Cohort 6 (2022-2023)

As Senior Program Director, Community Investments, Huong Nguyen-Yap (she/her) is responsible for spearheading Women’s Foundation California grantmaking and convening strategies. Previously, she worked at Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees and Asian American Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy. Her work in the philanthropic sector is informed by her experience working in youth development and as a clinical social worker throughout the Bay Area. Her approach to grantmaking is also deeply informed by the values instilled in her as the daughter/niece/granddaughter of refugees from Viet Nam.   

She serves on several local and national boards, including EBAYC (Oakland), La Cocina, and Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC). Huong is also a member of the Hella Heart Oakland Giving Circle, focusing on strengthening and improving the health and wellness of Asian/Asian American women and girls in Oakland.   

She transferred from De Anza College before completing her Bachelor’s degree in Asian American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her Master’s degree in Social Work from San Jose State University. Huong lives in Oakland with her husband and two young children.   

Brandi “Bea” Williams serves as the organizing director for the Hip Hop Caucus. She is an award-winning and Accredited public relations professional turned broker for change who uses her diverse public relations background to negotiate opportunities, equity, and liberation for Black people. Brandi received her certification as a health coach and launched SoulMed, a holistic health collaborative for Black women. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and trauma, domestic violence, anxiety, and depression, she believes health is a radical act of social justice that can help change the trajectory of outcomes for Black people. It is through this lens that she is excited about a just transition. The transition will not only improve the environment and economy but change health outcomes for communities of color. 

M.Simone Boyd dreams of a day when her neighborhood will be free from violence, and as a novelist, neighbor, and speaker, she is working towards that day. Whether advocating with city administrators or organizing community bike rides, Simone tells stories.  

She uses her writing and creative practice — Boyd Creative Research, LLC — to amplify resident voices and secure resources for her historic Black neighborhood in Nashville, TN. To date, her efforts have helped:  

• secure local, state, and federal infrastructure investments to redress disinvestment  
• secure contributions from developers to address neighborhood needs  
• anchor Black-home ownership 
• launch a neighborhood-specific participatory budget fund  
• and unseat a problematic politician

Simone is the eldest of eight kids. Her awesome husband, Phillip, is an only child. They spend their time working on neighborhood projects, trying to keep their two children productively occupied, and standing around the kitchen plotting their next meal.  

Tracy Solomon has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years. She is currently retired, having worked for over three decades across the private, nonprofit, and government sectors. The common thread across her career has been her role as a creative problem solver, with the ability to find effective and collaborative approaches to strategic and operational challenges. She is known for making order out of chaos.   

After two years at the National Endowment for the Arts in the Theater program, she obtained her MBA from UC Berkeley. The next two chapters of her career included seven years at a specialty gift retailer, The San Francisco Music Box Company, and nine years at a graphic arts wholesaler, Portal Publications. During this time, she held various senior management positions, including strategic and financial planning, marketing, and project management.  

Tracy then transitioned to the nonprofit sector and began consulting for various local organizations focusing on strategic planning and project management. In 2008 she joined The Education Trust-West, one of the foremost education advocacy and research organizations in the State. After seven years of leading their strategic planning, budget, grants, and operations areas, she retired in 2015. Tracy is now an engaged philanthropist working with several nonprofit and political groups with a focus on education and social justice. In her spare time, she enjoys travel, reading, square dancing, pickleball and her five grandnieces and grandnephews.  

Ana Ramos is a visionary dedicated to reshaping our world into a more equitable and sustainable place for all through a fervent commitment to economic justice.

As the co-founder of Colectiva Clara (Clarity Collective), Ana leads a cultural asset company that specializes in Latin American healing products, traditions and rituals. Through Colectiva Clara, Ana orchestrates transformative visioning and manifestation rituals and workshops, guiding participants through meditation, healing practices and creative expressions to help them align their lives with their goals. Additionally, Ana serves as a consultant on local economic justice initiatives.

Previously, Ana served as the Manager of Impact Investments at Common Future, where she developed and structured innovative pilot products and initiatives focused on impact investment capital. Prior to this, she held the role of Manager of Programs and Grantmaking at Common Future, overseeing grants management and coordination processes.

During her tenure at The Food Trust, Ana collaborated closely with entrepreneurs in New Jersey, leading a small retailer initiative that culminated in securing partnerships with a local CDFI and cooperative development agency. Her efforts resulted in providing retailers access to affordable capital and the infrastructure to form their own cooperative. Ana also managed the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, a statewide program investing in new or expanding healthy food retail outlets. She also led a bi-national healthy food initiative in the Paso del Norte Region.

Ana holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Temple University and is deeply rooted in the Philadelphia community. Still, she is a true Caribbean at heart. Originally from the Dominican Republic, she is blessed to visit the islands often. When not at work, you can find her working on her social enterprise, Colectiva Clara, crafting, going on long walks in her neighborhood, dancing at home with her partner, cooking/eating and playing and learning with her daughter/bestie.

Ayushi Vig is a financial activist excited about reimagining and cocreating community financial institutions. She co-founded the Freedom School for Philanthropy, guiding high-net-wealth individuals to shift capital to grassroots movements. Previously, she was a founding staff member of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, which sparked a national movement on funder-grantee power dynamics, and a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. Ayushi is also an organizer with Friends of Public Bank East Bay, building the United States’ first public bank in 100 years, and with New Economy Coalition, building a grassroots funding intermediary for the solidarity economy movement.  

Ayushi was named a 2019 Dalai Lama Fellow for her social change work. She is currently a Leadership for Sustainability Fellow at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, engaging in practice-based inquiry around leadership in ecological justice. Ayushi also serves on the board of Collective Determination, fostering transnational dialogue on economic justice and just transition across North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.  

Ayushi is also an independent consultant, offering strategic planning and facilitation services for philanthropic and movement organizations, focusing on economic justice organizations. Current and past clients include the Raikes Foundation, Class Action/Staffing the Mission, Emerson Collective (via Impact Experience), Collective Capital Philanthropy Advisors, Radiant Strategies, Ktisis Capital, and Thousand Currents.  

Ayushi grew up in New Delhi, and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a BA in International Relations & Psychology from Stanford University, and a LIFT Next Economy MBA in regenerative finance. Ayushi is a yoga and meditation teacher, as well as a somatic practitioner. She enjoys reading, salsa dancing, and making “bad” art.