Our Staff

  • Jess Blackshaw

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

    (she/her/hers)

  • Rima Vora

    PROGRAM MANAGER

    (she/her/hers)

YCore Alum Board (YAB)

  • Kevin Li (he/him/his)

  • Becky Newborn (she/her/hers)

  • Ian Go

  • Abhimanyu Vasishth (he/him/his)

  • Gabriela Teran

  • Arpitha Hunumanth

  • Anna-Francesca Magat (she/her/hers)

  • Gianna De Filippis (she/her/hers)

  • Mingzhu he (Ming) (she/her/hers)

  • Richa Gode (she/her/hers)

  • Alex Wing (he/him/his)

  • Eddie Lin (he/him/his)

  • Amy Ewert (she/her/hers)

  • Juan Albanell (he/him/his)

  • Samantha (Sam) Essig

  • Sophie Pham (she/her/hers)

  • Cindy Minn

  • Jazmin Barba (she/her/hers/ella)

  • Fiona Xu

  • Shannon Dunn (she/her/hers)

  • Jenny Liang (she/her/hers)

  • Brian Kuan

  • Shruti Honnungar

Board of Directors

  • Simon Shachter - Chair

  • Jessie Duan

    Jessie has been involved in YCore since 2015, as a fellow in the initial cohort, a member of the Alumni Board, and now a member of the Board. Full time, she's an Engineering Manager at Roblox and the former Engineering Chief of Staff. Jessie is also particularly passionate about education and empowering youth.

  • Farhan Abrol

    Farhan first joined YCore in 2016 working for Literacy for Environmental justice, and hasn't looked back since - subsequently serving on the Alumni board till 2020 and now on the visioning board. Outside of YCore he works on advancing Public health at Meta and lives in San Francisco. He loves tennis, burritos and enabling our community leaders.

  • Noura Elfarra

    Noura joined the YCore visioning board in early 2022. Passionate about various social equity issues, she is happy to have found a like-minded community in YCore. Noura received a B.A. from Stanford and a J.D. from UC Hastings. An attorney, Noura enjoys making music, playing tennis, and exploring new hiking trails in her free time.

  • Brittany Cheng

    Brittany was a Project Lead in YCore's second cohort in 2015-2016, working with CODE2040, and then served on the YCore Alumni Board from 2017-2019. She is currently a Product Lead at Seesaw Learning, a role she was introduced to by a fellow YCore alumni. Previously, she worked on search and international products at Yelp. Brittany is a local of the San Francisco Bay Area and proud UC Berkeley alumni. Outside of work and YCore, Brittany enjoys rock climbing, reading, and drinking tea, and is always looking forward to her next meal.

  • Claire Kaufman

    Claire is a passionate individual who is an advocate for people, diversity, and positive change. She has worked in the nonprofit sector and now the Big Four. Claire currently works on ESG, culture, and DEI efforts at KPMG. She strives to enhance the future of our society in her personal and professional life.

  • Andrew McCreary

    Andrew has worked in tech law, civic tech, and city planning and design. He earned his JD and MBA from Stanford.

Mentor Committee

  • Michelle Nie

  • Ro Rabines

  • Rodney Shibu

  • Coletrane Goodman

  • Liana Hsu

  • Jin Park

  • Willy Lee

  • Tracy Chow

  • Dave Leutger