Meet Our Team

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Board of Directors

Ryan Hundley
President and Corporate Liaison

For the past seven years, Ryan has worked at Google where he leads a team that creates outreach events and programs.  He's received degrees from the University of the Pacific and University of St Andrews, Scotland.  Ryan has volunteered for a number of organizations through the years, as well as serving as a board member for the Monterey County Chapter of the ACLU, and helped to found a local marriage equality organization in the wake of California's Prop 8.

Juan Herrera
Treasurer

Juan G Herrera was born and raised in Colombia before moving to the United States in 1998. Juan came to Miami, Florida to study Aviation and International Business at Florida Atlantic University.  For the past 15 years, Juan has held several positions at banking making a career in the Financial Industry. He is now an Academy Manager for a financial institution where he develops and delivers training to Relationship Managers across the country. He has vast experience in financing, learning & development, project management and education. Juan understands the asylum process as he was a recipient of political asylum back in 2005.

Gulhan Yuzgec

 
Gulhan has been working as a language expert for several corporations for over 7 years and is currently working at Facebook as language lead in Turkish.  He has been a great supporter for LGBTQ+ rights and been volunteering for the LGBT Asylum Project since inception. He managed corporate relations for The LGBT Asylum Project before taking on the role of Secretary.   

Chisimdi Ogbodo
LGBTAP Spokesperson

Dr Chisimdi Ogbodo is a Nigerian Physician.  He immigrated to the United States in December 2017. He was part of the NIH Funded Implementation Science Study of HIV Care and Prevention with men who have sex with men (MSM) in Nigeria. He managed a research/health clinic which carried out quarterly physical and clinical evaluation of MSM, testing and counseling on HIV (HCT). The positives were placed on anti-retroviral (ARV) and encouraged to bring in their partners to access health care. While the negatives are further evaluated, and encouraged to accept Pre exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) if found eligible. Currently, he lives in East Bay California and work with Gilead Sciences Clinical Operations, Late Phase HIV.

Anjali Rimi
Trans & Gender Non-Conforming Community Co-Liaison

Anjali Rimi (Koka) (pronouns: she/they) thrives in the community showing up as a leader driving accountability for Trans Justice. Keeping connected to her Indian Asian roots, she co-founded and serves as the President for Parivar Bay Area, the first South Asian TGNCI Queer Trans Organization. She leads the core team for COVID relief efforts in the Bay Area for the LGBTQ communities:
Rimi serves on boards for The LGBT Asylum Project, East Bay Stonewall Democrats and San Francisco Pride along with being on The Trans Advisory Committee with the Office of Transgender Initiatives, City of San Francisco. Anjali Rimi holds an MBA and has been in Corporate America for over 20 years in Business Development & eCommerce operations leadership roles. She is an effective facilitator and a consultant with DiversityJourneys holding workshops across many inclusion at workplace topics. She currently works for Constellation Brands as a Business Development Leader focused on Wine operations. "

Fatima Reynolds

Fatima Reynolds (pronouns: she/they) is an LGBT activist living in San Francisco. She is working in health care, and also a student.   Fatima is volunteering at several organizations including  SF AIDS Foundation, GLBT History Society, Transgender Historical District and The LGBT Asylum Project.

Sharla-Elyn Robinson
Secretary

Sharla-Elyn Robinson is a San Francisco native currently living in the East Bay.  She is currently putting her 20+ years of payroll experience to good use at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP, the first law firm with offices in all 50 states.  Sharla has raised funds for and participated in various walks for charities such as Santa Skivvies Run, AIDS Walk SF, March for Babies and is proud to join the LGBT Asylum Project.

Nicole Santamaría
Trans & Gender Non-Conforming Community Co-Liaison

Nicole Santamaria has expertise in healing justice and anti-violence work, and has been providing support to survivors of violence for over 20 years. Her work with the LGBTQI+ community started with creating and conducting art therapy workshops and research projects in El Salvador for survivors of anti-LGBTQI+ violence, domestic and sexual violence, and HIV-positive women. She then went on to co-found Colectiva Alejandria SV, collaborating with NGOs, activists, and government entities in Central America, the Caribbean and the US to create awareness around the violations and realities of LGBTQI+ communities.  

Nicole currently serves as Executive Director of El/La Para TransLatinas. Using a trauma-informed lens, she develops El/La’s diverse programs, supports staff development and growth, strengthens partnerships with community allies and organizations, ensures continued funding and financial stability, and serves as El/La’s spokesperson and representative to the public at large.