upcoming Board meeting
Public comments welcomed during our public open board session.
Next Board Meeting:
Tuesday, NOVEMBER 14, 2023 6:30 – 8:30pm
Join us in person
4102 19th St.
San Francisco, CA 94114
MEET OUR BOARD
ADAM LEONARD
Adam Leonard grew up in Minnesota but left the snow behind in 2010 and headed west to California. He first started in youth development working at a summer camp guiding canoe trips for teenagers in the Canadian wilderness. Adam has continued to work with youth ever since then, primarily in youth health education and promotion. He currently works as a Nurse Practitioner with the San Francisco Department of Public Health caring for adolescents and young adults in the Community Health Programs for Youth (CHPY) clinics.
He is proud to join the LYRIC family and support the organization’s inspiring work with LGBTQQ youth. Prior to joining the LYRIC board, Adam served as Co-President of the Northern California Chapter of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM). He also serves on SAHM’s LGBTQ Clinical Services committee and is co-chair of the Getting To Zero Adolescent and Young Adult committee. Some of Adam’s favorite indulgences include taking spin classes, eating take out food of all kinds, and drinking lots and lots of sparkling water.
ANDREW RAYNER, SECRETARY
Andrew Rayner (he/him) believes in building bridges and augmenting communities. Through his work, he helps individuals better understand themselves and the systems in which they are a part in an effort to create equitable and inclusive spaces and organizations. His 13-plus years of experience as a teacher, community organizer, facilitator, and consultant have afforded him the opportunity to work with CEOs, managers, teachers, community members, and young people in schools, non-profits, large tech, and other organizations across the country. He believes in an intersectional approach to DEI work with a race-forward lens. He currently works as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Business Partner at Meta. There he runs a suite of solutions that support the retention, growth, and development of underrepresented people in tech. He also is the chair of Black@Pride, an intersectional employee resource group that serves Black, queer staff.
Previously he was a founding team member and consultant at Promise54, an education nonprofit DEI, talent ,and organizational culture consulting firm. Before working at Promise54, Andrew worked as a founding member of the first KIPP Middle School in Boston where he was a 6th grade Math and Special Education teacher, and as a behavioral specialist at the Alliance for Inclusion and Prevention, Inc. Andrew started his career as a volunteer teacher of English in the Marshall Islands followed by teaching theater and social justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Andrew received his BA in English from Dartmouth College and EdM from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Andrew Rayner identifies as a Black, cis-gender, queer man. While he currently calls San Francisco home, he is originally from Chicago and still says “pop” instead of “soda.” He loves singing, cooking, writing, playing dodgeball, and complex conversations; Stevie Wonder, Bayard Rustin, and his parents are his idols.
EDDIE SHIEH
Eddie Shieh is a certified coach and design educator who works with underrepresented professionals in the tech industry. Prior to this, Eddie ran trainings and workshops to help teams at startups, e-commerce and financial services companies improve cross-discipline collaboration. And before that, Eddie worked as a User Experience Design consultant helping companies design more humane products.
As a fresh-faced student and transgender transplant from Baltimore seeking a better queer life in San Francisco in 2007, Eddie got involved in the LGBTQ+ community through volunteering at Lyon-Martin Health Services, Project HEALTH, TransTHRIVE, and API Wellness. Now all grown up—whatever that means!—Eddie is honored to join LYRIC’s board and apply his experience coaching leaders and facilitating collaboration to help further LYRIC’s mission to empower LGBTQ+ youth.
Eddie has an MFA in Computer Arts from the Academy of Art in San Francisco and a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art from the University of Maryland where he studied drawing, sculpture and printmaking. He loves to nerd out on deep life stuff, play board games, cook with his InstantPot and go hiking with his partner and two kids.
ERIK MARTINEZ, TREASURER
Erik Martinez is a manager in the Student & Family Services Division within San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), where he currently supervises student leadership and focal services for students, including LGBTQ Student Services, Foster Youth Services, Immigrant and Refugee Supports, and Students and Families Experiencing Homelessness. During Erik’s time in SFUSD, he led the launch of QGroups – psycho-educational groups for middle and high school students – that is now currently held by a collaborative between SFUSD, LYRIC and other local community organizations across 20 schools. Erik’s early experiences as LGBTQ+ youth worker in the central valley (Modesto) and San Francisco were fundamental to launching his leadership as a queer person of color and informs his lens working with youth. He is a proud alumnus of San Francisco State University where he earned his Bachelors in Psychology and Masters in Sexuality Studies.
Erik currently lives in Oakland with his husband and year-old pit mix, Corazon. When they are not working hard for public education, they love to spend time being complete sci-fi nerds, hosting friends and family on their patio with food and 90s R&B in the background, or trying out new recipes.
LARA MORGAN
Lara Morgan Rush is a fundraising professional with 16 years of experience in nonprofits, and has a deep commitment to creating a more just and equitable world through connecting people’s passion with purpose.
