encourage growth, expansion and visibility. She also works with for-profit companies to articulate their philanthropic needs, as well as organizations undergoing executive or board transitions. In many of her engagements, she is also responsible for initiating, cultivating and maintaining relationships with key Fortune 500 corporate partners for corporate philanthropy, cause marketing, sponsorship, and other support.

In addition to experience as a nonprofit professional, Elizabeth’s service as a Board member has informed her work as a consultant, and has given her a unique ability to understand the different sides of an organization’s development. Board governance and functionality is a cornerstone of a healthy organization, and Elizabeth has a passion for helping to facilitate both. As a volunteer, she served on the Board of Peninsula Counseling Center for 10 years and helped the organization through its executive succession as a key member of the Transition Committee. She has also served on the Board of Planned Parenthood of Nassau County’s Action Fund, and formerly was a member of NY Women in Communication’s Mentoring and Matrix Committees. She is also a past President of the Greater NY Chapter of the Society for Public Health Education.

Elizabeth lives on Long Island with her husband, where she can indulge her gardening and yoga passions.

Greg Propper is President of Propper Daley, a social impact agency headquartered in Los Angeles with clients that include Activision, Best Buy, Bradley Cooper, Everytown for Gun Safety, John Legend, SoulCycle, and Viacom. A social impact innovator, Greg has worked at the intersection of public policy, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and entertainment for over 25 years. Greg served as Executive Director of ServiceNation and Managing Director of Be the Change, Inc., leading the effort to pass the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act during the first 100 days of the Obama Administration — the largest expansion of national and community service since the Great Depression. As an advocate and organizer, Greg helped lead the “Save AmeriCorps” campaign of 2003 that successfully restored funding to the marquee national service program. He is a member of the board of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University, LIFT Los Angeles, the New Politics Leadership Academy, and serves as a board member and President Emeritus of the Social Impact Fund. 

He holds a B.A. with high honors from Tufts University and a J.D. from Cardozo School of Law in New York City.