BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STAFF

ADVISORY BOARD

TO APPLY FOR CONSIDERATION TO JOIN THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CONSUELO RUYBAL – Co-Founder, Chair of the Board of Directors

Consuelo Ruybal is a Vice President, Group Creative Director at DIGITAS, an award-winning New York City marketing firm.  She leads a mix of visual designers, copywriters and usability engineers to create multi-channel marketing communications for Fortune 500 companies.

Consuelo brings a wide variety of skill sets to her advocacy work including branding, marketing, corporate identity work, user interface and website design.

Uma is the Clinical Research Coordinator at MassGeneral Hospital for Children. She is a long-time volunteer for the Mount Sinai Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention (SAVI) Program.

She has extensive domestic and international experience in community development, program and policy analysis, fundraising, and advocacy work, and has contributed years of service to the movement to end violence against women.

Uma graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology and completed her Master's degree in Urban Planning at New York University.


BENJAMIN DONSKY - Member

Benjamin is a Project Manager with a boutique urban redevelopment firm. He has extensive background in transportation planning and operations, holding leadership positions for the student transportation services at Brown University, which included driving and walking escort services provided by the school’s public safety department.  Following graduation, he consulted the University on a comprehensive re-design of the services.

Benjamin holds a B. A. in Urban Studies with Honors from Brown University and a Master's in City and Regional Planning from Rutgers University.


ALAYNA FRANCIS - Member

Alayna is the Manager of Media Relations for the Americas division of a global reinsurer. In this role, Alayna is charged with development of strategy and implementation for all external communications in Canada, United States and Latin America. 

She has more than a decade of experience in communications and public relations, having worked with a range of business-to-business clients including Guardian Life Insurance and Cablevision among others. She has participated in a variety of charity work, ranging from food-prep volunteer for God’s Love We Deliver, a charity that prepares and delivers food to home-bound AIDS patients to acting as a mentor for low-income women.

Alayna holds a B.A. in English/Communications from Hofstra University and is currently pursuing an M.B.A. at Baruch College, with a concentration in Marketing and Finance.

MARQUINA ILIEV - Member

Marquina Iliev is the Account Director for Firstlight ERA, an online advertising technology firm. She is an active board member of the University of Michigan Alumni Association of New York, where she serves on the scholarship and fundraising committees. She is fluent in conversational German.

Marquina holds a B.A. in Organizational Business and Sociology from the University of Michigan.


STEPHANIE JOSON - Member

Stephanie Joson works at an art gallery and manages a wide variety of its functions, including press relations, writing and editing, archiving, rights and reproductions, and graphic design.  

Involved with RightRides since 2006, she assistd in fundraising efforts, volunteers as a Navigator in the driving program, and serves in the Leadership Circle's outreach committee.  She is honored to have recently won a Distinguished Defender Award from RightRides and to be one of its newest board members.

Stephanie received a B.A. from Fordham University, where she studied Visual Arts and Communications and Media Studies.

SAMANTHA OLAYA - Member

Samantha Olaya works at Smith Barney, a subsidiary of Citigroup, where she wears many hats.   Currently, she is working with various departments to create a system that streamlines processes for corporate and field users. 

As a RightRides volunteer since 2004, she has driven people home, helped with fundraising efforts and dispatched.  She is an execution-oriented person at work and in volunteer efforts, and is up for the challenge of expanding RightRides domestically.

Samantha holds a B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations from Boston University and will pursue a M.A. in Social-Organizational Psychology in the near future. 

CHAITRA "Chai" SHENOY, ESQ. - Member

Chai Shenoy is the Policy & Technical Assistance Attorney at Break the Cycle, Inc., a national non-profit empowering and educating youth and young adults on dating violence and domestic violence.  In the East Coast office located in Washington, DC., Chai represents D.C. youth seeking civil protection orders, child custody & support, and other family law related issues. 

Prior to working for Break the Cycle, she lived in NYC and worked as the Domestic Violence Policy Analyst at government office.  During her time in NYC, Chai volunteered for RightRides and became passionate about the organization's mission and purpose.  Chai is currently a rape crisis counselor for DC Rape Crisis Center. 

Chai is originally from the Bay Area, California.  She holds a B.A. from UCLA and a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law. 

NICHELLE STEPHENS - Member

Nichelle is a freelance bookkeeper, blogger and social media strategist.  She has held Senior Risk Management Consultant and Senior Accountant positions at Protiviti, KPMG, Deloitte & Touche, among others. Nichelle is currently a Business Advisor for AllBusiness.com, where she blogs about accounting issues for small businesses.

Nichelle received her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Cincinnati.

