Jessica Pinckney is the executive director of ACCESS Reproductive Justice, a Reproductive Justice organization funding abortion and other reproductive healthcare. ACCESS removes barriers and builds the power of Californians to achieve reproductive justice. Jessica oversees the organization’s work to combine direct services, community education, and policy advocacy to promote real reproductive options and access to quality health care for people in California. No other organization in the state provides the same range of support for people considering or seeking an abortion. She returns to her home state of California after living for nearly a decade in Washington, DC, where she previously served as vice president of government affairs at In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, a national/state partnership with eight Black women’s reproductive Justice organizations, lifting up the voices of Black women leaders on national, regional, and state policies that impact the lives of Black women and girls through strategies such as leadership development, advocacy and policy change, and movement building. Jessica previously served as government relations manager for YWCA USA, one of the oldest and largest women’s organizations in the country and as the legislative analyst at the University of California (UC) Office of Federal Governmental Relations, representing one of the most recognized and renowned public institutions of higher education in the country. Jessica holds an M.A. in Government with a concentration in Political Communications from John’s Hopkins University and a B.A. in Political Science with an emphasis in Public Service from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She previously served as the Vice-Chair on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington and the Chapter Co-Director for New Leaders Council DC and remains a relentless advocate and activist in her spare time. She is an avid reader, a newly found peloton enthusiast, and a loving pet parent to her 8-year old American Bulldog, Pitbull Mix, Apollo.
Layidua Salazar migrated from Mexico City with her family at age five and firmly planted her Bay Area roots in Oakland. She is a first-generation college graduate, with a B.A. in History & Women’s Studies from San Francisco State University. A self-identified movement baby, she has been actively organizing in social justice fields since she was 14. Layidua an Abortion Storyteller with We Testify. In her spare time, you can find Layidua cooking and reading to Pretty Girl, her adorable 3-year-old pit bull.
Zakiya Luna was born in Oakland, CA, and moved around Northern California. Then she moved to the Midwest where she completed a Ph.D. in Sociology and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan (and MSW). That’s when she learned about the women of color-led reproductive justice movement including the work of ACCESS. After some time in Madison, she returned to Bay for a couple of years where she was housed at the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice at Berkeley Law, which she accidentally helped co-found (long story). She even became an ACCESS practical support volunteer in summer 2014—and promptly moved to Southern California for work, where she sought ways to remain connected to the RJ movement. That included becoming a CoreAlignGenerative Fellow (Blaze Cohort!) and a member of the Humane Resources Innovation Lab. She recently wrote a book, Reproductive Rights as Human Rights, Women of Color, and the Fight for Reproductive Justice. In her limited leisure time, Zakiya enjoys baking and learning to surf (or at least looking at the ocean).
Chibo interned at ACCESS WHJ in 2009-2010 as a Policy Advocacy & Community Mobilization Intern, where she first found her sense of community and belonging as a woman of color. With a passion for reproductive justice and health equity, Chibo served for the Peace Corps and Global Health Corps in Rwanda for three years working for the Ministry of Health in Maternal and Child Health Quality program interventions. Currently, Chibo is the Program Systems Coordinator at the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco, where she combines her love for data analysis/evaluation and policy advocacy to support marginalized immigrant survivors from domestic violence to self-determination. Chibo holds an M.S. in Global Health Policy and Management from Brandeis University and a B.A. in Sociology from Mills College. She is the proud daughter of a Korean immigrant and of her multi-ethnic identities as a Korean and Japanese American. In her free time, she loves to explore new trails for solo-hiking and cooking new Greek recipes with her partner.
Keely Tongate is a Co-Director with Philanthropy Advancing Women’s Human Rights (PAWHR). Keely was formerly the Director of Programs at Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights where she supported women’s human rights defenders around the intersection of security and sustainability in time-urgent situations. This experience made her a strong advocate for the necessity of funding feminist movements. Previously, she worked with refugees and asylum seekers in the United States, Moldova, and Turkey. Her gendered lens has always focused on the particular needs of refugee and internally displaced women and girls. Her experience ranges from the UN High Commission for Refugees and Caritas at the global levels to local resettlement programs. Additionally, she has conducted research for Transparency International-Moldova and managed a program for immigrant families in the United States. Keely received her M.A. in International Human Rights with a Certificate in Conflict Resolution from the University of Denver and holds a B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Sasha (she/her) first got her footing in reproductive justice& sexual education through her studies & work experience at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. There she studied Anthropology & Women’s Studies & worked as a peer educator in her campus’ Wellness Center, facilitating workshops on all things health & wellness, & distributing safer sex supplies by bike. After graduating in 2015, Sasha lived & traveled throughout South America for several years, falling in love with Latinx culture, experiencing barriers to reproductive healthcare, & eating lots of fruit. These experiences deepened her desire & commitment to work in reproductive justice & help shape a world where bodily autonomy & access to resources are a given for all. After moving to Oakland in 2018, Sasha found ACCESS & it was love at first sight. She began as a Healthline volunteer for over a year & then took a staff position as the bilingual Healthline Coordinator in March of 2020. When she isn’t working at ACCESS or seeking adventures in the sun, you can find her writing poems, running outside, and dreaming about raising honeybees.
