Meet Our Team
Adriana Guerrero, Executive Director
(She | They | Ella)
Adriana comes to Brown Girl Surf with over 13 years of experience in education and youth development. A common thread that weaves Adriana’s professional aspirations and beliefs together is her pursuit of social justice with a youth development-lens and community-based approach. Over the last decade, Adriana has worked in a variety of capacities in the nonprofit sector across the globe with communities ranging in their socioeconomic, cultural, and language backgrounds. Outside of work, Adriana has served on the leadership team for Women’s March Oakland and currently serves as the Secretary on the Board of Directors at Camp Phoenix, and the Alpha Chi Omega Chapter Advisor at UC Berkeley. Adriana holds a B.A in Psychology from Arizona State University and a Master’s in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco. Adriana resides in Huchiun/Oakland with her partner and their dogs, Nova & Roux.
Madoka Hara, Program Director
(She)
Born in California, raised mostly in Japan and Europe, the ocean and nature was always a source of refuge and grounding for her as someone who grew up as a mixed-race, ethnically ambiguous and often culturally "confused" human. Madoka comes to Brown Girl Surf with a decade of experience in nonprofit organizing and development. She also had stints of working as a full time yoga / mindfulness / sex-ed teacher for high schools across the Bay Area, followed by a chapter of being a full time gardener for some time. Madoka earned her B.A in Comparative Literature at Chapman University - her apartment table is full of books she is reading simultaneously. She is a passionate advocate for decolonizing the wellness world, creating more access to movement for those who are limited in mobility and/or access to embodiment and somatic practices of healing - which includes surfing! On her days off, you can find Madoka floating, swimming or surfing in the ocean or completely covered in soil while tending to her back yard.
Marlim Reynosa ricardo, Program Specialist
(She | They | Ella | Elle)
Marlim is an avid surfer who has competed in national surf contests in her home country, the Dominican Republic. Following her completion of the International Surfing Association Level I Surf Instructor program in March 2017, she joined the surf instructor volunteer crew at Brown Girl Surf. Her experiences as a female surfer in the Dominican Republic and as a Latina in the U.S. fuel her dedication to empowering women of color through outdoor recreation. Marlim loves music and arts and is trained in opera and classical vocal performance. She holds a degree in French Studies from Chapman University with a minor in Music. She resides in Huchiun/Oakland, CA, and you can find her prancing around in nature or humming tunes in between sets of waves.
Kimiko Russell-haltermaN, environmental educator
(She)
Kimiko was born and raised in Huchiun/Oakland, and has always been captivated by the pull of the ocean. She left the Bay Area to attend UCSB, where she studied Environmental Science and Education, fell in love with teaching, learned to surf and spent as much time as possible playing in the sea. Following graduation she briefly lived in Barbados, working as a Divemaster and studying marine biology. For the past few years she has had the joy of living and working on Pimugna/Santa Catalina Island as an outdoor educator. Kimiko is now beginning her graduate studies focusing on equity and justice in environmental & outdoor education and is thrilled to have journeyed back to her beloved hometown as a member of the Brown Girl Surf family. She finds joy in sunrises, big bowls of noodles, being in water, dancing and getting crafty.
Sutara Nitenson, program coordinator
(They)
Sutara is a water child at heart and has a passion for nuturing healthy relationships between humans and the sea. Sutara completed their B.A. in Environmental Studies at UCSB with a research focus on sustainable aquaculture and has a certificate in Marine Diving Technologies. They are interested in ocean food systems, increasing access to sustainable seafoods, and the ocean as a means to empowerment! Sutara has worked as a research assistant on projects surrounding sustainable shellfish aquaculture, human rights in the seafood industry, and social responsibility in seafood supply chains. They also had a brief stint working as a maintenance technician on an oyster farm! Sutara can most commonly be found with a surfboard too big to fit under their arm, sharing snacks at the beach, or working on some creative endeavor involving trash and art.
Stephanie chang, advocacy specialist
(She)
Stephanie is passionate about the intersection of the environment and health, and joins Brown Girl Surf after working as a physician, documentary filmmaker, and communications specialist in West Africa, the Middle East, and the United States. She holds degrees in social welfare, population health, and medicine from UC Berkeley and Brown University, and has studied at Harvard University and the UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art. When not advocating for more equitable ocean access, Stephanie works as a clinician and advocate for reproductive rights and homeless health. Her pastimes include listening to music too loud, watching boring documentaries, and finding any excuse to get in the water.
