ABOUT US
Board of Directors
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Elsa Granados
Co-President
Elsa Granados joined the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee Board in 1999. As a board member, she has served as a member of the executive committee in the capacity of Vice President of Policy, Vice President of Organization and Secretary. She has also served as the Chair of the Elections and Appointments and the Outreach Committees. She also participated on the Fund Development, Candidate Development and Membership Committees. Ms. Granados has a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Public Administration.
For the past 19 years, Ms. Granados has served as the Executive Director of Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center. She has been a member of the board of directors of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA), and of the Fund for Santa Barbara.
In addition, she served on the Santa Barbara County Affirmative Action Commission. Elsa was the 1st recipient of the SBWPC Oak Award in 2023. Contact
Lisa Guravitz
Co-President
Lisa has served on the SBWPC board for 23 years in a variety of positions, including President. As a lifelong feminist, Lisa loves working with such a dynamic, diverse group of women. Lisa has served on the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Board and as President of her Homeowner’s Assoc. Board. She has been a mentor and campaign manager for two Carpinteria City Councilwomen and strives to encourage women to find their seats at the table. Lisa was the 2024 recipient of the SBWPC Oak Award.
She volunteers with Carpinteria Seal Watch, Carpinteria Beautiful, and as a Medicare Counselor. Lisa enjoys spending time with her family as well as playing & teaching mah jongg. Contact
Paula Lopez
Vice-President
Paula Lopez is a ninth generation Santa Barbara native. She is a direct descendent of Lt. Pablo Cota a founder of the Presidio Santa Barbara. Paula attended local schools and graduated UCSB with a bachelor’s degree in History of Public Policy and a minor degree in Political Science.
Paula worked as an Emmy Award winning broadcast journalist in the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara television markets for thirty years. While at KCAL in Los Angeles she anchored award-winning coverage of the Los Angeles Riots, the O.J. Simpson murder trial and the Northridge Earthquake. At KEYT Santa Barbara Paula anchored and reported for the evening broadcasts and produced and hosted the award-winning live town hall meetings on important community issues. She also emceed events for Old Spanish Days, and the Unity Telethon for decades.
Paula is the recipient of the Women of Achievement Award from Women in Communications, the Champion Award from the Santa Barbara Community Action Commission, the Community Hero Award from the Santa Barbara County Education Office the Influential Latino Award from Latino Today, and the Hispanic Achievement Award from the Santa Barbara Achievement Council.
Currently Paula is a realtor for Sotheby’s International Realty and the principal for Paula Lopez Productions. Contact
Marisol Alarcon
Treasurer
Marisol Alarcon is an immigration attorney located in Carpinteria. She is a dual citizen of the United States and Chile. She was born in the United States to immigrant parents, so she understands the unique challenges of growing up with parents whose first language is not English. She believes in contributing to the community and is currently a board member of the Latina Professional Alliance, Santa Barbara County Bar Foundation and Teen Legal Clinic. In the past, she has served as President of Santa Barbara Women Lawyers and has been a board member of the Carpinteria Children’s Project and Family Service Agency. She is also a member of the Santa Barbara Latino Giving Circle, which was inaugurated in 2019. Contact
Christina Pizarro
Secretary
Christina has served in the public and non profit sectors for several years. Her true passion is social justice – women’s equity, immigrant rights, marriage equality, gun safety, education parity for all students, health care for all, environmental justice, and further strengthening the community safety net.
Ms. Pizarro received her Bachelor’s degree from University of California, Berkeley and earned a Master’s in Public Administration and Public Policy from the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy. She enjoys volunteering, taking lengthy trips abroad, interacting with people from all walks of life, and expanding her cultural competency. Contact
BOARD MEMBERS
Rachel Aarons
Rachel is a psychotherapist who has been in private practice for over forty years. She currently specializes in working with trauma and attachment wounds going back into early childhood when there is no language and no explicit memory. Before she discovered her vocation as a therapist, she was a philosophy professor at the University of Toronto. She is the author of four books, three in therapy and one in philosophy.
