Meet the Team
Lachiwana is proud to have a dedicated staff and board. We are Queer, non-binary, and racially mixed.
Staff
Elena Aurora (They/Them/She)
Executive Director
Elena has shaped nonprofits since 2012, has been an entrepreneur since 2017, and has cofounded four queer POC collectives. They are an enthusiastic plant-person, focusing on community herbalism and ecological preservation. A child of the forest, Elena is guided by the natural world and encouraged by the prospect of humanity re-harmonizing with the environments around and within us.
Board
Marisela “MariFuego” Esparza (He/They)
Chief Executive Officer
MariFuego is a queer trauma informed bodyworker, cultural bearer, community weaver, and land defender of Purepecha descent. They have over a decade of nonprofit experience ranging from operations, fundraising, and program development. Some of Mari’s key accomplishments have been directing the SF Rapid Response Network to support im/migrants during ICE raids, expanding rapid response nationally, designing and implementing Undocufund; a mutual aid program for undocumented immigrants during covid quarantine, and fundraising over 5 million for immigration coalitions in the Bay Area.
Gualikuya Mariposa (They/Them)
Chief Financial Officer
Gualikuya offers full spectrum birth, death & grief care with the support of the plants and traditional, ancestral medicine. They identify as Queer and Two-Spirit and have roots in Boriken (Puerto Rico) and Poland.
Kaiayo Shatteen (They/Them/Theirs)
Chief Governance Officer
is an Afro Indigenous (Aniyunwiya & Chahta), Queer Parent of two young adults. They live on the Unceded Land of the Lisjan Ohlone People where they are a Reproductive Justice Advocate, Homebirth Midwife, and an LGBTQIA2S+ Equity Consultant. They give thanks to their Ancestors for guiding them daily. Kaiayo has a deep commitment to ending the injustice that puts BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ and Gender Non Conforming communities at the bottom when it comes to positive birth outcomes, access to inclusive health care, and equity in the workplace. Kaiayo is also a contributor to the book, The Majestic Place: The Freedom Possible in Black Women’s Leadership.
Previous Board Members
Sovereign Oshumare (They/She/He)
Chief Financial Officer 2022-2026
Sovereign is a catalyst, curator, educator, and alchemist of systemic change based in Denver, Colorado. They currently attend and teach at Naropa for the Center of Psychedelic Studies.