WE PREPARE YOUNG PEOPLE FOR WORK AND LIFE

Omar has served as the CEO of New Door Ventures since 2019.He was previously at College Track, which he joined in 2007 and led its programmatic expansion into San Francisco. He most recently served as the Northern California Regional Executive Director, leading programmatic, operational and fundraising efforts across four communities in Northern California – Oakland, San Francisco, East Palo Alto, and Sacramento. Omar is a San Francisco native and a graduate of McAteer High School and California State University Long Beach. As a first-generation college graduate, he is heavily influenced by his personal journey. He is passionate about equipping youth with the tools and resources that they need to become agents of change within their communities and committed to disrupting structures and systems that foster and support inequality. Omar is an American Express Leadership Fellow at the Campaign for Black Male Achievement. He has been recognized as the KQED Local Hero and also earned the State Farm Community Achievement Award.

Kevin leads the development and implementation of New Door’s programs for young people. Kevin’s career is built on helping youth and families achieve self-sufficiency and build healthy communities. Before joining New Door Ventures, Kevin served as Director of High School and Bridge Programs at Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) where he led efforts to secure job placements and postsecondary education for young people throughout San Francisco. He also holds faculty appointments at the University of San Francisco and San Francisco State University. Kevin loves growing spicy peppers! He is a proud veteran of the United States Navy.

Aneesha leads the development and implementation of strategic initiatives at New Door. Aneesha has over 15 years of consulting and capacity building experience with nonprofits, for-profits, funders and academic institutions. Aneesha is also a Global Advisor at How Women Lead and an investor whose areas of interest are women-led start-ups with a focus on women of color, education and social impact. Aneesha was born in India, spent most of her childhood in Kenya and lives in San Francisco. She enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, cooking, reading and writing!

Christine is responsible for the administrative, finance and accounting operations across the organization.  She comes to New Door Ventures with over 13 years of experience in non-profit finance.  Most recently she managed the $16 million budget for Teach For America – Bay Area.  She is the proud mother of two girls and when not executing on the logistics of their extracurricular activities she enjoys reading and baking.

Annie manages all aspects of the HR function within New Door, supporting New Door’s hardworking front line staff behind the scenes. She began her career in Human Resources and has continued this work (including staff development and hiring) throughout her career. Within New Door Annie is very excited to be focused on the part of her work she likes best: hands-on staff engagement with a focus on equitable and inclusive practices. Annie spends her time outside of New Door learning about the world from her own children and cheering them on in school, the arts, and athletics.

Joel manages all youth development operations and supports Youth Development staff to work effectively with disconnected youth. Joel loves to solve problems big and small that come each day working with New Door youth and staff. In addition to his work at New Door Ventures, Joel is an accomplished composer for dance and film.

Amanda is responsible for supporting young people in attaining their goals and employment/life skills through case management and workshop facilitation. Before joining New Door, Amanda case managed LGBT identified youth experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. In her free time, she enjoys watching stand-up comedy, attending baseball games, meditating, doing yoga, and reading articles about issues related to social justice.

As Development Manager for Institutional Giving, Cathleen works to extend and diversify New Door’s core funding base, taking strategic and tactical ownership over institutional funding sources at New Door. Cathleen’s development background includes eight years of progressive experience working with foundation and individual donors, as well as managing the digital fundraising, P2P, and direct mail programs at Make-A-Wish Illinois. Cathleen enjoys new outdoor adventure and traveling as much as she can.

Cheyanne is people-driven and views our youth as one of our greatest investments. She is passionate about changing the way we raise our youth and reestablishing family systems. Education should focus on compassion over conformity and approaching them with more individualized care so they can each thrive within their unique communities as themselves. Cheyanne is pursuing her masters in counseling, she is a healer who focuses on justice and using relational cultural therapy to improve mental health because we are all connected. With New Door she will focus on providing personalized one to one counseling services whilst youth are completing their internships. She will also work with her team to ensure their cohorts receive relevant workshops to support essential work and life skills. We are forever learners and she hopes to instill that in our youth so they can continue to progress in their own way despite the current oppressive systems in place. In her free time she remains active and works on her passion projects such as writing children’s books.

“Pay attention to the whispers, so we won’t have to listen to the screams” -Cherokee Proverb

Connie comes to New Door Ventures with about 6 years of prior experience in non-profit accounting and budgeting. Her responsibilities include Payroll, Finance, and HR operations within the organization. Outside of New Door, Connie enjoys spending time with her family and loves traveling and exploring the world.

Heather plans and coordinates a range of activities designed to promote New Door’s mission and impact through online and print communications and events. She also manages volunteer recruitment and engagement. Heather started her career as a beat reporter for a newspaper in rural Maryland, but soon discovered that her passion for storytelling and making a difference was better utilized in the public sector- previous employers include the American Nurses Association and the U.S. Department of State. A long-time mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters, Heather is excited to dovetail her passions for youth development and digital marketing. She loves long walks through the city, live music, and her two cats, Cyrus and Penelope.