Anastasia Bloise, Administrative coordinator
(She)
Anastasia was born and raised on Ohlone Land/San Francisco, and joins the Brown Girl Surf team with an immense love for playing in the ocean. She is the happiest when she is snuggling her fur babies, catching a wave, or eating a pickle. Anastasia was first introduced to surfing by her parent, but most recently fell in love with it when she was obtaining her B.A. in Communications at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Playing in the water, sitting on the beach, or immersing her body in water gives her a sense of grounding, calmness, and a moment of peace in our chaotic world.
Mira Manickam-shirley, co-Founder
(She)
Mira Manickam-Shirley is a Co-Founder of Brown Girl Surf and previous Executive Director. She is a long time environmental educator and artist in the San Francisco Bay area, former Youth Program Coordinator at NatureBridge, and a recipient of an Open Circle artist grant, and an Audobon Toyota TogetherGreen fellowship for her innovative work with youth in nature. She holds a degree in Environmental Studies from Brown University and a Master of Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry. She is the author of the book Just Enough, available through the University of Washington press.
Farhana Huq, Co-founder
(She)
Farhana is an award-winning, visionary, social entrepreneur and professional coach. She’s done everything from being a member of the U.S. National Karate team in her youth, to creating educational soap operas to help low-income immigrant women start their own businesses in America. She began volunteering when she was 14, and eventually worked on issues of homelessness and housing, dance arts programs for youth and anti-war activism for Congo.
At the age of 24, she founded C.E.O. Women, a non-profit dedicated to helping low-income immigrant and refugee women become entrepreneurs. Farhana ran the organization for 11 years and helped over 2,000 women in the process. In 2008 she founded Bay Area Friends of the Congo, an all volunteer group led currently by Congolese-American activists, dedicated to raising awareness and ending the mineral conflict in Congo. She went on to start Brown Girl Surf in 2011. Currently she runs Surf Life Executive Coaching TM, where she coaches game changing leaders and entrepreneurs towards a business and life they love using a creative mix of applied neuroscience, surfing, walking and coaching. In early 2016 she stepped away from being Executive Director of Brown Girl Surf and now acts as an advisor and volunteer for the organization.
Farhana loves to dance and drum, and is trained in the North Indian classical and Tahitian Ori traditions. She also has a natural wanderlust, and has traveled to almost 40 countries. Her travels, commitment to the empowerment of women and girls, and her love for surf, art, dance and the planet inspired the vision for Brown Girl Surf TM. Farhana resides in Huchiun/Oakland, California and enjoys surfing all types of waves on California’s Northern and Central coasts. To learn more about Farhana and her other work, visit her personal website: www.farhanahuq.com.
Advisors:
Youth Rising Leaders Team Spring 2021:
Masai'a Abrams, Xitlalmina Arroyo, Josephine Baker, Lola Brown, Indigo Eatmon, Alina Flemmings, Kawayan Bolick Ong, Zuheili Romero, Tamra Tawakol, Ana Louisa Tetlow, Bella Esperanza Coronado Toscano, Ruby Estrella Coronado Toscano, Brisa Tromllinger, Soleil Warner, Shauntiara Williams, Lea Williamson, Luna Yoo
BGS Surf Instructors Spring 2021:
Marion Adeney, Erina Alejo, Cristine Blanco, Shannon Brown, Reina Cabezas, Michelle Capobres, Momo Chang, Stephanie Chang, Malika Dale, Mylah de la Rosa, Chloe Erskine, Soliver Fusi, Salomeh Ghorban, Megan Hanebutt, Madoka Hara, Lana Ho, Shalini Kannan, Megan Leppla, Serena Llamas, Olivia VanDamme, Tera Neff, Karen Nga, Dana Poblete, Tiffany Refuerzo, Rebecca Sandidge, Alisa Serio, Bonnie Simpraseuth, Sue Jean Sung, Molly Tafoya, Suzanne Turrell, Connie Yang