Pronouns : she / her / hers
Raquel has always felt drawn to public service and charity and spent almost a decade at a free dental clinic, first as the Director of Institutional Advancement before being promoted to Executive Director. She has experience working with nonprofits in public health, education, and libraries. As a Supervising Director at Elevate, she ensures the staff’s alignment to company goals, priorities, and expectations for client services.
Raquel is a long-time volunteer with her local Tots for Tots campaign, donating her time as its social media presence coordinator. Raquel earned an MS in Library & Information Science at Drexel University and a BA in Political Science at East Stroudsburg University.
When unplugging from helping to save the world, Raquel enjoys trying local coffee brewers and shops, walking along the canal towpath with her boyfriend and rescued black lab with a cold brew coffee, and renovating her late 1800’s historic home.
Pronouns: she/her/ hers
Lisa has a passion for supporting nonprofits in advancing their mission through her expertise and experience in former roles ranging from development, strategy consulting, program management, and board service.
Lisa has worked for organizations operating in many issue areas to help them gain the resources and operational agility to build strong programs and services. She transitioned her focus to the nonprofit sphere out of a desire to use her skills and expertise from her former career in finance. Lisa was a securities analyst during her finance career, both on the sell-side and in institutional asset management. She was also a banker with several global financial institutions in New York City.
Lisa has served as a volunteer for several organizations, specifically programs that support people with disabilities and limited access to healthcare. She has served on multiple nonprofit boards and is currently a board member of ArtStream, the Brem Foundation, and SEEC.
She is also a project lead for Compass, heading a team of volunteer business professionals conducting pro bono strategic consulting projects for local nonprofits. Lisa holds an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She received her BA from Duke University, where she majored in Economics and was an AB Duke Scholar.
Lisa believes coffee and dark chocolate are critical to getting the day off to a good start. Time with family and friends, walking, and keeping up with her book clubs fill the parts of her days she is not working or volunteering.
Johnisha’s approach to collaborating with Elevate clients is informed by her prior diverse experiences working alongside and at nonprofits. As the former Development Manager for The Nashville Food Project, she successfully secured foundation, corporate, and government grants to support programming that alleviates food insecurity, builds community, and creates a more just and sustainable food system. Prior to that, Johnisha managed a community-based culinary nutrition program active in 10 major cities that focused on the health of individuals of African descent. In addition to forging vital new community partnerships and conducting trainings for community leaders, she wrote and piloted a children’s version of a six-week culturally relevant curriculum. As a practicing attorney at a top 50 law firm in DC, she devoted hundreds of hours to pro bono legal work to a host of nonprofit causes. During law school, she also worked on behalf of incarcerated individuals seeking post-conviction relief, including with Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative.
Johnisha thrives as a generalist, and has therefore relished the opportunity to collaborate with a range of impressive nonprofits with missions that seek to promote or improve early childhood education, child welfare, environmental justice, racial justice, health equity, and adult literacy. As a Grants Specialist at Elevate, she advises clients on funding strategy, and works to strengthen existing language and develop language for new and innovative programming.
Johnisha has also contributed to Diversity Equity and Inclusion initiatives at her workplaces. Largely due to her efforts, The Nashville Food Project launched a standing committee composed of both Board and staff members to drive a comprehensive, organizational approach to DEI. She also served on Elevate’s Inclusion Diversity Equity Accessibility and Justice (IDEA + J) working group.
Johnisha was a recipient of the Center for Nonprofit Management’s Sam Howard Empowerment Fund for emerging leaders of color in the nonprofit sector and a LongHouse Food Media Scholar. She has published articles focused on social and racial justice in Yes! Media and is working on a memoir. She holds a JD from New York University School of Law, a BA from Harvard College, and an AAS from Johnson & Wales University.
Pronouns : she / her / hers
Amy comes to Elevate with diverse experience in education and the private sector. In these roles, Amy has worked on collaborative teams to achieve various types of goals including, reaching financial milestones and exceeding learning objectives. Amy is passionate about advocating for those with unheard voices, including individuals with disabilities and those negatively affected by the criminal justice system.
Amy holds a master’s degree in Grant Writing, Management, and Evaluation from Concordia University Chicago. Additionally, she has a master’s degree in Education from the University of South Alabama and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Troy University. Amy volunteers with animal rescue shelters to secure funding to reduce pet overpopulation and euthanasia rates.
During Amy’s off hours, you can find her tending to her cat sanctuary, currently numbered at 21 furry felines. She also enjoys exploring bookstores with her daughter and diving into comic
book movies with her partner.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Joanna has a career history working in the public (state government) and nonprofit sectors. Much of her work has focused on her passion for creating opportunities for affordable housing and addressing homelessness. She has held positions in nonprofit social service agencies administering housing programs and writing grants to support the agencies’ work. She has also worked as a consultant assisting local units of governments and nonprofits in designing and implementing affordable housing programs using public and private funding sources and helping organizations develop internally to ensure strong program delivery. Joanna worked for the Wisconsin State Division of Housing for a period of time before moving across the county to California. Prior to joining Elevate, Joanna had been working for a community-based organization, writing grants to support the agency’s overall work and providing programmatic support to the agency’s transitional housing programs for homeless families and youth aging out of the foster care system.