Cynthia Gutierrez is a first-generation Nicaraguan Salvadoran organizer, strategic thinker, and facilitator. Cynthia is passionate about the intersection of reproductive justice, race, and the ways women of color have resisted and healed from harm done towards their reproductive autonomy. Ms. Gutierrez has a decade of social justice community work experience within the Bay Area. She is a Program Manager at UCSF HIVE and Team Lily. She also serves on the Executive Steering Committee for the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom. (
Sylvia Castillo joined Essential Access Health in 2014. As Senior Manager of Government and Community Affairs, she promotes and advances Essential Access Health’s policy platform to ensure access to quality, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care for all. Sylviaconducts community outreach and advocacy campaigns impacting women’s access to health care services and previously oversaw the Women + Health Care Reform Coalitions in Sacramento County and the Bay Area. She also serves on the Executive Steering Committee for the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom. Prior to joining Essential Access Health, Sylvia was a Policy Analyst at AltaMed Health Services in Los Angeles, where she advocated for the health and wellness of patients and their families and communities. A native of Los Angeles, she received her Bachelor of Arts in History and Latin American Studies from UCLA and is a Master of Public Affairs candidate at the University of San Francisco.
Rebecca Griffin is the Communications Manager for the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco. Before joining the Bixby Center, she worked as Associate Director of California Programs at NARAL Pro-Choice America, spearheading campaigns to pass proactive reproductive freedom legislation including the Reproductive FACT Act—the nation’s first statewide law targeting anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. She served previously as the Political Director for Peace Action West, an advocacy organization that works for smarter solutions to global problems. She grew up in Maine and has lived in the East Bay since 2003.
Daisy is the Abortion Training Coordinator for Training in Early Abortion for Comprehensive Health (TEACH) where she works to prepare the next generation of family medicine abortion providers. Inspired by her late mother’s struggles within the medical system, Daisy studied Community Studies and Feminist Studies at UC Santa Cruz with a focus on health justice. While in undergrad, Daisy was selected to participate in Civil 4Liberties and Public Policy’s Reproductive Rights Activist Service Corp (RRASC), where she was placed at ACCESS as a bilingual Healthline intern! Daisy is an aspiring midwife and aims to provide comprehensive reproductive health care in her future practice and advocate for accessible home birth options
Larada Lee is passionate about dismantling the white pathology within reproductive justice and centering Black voices in movement spaces. She began doing grassroots organizing at the age of 15 in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. She currently serves on the Creators Council for Advocates for Youth and does writing for the ChoiceWords blog for Unite Reproductive and Gender Equity (URGE). Larada is also an abortion storyteller for We Testify and has had featured in publications such as The Nation and Women’s Health Magazine, utilizing her own abortion experience to highlight the barriers to abortion access. Among her passions are her undying love for plants and being near bodies of water. 
Lisa Matsubara is the General Counsel and Vice President of Policy at Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California where she works on statewide public policy and advocacy focused on access to sexual and reproductive health care. Throughout her career, she has worked on a wide range of health care legislation and legal actions including birth control coverage, access to abortion services, medication abortion, public health, telehealth, patient privacy, and Medi-Cal. Lisa was raised in Japan and the United States and is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
Sonja Goetsch-Avila (she/her) is a queer woman of white and Mexican-American descent. She grew up on unceded Wiyot land, in a low-income, rural community in Northern California. Since graduating from UC Santa Cruz with her B.A. in Community Studies and Feminist Studies, Sonja has worked in various areas of the reproductive health, rights and justice sphere, including direct service, policy advocacy, client care coordination, program development, and community organizing. She currently serves as the California State Senior Organizer for 
