Staff

Zena arrived at CORA as the Children’s Program Coordinator after graduating from Santa Clara University with a B.A. in English Literature and Religious Studies. In 2016 she transitioned to a new team after receiving a promotion to Emergency Shelter Coordinator. Zena is passionate about working with youth and spends her free time practicing her clinical skills with court-mandated youth and their families at the Margaret J Kemp Camp for Girls and Camp Glenwood. With humor and coffee as her constant allies, Zena worked diligently to balance her academic and professional growth and has proven successful in both arenas. She was promoted to Emergency Shelter Manager in February of 2018 and is on track to graduate with her masters in May from the University of San Francisco.

Lynn is a graduate of the University of Arizona and cheers loudly for her Arizona Wildcats and the San Francisco Giants. Lynn is passionate about being a domestic violence advocate because – while no one wants to or feels comfortable talking about it – domestic violence touches everyone’s lives in one way or another. She is glad to be part of a team that is starting the conversation through its education and services.

Melissa received her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and holds a B.A. in Psychology and Criminal Justice from San Diego State University.  Melissa is passionate about helping survivors navigate the complexities of the civil and criminal legal systems and empowering them to make informed decisions for themselves.  In her free time Melissa enjoys rooting for the San Jose Sharks, spending quality time with family, and dancing.

Bio coming soon.

Tanisha received her Master’s in Public Administration from Golden Gate University and holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley.  A San Francisco-Bay Area native with over ten years of nonprofit management experience, Tanisha dedicated herself to a career in social services as a proponent of social justice and public advocacy. In a volunteer capacity, she currently serves as the President on the Commission on the Status of Women in San Mateo County and is an active member of the DV Council’s Coordinated Response Committee and the Pacific Islander Taskforce of the Bay Area. In her spare time, Tanisha enjoys spending time with family and traveling the world – soaking in the sun and exploring the vastness of culture outside of the U.S.

Celeste is from a small town in San Diego County named Fallbrook, also known as the avocado capital of the world and the friendly village. She relocated to the Bay Area in 2003 to attend college at San Francisco State University. She received her B.A. in Psychology and La Raza Studies. In 2008, Celeste joined the CORA team as a Crisis Counselor and in 2015 was promoted to the position of Crisis Support Services Coordinator.

Bio coming soon.

Lynn has worked in the non-profit field since 1991, focusing on financial and program development. She has raised millions of dollars for services benefitting children, youth and families in the Bay Area. Her financial and program development efforts have included work with the YMCA of San Francisco, Samaritan House and StarVista as well as CORA. Highlights of her efforts include: helping to fund and develop several of the YMCA’s beacon centers and technology centers; developing a plan for and securing an infusion of emergency funds for a cohort of San Mateo County’s safety net organizations during the 2008 financial crisis; securing funding for CORA’s second safe house and StarVista’s Pride Center. A San Mateo County native, Lynn has volunteered for her son’s schools from preschool to high school; her community volunteer work includes her appointment to San Mateo County’s LGBTQ Commission in September 2014. When Lynn isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with her family and taking vacations to locations of historical significance.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and raised in Mexico, Laura Siniego migrated to the United States in 2004. Her interests in psychology emerged from the challenges that the process of migration posed to her family. Laura obtained a BA in Psychology from the Intercontinental University, Mexico City in 1994. She pursued a Masters Degree in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy from the Mexican Association of Psychoanalysis, Mexico City (APM) in 1999, and a second Masters Degree in Family Therapy, awarded by the Universidad de las Americas (UDLA), Mexico City in 2002. For the past two decades, Laura Siniego has worked in Mexico as a research psychologist, university professor, licensed psychologist and in California as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Her current interest is in intimate partner violence among Latino communities. Her passion reflects her life’s work of bridging clinical psychology and the foregrounds of gender, ethnicity and sexuality in her clinical practice. Laura is an EMDR certified therapist and a California domestic violence counselor.