Joanna continues to be passionate about her belief in the importance of affordable housing. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Smart Share Housing Solutions, a local organization devoted to finding affordable housing solutions. She completed a master’s program in Public Administration at the University of Wisconsin’s La Follette School of Public Affairs and graduated from the University of Michigan with bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Women’s Studies. Before beginning graduate school, Joanna spent a year as a VISTA working for a nonprofit affordable housing developer. This experience was the beginning of the marriage of her interests in grant writing and affordable housing.
Joanna has lived all across the US but is happy now to call California home, where she enjoys the proximity to the ocean and the mountains.
Pronouns: he/him/his
Christian comes to Elevate with over a decade of experience serving nonprofits in education, housing, health and mental health, the arts, and social services. Prior to joining the team at Elevate, he served as the Executive Director of Care to Learn, a nonprofit providing funding to address students’ emergent health, hunger, and hygiene needs throughout Missouri. Growing up in a family that valued volunteerism and community engagement, he has seen countless examples of the difference that nonprofits make in their communities and is excited to help Elevate’s clients increase their impact. Before entering the nonprofit arena, Christian worked (briefly!) as an attorney and professor, teaching courses on animal law and criminal justice.
Christian earned his JD from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law and a BA in Philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis.
When not serving Elevate’s clients, Christian enjoys spending time with his fiancé, Serena, and their daughter Keener, reading, gaming, playing guitar, or watching any horror movies he can find.
Pronouns : she / her / hers
As an experienced project coordinator, Claire brings a passion for increasing educational equity to the Elevate team and its clients. In her former role with Americorps, she managed a maker-focused education program and associated grants for an Oakland, California school.
She has also contributed her skills to various education nonprofits in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, most recently, serving as a teaching artist at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, where she designed and implemented a middle school-making course.
A Bay Area native, Claire holds a BA in Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley, where she graduated with honors. Outside of work, Claire enjoys hanging by one of Pittsburgh’s many rivers, cooking meals with friends and taking her dog Rollo out on the town.
Pronouns : He, Him, His
Ben has a decade of experience in development, fundraising, nonprofit project management, and a lifelong passion for international development. Prior to Elevate, Ben worked with Canine Partners for Life (CPL), a small nonprofit that provides service dogs for people with disabilities. Before working at CPL, he worked in a rural area in South Sudan, developing and subsequently managing a large donor portfolio for two schools and a clinic.
Ben has a Masters in Public Administration with a focus on International Development from the University of York (UK), a BS in Biology from Eastern University, and a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification. He volunteers with several nonprofit organizations, and has served on nonprofit boards, working to improve their impact and fiscal sustainability, furthering his personal belief that people can do good in the world when they use their strengths and work together.
Although a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Ben has spent much of his life overseas. He enjoys volunteering, reading, cooking, spending time with loved ones, traveling, and trying to keep up with his high-energy border collie, Buna.
Pronouns : she / her / hers
Patrice comes to Elevate with a decade of marketing and communications experience. She has worked within the trade association, nonprofit, and small business sectors, and her experience ranges from leading brand strategies to managing nonprofit partnerships with organizations like Make-A-WishⓇ. Patrice has dedicated her career to connecting small businesses and nonprofit-based organizations with their target audiences through a mix of corporate strategies and grassroots marketing. She has a passion for collaborative strategy development and brand awareness campaigns and thrives when identifying emerging market opportunities and producing high-class content.
Patrice obtained her undergraduate degree in Business Management from Bowie State University and has continued graduate-level coursework at the University of Virginia. Outside of work, Patrice enjoys spending time with her husband and children, traveling, and live music.
Sarah came to Elevate with a drive to continue her career in public service and a passion for supporting programs and organizations that improve the quality of life for people around the country. Sarah has worked in local government in North Carolina with the Town of Boone and the Isothermal Planning and Development Commission, a regional Council of Governments. During her time in local government, Sarah worked closely with municipalities to encourage economic development, cultural resource management, and regional advocacy. Sarah has written grant applications for a variety of state and federal agencies including the Appalachian Regional Commission, FEMA, and HUD to name a few.
Sarah has her Master of Public Administration and BSBA in Marketing from Appalachian State University. A true “Boonie” at heart, Sarah can usually be found enjoying the outdoors via a kayak or hiking trail. Go, Mountaineers!
Sarah also enjoys spoiling her dachshund, Stella, and baking in her spare time. Her favorite baked good to share with friends and family is her nana’s famous pound cake.