Rachel’s passion for women’s issues began with the first book gifted to her by a colleague back in the 60’s entitled “Sisterhood is Powerful.” She went on to found and coordinate a Women’s Resource Center in a rural logging town north of Vancouver in Canada. Years later, she reiterated this feminist theme by founding and coordinating the Women’s Empowerment Project at the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara including an annual grant, a women’s film series and a women’s speaker series. She is currently a member of the Justice and Equity committee at USSB with a focus on women.
In her more than twenty years in Santa Barbara, Rachel has been involved with the Santa Barbara Women’s Foundation, the SB Women’s March, Dining for Women, the Dolores Huerta Street Renaming Project, the EEL committee of Democratic Women, and the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee. For SBWPC she served on the L&A committee, the ERA committee, the E&A committee and several Candidate Assessment Teams.
She has 2 amazing sons and an equally impressive little grandson. Contact
Vicki Allen
“I am a native of Chicago and have lived in Santa Barbara for 32 years. I graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism. I was a reporter for the Champaign-Urbana News Gazette—the first woman in that newspaper’s history to be assigned a city beat. I was a writer and editor for several California newspapers, was a partner in a public relations firm, coordinated publicity for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, did magazine travel writing, and volunteered for the PTA and other local organizations.
I am on the board of the League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara. I was data entry coordinator for the county 2008 Obama campaign and have been involved in several local political campaigns. I hope to see more women involved in politics and am a strong supporter of SBWPC’s issues and goals.” Contact
ej Borah
ej has been a political activist since she graduated from UCSB in 1958. She is a retired teacher of 40+ years. She has traveled to every continent on the planet and taken a dip in both the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans (and has the tattoos to prove it). ej moved back to Santa Barbara in 2003 to help her daughter, Farfalla, raise Rosalind (in college now). Besides serving on the SBWPC Board, she is on the Democratic Women’s Board and is an elected official of the Democratic Central Committee. Contact
Denise Ellis
Before moving to beautiful Carpinteria in 2022, Denise (she/her) lived and worked 40 years in Chicago. She was passionate and active defending women’s and immigrant rights, providing food and housing security, and access to healthcare for marginalized communities. Denise actively volunteered with Lesbian Community Cancer Project, Planned Parenthood, The Night Ministry, Centro Romero, and Howard Brown Health, the Midwest’s largest health organization focused on the LGBTQ+ community. Having a 45 year career in hospitality, Denise was an instructor and on the Board of the Culinary School of Kendall College. For the last 18 “working years”, she directed six restaurants north of Chicago at Lake Forest Place.
Since moving to Carpinteria, Denise volunteers with Carpinteria Sealwatch, Carpinteria Beautiful, and the Santa Barbara Foodbank, delivering food for seniors and teaching cooking classes to middle schoolers. In her spare time, Denise enjoys movies with SBIFF, gardening, birdwatching, cooking, sunsets and 52 weeks of farmers markets.
Politically, she worked to elect many women in Illinois and progressive aldermen and state representatives. Her passion to encourage and support women in leadership positions drew her to SBWPC.
Dana Goba
Dana Goba was born and raised in the metro-Detroit area where she grew up volunteering at numerous organizations. When she moved to Santa Barbara in 2002, she began a career in health and human service nonprofits. Dana has worked for United Way and Cottage Health, and she is currently with the Central Coast Medical Association. She is a past president of the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara Sunrise and is on the board of ASAP Cats. She joined SBWPC in 2016 and is serving on the Elections & Appointments committee.
