ABOUT US
Board of Directors
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Christina Pizarro
President
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
Denise Ellis
Vice President - Org
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. Contact
Karena Jew
Vice President - Policy
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
Lisa Guravitz
Secretary
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
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
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
Els Andersen
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. ej received the SBWPC Oak Award in 2025. Contact
Lynn Carter
Elsa Granados
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
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
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
Elizabeth Owen
Elizabeth Owen is a longstanding member of the Santa Barbara Women’s
Political Committee (SBWPC), contributing to committees such as Elections &
Appointments (past co-chair) and Fund Development. She previously served
on the Executive Board (1998-2004) and rejoins the Board of Directors in
2026. Liz has also served as a local elected official for the Hope School
District Board of Trustees and was appointed by the Santa Barbara City
Council to the City Arts Advisory Committee. Liz spent the majority of her
professional career in senior management positions at Serbin
Communications, an international publishing/marketing company based in
Santa Barbara. More recently, she was the Performing Arts Programming
Manager for UCSB Arts & Lectures before retiring in 2025. A lifelong supporter
of Planned Parenthood, Liz now joyfully volunteers throughout the year for the
Planned Parenthood Book Sale. Contact
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