She currently serves as the Director of Development for Equal Rights Advocates, an organization dedicated to gender equity in education in the workplace and schools. Lara has also served as a Director of Development with youth-focused organizations Global Student Embassy, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, and Women’s Audio Mission. Earlier in her career, she also worked at the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association and volunteered with Equality California, both focused on advocacy for LGBTQI equality. Lara holds a Certified Fund Raising Executive credential from CFRE International.
Lara previously served on the Board of Directors for the Association of Fundraising Professionals Golden Gate Chapter as the Chair, VP of Membership and Co-Chair of the DEI Committee and the Director of Development and Community Engagement for the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network.
A native of California, Lara earned her Master’s degree in Integrative Coaching from the California Institute of Integral Studies, with her thesis focusing on improving education outcomes for underserved youth in the US. Prior to her Master’s work, Lara earned her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a focus on Law and Gender Studies. In her spare time, Lara has an active meditation practice, and currently lives her best queer life in California with her husband and two fur babies.
MICHAEL APPEL
Michael Appel is incredibly proud to be part of LYRIC and its critical mission of providing services to the community and advocating for LGBTQQ+ youth. Michael is a lawyer, communicator, and strategist. He grew up in Iowa, practiced law at a large firm in Washington, DC, and later transitioned to crisis management consulting. Now, he works at Google. For three years he led West Coast state and local policy communications and, today, he works on Google’s Global Affairs and Public Policy team as a campaign policy lead.
Michael believes that LYRIC is successful when it is supporting its staff and serving LGBTQQ+ youth through programs, services, and advocacy. Outside of work and volunteering, there’s a good chance you can find Michael on a tennis court or exploring San Francisco and the Bay Area with his partner, Jake, and their dog, Bella.
MIKE MILLEY, CO-CHAIR
Growing up in & around New York City, Mike Milley learned about queer culture and activism from some deeply fabulous old queens. Since our shared LGBTQ+ culture is so often rendered invisible, he hopes to keep that generational wisdom and support alive in his work at LYRIC.
Mike has worked as a Futurist and Creative Strategist at some pretty fancy companies, including Nike, Samsung, and BMW. In his current role at Mercedes-Benz, he is responsible for anticipating the social, cultural, and technological changes that will influence future U.S. consumer attitudes. He loves his work, and has learned to accept that being a Futurist sometimes means being tired of something that hasn’t even happened yet.
When he’s not speculating about what’s next, Mike loves trail running, Szechuan food, and The New York Times crossword puzzle.
Mike was educated at Columbia University and Parsons School of Design. He has been on the faculty of ArtCenter College for Design’s graduate Media Design Program since 2010. He has been a regular Guest Educator at The Cooper Hewitt/Smithsonian Design Museum’s children’s education programs. He is also the founder and Co-Chair of Mercedes-Benz R&D’s LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group.
PATTY BARAHONA, CO-CHAIR
Patty Barahona grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey where their family still resides. Patty attended Rutgers University, Douglass College where they received their Bachelor’s degree with a focus on Women & Gender Studies and then pursued a Master’s Degree Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) from the School for International Training located in Brattleboro, VT.
Patty’s nonprofit leadership experience began as Public Education Coordinator at the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA) working to support survivors of sexual assault and educate those who partner with survivors statewide. During their time at NJCASA, they developed curriculum with a focus on primary prevention and bystander interventions of sexual violence in the LGBTQ and Latino community. They then joined Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice in Oakland (now known as Forward Together) where they worked with SAFIRE, a young women’s leadership development program, and developed a political education curriculum focused on young mothers and the criminal justice system.
For the past 11 years, Patty has been with Youth Leadership Institute (yli) holding a variety of roles including starting as a Program Coordinator in Marin County, serving as the Director for the San Francisco office, the statewide Chief People Officer, and then becoming the Chief Executive Officer in 2019. Today, Patty oversees a staff of over 65 across the state of California and an annual budget of $9 million.
Patty is known for their energizing and excellent facilitating and is a highly sought after trainer, having trained thousands of young people and adults on making equitable change in their communities. In addition to their board service at LYRIC, Patty is Board Chair of Alianza Coachella Valley. Patty lives in Modesto California with their partner and 9 year old son and enjoys playing the harp and building community with new EDs of color across the state!
PHIL KIM
Phil Kim is the Director of Science, Technology, and Engineering for KIPP Foundation, leading the STEM vision and direction for KIPP’s 242 schools serving more than 100,00 students across the country. Phil began his years in education teaching 7th grade Life Science, then went on to hold various roles within STEM and Personalized Learning for KIPP Bay Area. He continues to work at the local, state, and national levels on Next Generation Science Standards implementation, curriculum, and STEM equity.
Phil holds a B.S. in Neuroscience from Bucknell University, and a M.A. in Urban Education Policy and Administration from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He remains active in the Bucknell network, serving as President of the Alumni Club of Northern California. Phil spends most of his time eating his way through neighborhoods and cities, and is deeply invested in communities and conversations at the intersections of policy, politics, and public education. He is a two-time city-wide candidate for the SFUSD Board of Education and Board member of the Alice B Toklas LGBT Democratic Club.