STAFF

ORAIA REID – Co-Founder, Executive Director

With over a decade of grassroots organizing experience, Oraia is committed to empowering communities on behalf of LGBTQ, socio/political justice, and women’s rights issues with a focus on ending sexual assault.

Serving as the Executive Director of RightRides For Women’s Safety, Oraia has been instrumental in launching the organization from vision to operations and significant growth, by overseeing strategic and programmatic development, public relations, fund development, along with community and sponsorship relations.

Under her direction, RightRides has received awards, community recognition and press coverage. She is also sought for speaking engagements at conferences about her experiences as a young activist, community leader and social entrepreneur.

Recently, Oraia completed executive education certificates from Harvard Business School in Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations, and from Columbia Business School's Institute for Not-For-Profit Management, certificate of Middle Management.  She is also a 2007 Junior Fellow at the Nonprofit Leadership Development Institute at the United Way of New York City.

ERIN ARMSTRONG - Program Manager

Erin started volunteering for RightRides in 2006 as a Navigator and a Dispatcher. For her dedication to the RightRides mission, she was honored with the Distinguished Defender award at the 2006 Friends of RightRides Social.   In 2007, she joined the RightRides staff as the Program Manager. She is responsible for coordinating RightRides volunteers, community based outreach, fostering partnerships, as well as general program management for RightRides for Women's Safety.

Erin originally comes from a small town in Utah but moved to New York City in 2005 after transitioning from male to female.  Since transitioning, Erin has worked tirelessly to promote Transgender awareness and create a positive image of the Transgender population.  She runs the most subscribed-to Transgender blog on YouTube.com and is featured in Rolling Stone magazine's “Hot Issue” in October 2007.   Erin is also the subject of a 2007 documentary detailing her life after transition, the rise of her blog as an expression of herself and others.

Previously, Erin held positions as the Director of Costuming for Ricky’s and Marketing and Public Relations Manager for Halloween Adventure.  She now looks forward to bringing her skills and talents to the RightRides team and can’t wait to see where RightRides will take her in the future.

ADVISORY BOARD

Purva Panday, Worldwide Campaign Manager, V-DAY

Tracy Hobson, Executive Director, The Center for Anti-Violence Education

Stephanie Blackwood, Account Director, Double Platinum

Nathan Burgess, Director, Ripp Media

Janet Weinberg, Senior Managing Director, Development & Legislative Funding, Gay Men's Health Crisis

TO APPLY FOR CONSIDERATION TO JOIN THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

We are actively expanding and diversifying our board. At this time, we are seeking dedicated leaders in the non profit and for profit sectors, especially those with senior-level experience in operations managment, human rights, community organizing and/or fund development areas.

We are seeking Board Member Candidates with these specific skill-sets, abilities and interests:


Strategy/Operations Management - Seeking candidates with senior-level experience (10+ years) in Strategic Planning, Operations Management, Program Development and/or Evaluation either in the for- or nonprofit sector.  Ideally, candidates will have experience in Mergers & Acquisitions, national expansion via licensing agreements and/or establishing affiliates.  Members must have strong interest in working closely with the Executive Director, staff and key volunteers (including ad-hoc Board Committees when created) to develop a long-term operations strategy for organization, including performance management on various levels.

Community Organizing/Community Activist - Seeking candidates with experience (or interest) in working with marginalized communities and who have (or wish to) successfully organize community members towards social change.  Ideally, candidates will have experience working for social change by evaluating community needs across race, class and gender-identity spectrums and within the same or similar constituents that RRWS serves.  Candidates will also have experience (or interest) in working with local government, law enforcement, and/or transportation authorities.  Committee members will assist Executive Director in evaluating the safety needs of and organizing community members to effect policy change.

Major Donor/Fundraiser - Seeking candidates who are, or with strong ties to, Major Donors and who can work closely with the Executive Director and the Board Fundraising Committee to successfully solicit and secure major donations, including corporate sponsorships.

Event Planning - Seeking candidates with experience (or interest) in planning medium- to large-scale fundraising events.  This committee will be responsible for organizing the 2009 Friends of RightRides Social and Distinguished Defender Awards, in celebration of our 5th Anniversary, in 2009.  Key aspects will include:  establishing the Host Committee, soliciting and securing items for the Silent Auction, soliciting and securing ad placements in the event program, soliciting and securing group ticket sales, assisting with event logistics and event in-kind donations.

Help us grow RightRides For Women's Safety into a prominent organization! If you are interested in becoming a member please and request an Application. We'll send you this document, and ask you to return it along with your resume/CV. Our Nominating Committee will be in contact with you upon receipt.