Contact
Hathor Hammett
Hathor is an artist and mask maker. She has been a social justice activist since the 1960s. Her awards include 1997 Gay and Lesbian Business Association Humanitarian Award, NASW 2013 Public Citizen of the Year, and 2013 Independent Local Hero award. Contact
Karena Jew
Karena is a graduate of UCSB and the Santa Barbara College of Law. She sees her service on the SBWPC Board as complementary to her other community work on SB Women’s March, the Board of Zona Seca and the Asian American History Committee of the SB Trust for Historic Preservation. She was a member of the District Elections Committee that successfully advocated for district-based elections for Santa Barbara City Council. She is trained as a mediator and has been a long-time advocate for restorative justice, bringing speakers and training to the Santa Barbara Courts, School Districts, and UCSB. She was also involved in creating an elective course in Restorative Justice at the Colleges of Law.
A former employee of PUEBLO (now CAUSE), she edited the Immigration Committee’s participatory oral history project, In the Shadows of Paradise: Testimonies from the Undocumented Immigrant Community in Santa Barbara. Karena formerly worked with Babatunde Folayemi at the Pro-Youth Coalition Community Initiative to Reduce and Prevent Gang Violence, and has been involved with other youth work, including Primo Boxing, Say Yes to Kids Program and City at Peace. Karena was appointed to serve on the City of Santa Barbara Community Development and Human Services Committee for over a decade. Contact
Sandy Kievman
Sandy Kievman retired after thirty years of working for Los Angeles City Council and the City Attorney of the City of Los Angeles. Although her jobs had different titles, her role in each job involved community relations, helping to solve problems by building coalitions of residents, nonprofit organizations, service clubs, local businesses and City and County organizations, for the purpose of collaborating in finding solutions to community problems.
Sandy founded and chaired two organizations, Keep Youth Doing Something (KYDS), a successful program aimed at keeping underserved youth from being involved in gangs and also the San Fernando Valley Coalition on Gangs, a community based policing program, consisting of 52 organizations, aimed at breaking down barriers between police and at-risk youth.
Upon retiring, Sandy moved to Santa Barbara and volunteered in the Mayor’s office; is on the Community Relations Committee for Jewish Federation; and is a Member of the Board of Santa Barbara Gray Panthers. She served on the Board of the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee for several years and has been a member of the E&A Committee for close to seven years. Contact
Wendy Sims-Moten
Wendy Sims-Moten has been a pillar of the County of Santa Barbara for 28 years. Her journey began with two years in General Services, and she now holds the position of Executive Director of First 5 Santa Barbara County -focus on children prenatal to 5 and serves as Vice President of the First 5 Association Executive Board. Her academic credentials include a Bachelor’s Degree from Pacific Oaks College.
Wendy’s passion extends beyond her professional life. As a 40-year resident of Santa Barbara County she is deeply invested in the growth and prosperity of her community and its residents. Her civic engagements are diverse and numerous, ranging from the President of Board of Trustees of Santa Barbara Unified School District, Organizer and Chair for the African American Women Luncheon of Santa Barbara County, Board Member of CAUSE Action Fund, Board Chair of Gateway Educational Services, Board Member of the McCune Foundation, Alumni of Emerging Leaders, and proud member of St. Paul AME Church.
When she steps away from her civic duties, Wendy enjoys quality time with her adult son, reading, watching tennis, acting, and singing. She cherishes moments of laughter and conversation with her loved ones.
Diana Villanueva
I was born in Guatemala and was brought as a child to Santa Barbara. I went through the school system in Santa Barbara from elementary school to high school. When I was 16, my mother passed away from cancer and I, along with my sister, were adopted. My adopted parents helped me go through the immigration system and be able to get my citizenship 9 years later.
During this difficult time, I graduated from high school with honors, attended college at Westmont and majored in Political Science with a minor in Spanish. After college, I received my master’s in public administration with honors from the University of San Francisco.
Throughout my professional career I have worked for non-profits, private companies, and now for the Federal government. I have worked for childcare programs, in the healthcare industry, and have done housing rights in San Francisco. I have been working for the Congressman and have gained a lot of experience in the past six years. I am now the Deputy District Director and Scheduler and have learned several skills throughout my different positions. I am passionate about contributing to my community, creating opportunities for others, and uplifting the voices of those who aren’t always represented.” Contact