Imani Baylor is a Youth Development Specialist for the East Bay region and is committed to serving youth to successfully guide them in the workforce and navigate through life using case management support and skill development workshops. She has worked in many inner-city schools and programs throughout the Bay Area providing services, mentoring youth, and advocating for students of color. Imani enjoys doing pop up shops for her online boutique, Eccentric Vibes and binge-watching television shows.  

Jenesh works to support the Youth Development Team by creating and maintaining processes to best serve youth. Jenesh also provides a first point of contact to new participants in navigating New Door programing.  Jenesh joins New Door with multiple years of both operational and youth development work. On her free time you can find Jenesh in a ceramics class or trying a new cookie recipe.

Jennifer reviews and revises data in order to create accurate reports. What Jennifer likes about her job is that she can network and communicate with different individuals that introduce her to new ideas. Outside of work Jennifer loves traveling and spending time with her loved ones.

Jessica supports New Door’s Development and Communications team by coordinating relationships with partners and the community at large. She supports individual giving and volunteer engagement in promotion of organizational goals. Jessica comes from a background of social entrepreneurship and international development programs serving disconnected young people in Southern Africa.  In her free time, Jessica loves to sew and finding new adventures around the Bay Area.

• Juliana is responsible for creating and maintaining partnerships with businesses in the community. Before joining New Door, Juliana spent the majority of her career in youth and work force development, always having youth advocacy as her main priority. Juliana loves to stay active- you can catch her riding her bike around town, on a court playing tennis, or on a field playing soccer.

As an education specialist, Karina teaches in the classroom at New Door, supporting student success in their individual goals, and creates an engaging environment for all participants. Karina joins New Door’s Youth Development team after five years of teaching humanities and philosophy at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, CA. Karina is a practicing visual artist and musician.

As the Career Development Program Manager at New Door, Maddie is responsible for extending the continuum of support for Employment Program alumni by strengthening post-program pathways through job coaching, facilitating ongoing professional development opportunities, and developing strategic partnerships with Bay Area employers and vocational training programs. Maddie also established New Door’s first Alumni Leadership Council, a youth-led and staff-supported group providing peer support for current program participants as well lending expert input and crucial youth voice essential to the success of New Door programming and operations.

Melissa is committed to supporting young adults by identifying their needs, strengths, creating new skill sets and providing them emotional support. Melissa has a background in supporting young adults who have experienced Teen Dating Violence as a Peer Counselor & Advocate in San Mateo County. Melissa considers herself a gourmet short-order chef, waffle connoisseur and loves spending time with her dog, Mr. Tibs.

Randy is responsible for providing case management support and skill development training for New Door Employment Program interns in San Francisco. He has been involved in youth development for over 8 years and has continues to support young people looking to to get connected to employment and education. In his free time, Randy loves spending time with his two dogs and watching Disney films.

Born and raised in Oakland, California, Rhea is thrilled to be back in the Bay Area and at New Door as a Youth Development Specialist in the East Bay. Rhea is dedicated to supporting young people with navigating oppressive systems and overcoming barriers. Through group workshops and intensive individualized support, she helps youth to develop the skills and access the resources they need to realize and pursue their educational and career goals. Rhea has been engaged in youth development work in New York City for the past 5 years providing academic, socioemotional, and post-secondary readiness and access counseling and workshops for young people faced with a myriad of barriers to success in education and employment. Outside of work, Rhea is an avid Yogi, dancer, and music-lover who spends as much time as possible in beautiful outdoor spaces and places.

An East Oakland native, Roberto has had the pleasure of working with youth of all ages – from kindergarten to high school – for the past 14 years. Working with elementary kids gave him an up-close visual on how fast their lives can change as they get older and closer to being young adults. He’s excited to work with youth in Oakland to help New Door interns develop life skills and use them in a system that’s designed for us to fail. Outside of work he enjoys music, dancing, outdoors, and animals (a sucker for dogs).

“You are busy doubting yourself while so many people are intimated by your potential”

Tim documents and researches various aspects of operations and growth strategies, analyzes current branding, and supports preparation of strategic market analysis. With prior experience in wealth management and data analytics, he hopes to do whatever he can to support New Door’s mission. In his spare time, Tim enjoys traveling and rooting for the San Francisco 49ers, Giants, and Golden State Warriors.

Stephany provides support to youth to build life skills through group workshops and case management  to ensure success both in the workplace and in life. Stephany has been in the field of working with youth, mental and behavioral health, and case management for about 6 years, which have allowed her to follow her values of providing support for the communities that raised her. She enjoys spending time with her family and exploring new foods with friends.

Tsehayu is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operation needs and supporting his immediate staff to optimize youth development programming.

Tsehayu comes with over 6 plus years of youth development experience, with an expertise in Workforce Development. He believes confidence is built by accomplishing goals and that it’s critical to provide youth the foundation as soon as possible. He lives for the moments when a young person’s dreams come to fruition.

Tsehayu loves to travel and is a Youtube fanatic for learning new skills.