GirlVentures Staff

Jenny Lam
Executive Director
jenny@girlventures.org
tel: 415.864.0780 ext. 306

Priscilla McKenney
Program Director
priscilla@girlventures.org
tel: 415.864.0780 ext. 303

Cori Coccia
Community Program Manager
cori@girlventures.org
tel: 415.864.0780 ext. 308

Claire Williams
Development Associate
claire@girlventures.org
tel: 415.864.0780 ext. 307

Sarah Gill
Director of Outreach & Admissions
sarahgill@girlventures.org
tel: 415.864.0780 ext. 304

Sarah Heath
Program Manager
sarah@girlventures.org
tel: 415.864.0780 ext. 302

Susannah Harris
Marketing & Administration Manager
susannah@girlventures.org
tel: 415.864.0780 ext. 305

Instructor and Logistics Staff

Read about our instructors
Read about our assistant instructors
Read about our summer Logistics Team

 

Jenny Lam, Executive Director
Jenny recently joined the GirlVentures community in June 2008.  She was first introduced to GirlVentures in 2002 and deeply connected with the organization’s mission.  Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jenny brings more than ten years of experience in the areas of organizational development, community education, and advocacy. Prior to joining GirlVentures, Jenny had a six-year career with the Oakland Asian Students Educational Services (OASES) where she most recently held the Deputy Director position.  As the Deputy Director, her responsibilities included managing the organization's educational programs, fund development, fiscal and internal operations. She began fulfilling her commitment to youth and community empowerment when she traveled throughout California learning about the reproductive health priorities of women of color as the Project Coordinator for CARAL. A second-generation Chinese American woman, Jenny has a strong passion for social justice movement building.  Since 2006, Jenny has served on the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF) Board of Directors and currently serves on the Executive Committee.  She first became involved with the organization through the SF Bay Area Chapter in 2003.  Ms. Lam received her B.A. in Political Science and Asian American Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Priscilla McKenney, Program Director
The Program Director for GirlVentures since 2002, Priscilla brings over 30 years of experience in outdoor adventure, leadership, and education. She has worked as Guide, Instructor and Course Director for Outward Bound West, REI Adventures, Himalayan High Treks, and Woodswomen. She was the co-founder of Lois Lane Expeditions, Inc. a guiding service which offered women's mountaineering trips to the Himalayas and the Andes. Priscilla has a B.S. in Environmental Studies from The Evergreen State College. She received an M.A. in Experiential Education from Prescott College where she conducted a program evaluation as her thesis for Connecting With Courage, an outdoor program for girls at Thompson Island Outward Bound School. Since 1998, weaving her research efforts with story-telling and a slide show, she has created a lively presentation on the history of women and girls climbing and adventuring. Priscilla currently serves as a Graduate Student Advisor for Prescott College's graduate program. She has co-authored a chapter entitled, “Girls’ Outdoor Adventure Programs: History, Theory and Practice”, which will be published in the 4th edition of The Theory of Experiential Education in 2008. She is a current Wilderness First Responder.

Cori Coccia, Community Program Manager
Cori first came to Girlventures in the summer of 2003 as a Logistician and has worked every summer since as an Instructor and Course Director.  She has her B.A. from San Francisco State in Recreation and Leisure with an emphasis in Outdoor Leadership.  She earned her M.S. in Environmental Education by traveling around the country and living abroad in intentional learning communities with Lesley University’s Audubon Expedition Institute.  Just prior to stepping into a full time position with Girlventures, Cori worked for four years as an educator and naturalist teaching environmental science and teambuilding to Bay Area youth of all ages and backgrounds at the Headlands Institute.  She is committed to creating access for all to the natural world, to experiences that promote self-discovery and empowerment and to deepening herself as an activist and youth ally.  Having grown up along the California coast, Cori calls San Francisco home because she is in love with the land and here she can live on the cusp of the worlds that fuel her passion: the urban adventures and diversity of the bay area, and the wide open spaces of Marin, the Ventana Wilderness and the Sierra Nevada so close by.  She is a bicycling lifestylist and can be found biking to work daily.  When not working she may be found riding her motorcycle up the coast, enjoying a local café, writing in her journal, knitting something, going for a hike, climb, ride or paddle or making a to-do list.

Claire Williams, Development Associate
Claire recently joined GirlVentures.  She fell in love with the Bay Area while working on an independent project with Teach for America in a 6th grade classroom in Oakland during High School in Virginia.  With an urge to go west, she attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where she earned a B.A. in Sociology and certificates in Peace and Conflict Studies and Leadership Studies.  She possesses a strong sense of justice and passion for social change.  For two years, she was a part of the INVST Community Leadership Program and stepped into one of many leadership roles as a summer program facilitator.  She led sixteen college students throughout the southwest including Taos, a Denver homeless shelter, and a Navajo reservation.  As a trip leader, she has also been to Costa Rica with a group of high schoolers on a community service adventure and is a current wilderness first responder.  She has traveled throughout Latin America including the Dominican Republic and Mexico.  Ready to plant her feet with room to grow, Claire can be found practicing yoga, seeing live music or dining about town.

Sarah Gill, Director of Outreach and Admissions
On a beautiful San Francisco day, you can find Sarah Gill sitting with friends in Dolores Park or Crissy Field listening to music and enjoying the people watching. Sarah has had a chance to do this often since moving to the Bay Area in 1996. She was a UCSC Banana Slug, and then traveled and worked for various community organizations for a few years until she realized that Education was where it was definitely at! In 2000, Sarah received her Masters Degree in Education from Mills College in Oakland then taught Grades 1 and 2 at Hawthorne Elementary School in Fruitvale. During those years, Sarah became involved in ecology and environmental education and went on to run ecology clubs, recycling and conservation programs, and school garden programs. She also became a master composter and loves to lead worm composting workshops for families. After working in Oakland, Sarah took her passion for the outdoors and connections  to nature to the Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary in Tiburon. She loved being a Naturalist and teaching young people about habitat protection, bay life, and birds. She also ran a youth program to help kids become Environmental Stewards. Now working at GirlVentures, she enjoys the perfect mix of Nature, Youth, Education, and Community.

Susannah Harris, Marketing and Administration Manager
Susannah has been working to empower adolescent girls for the past 10 years. She attended Sarah Lawrence College where she studied liberal arts, with a concentration in Social Sciences and Studio Arts. Beginning her work in single-gender programs during college she went on to work for the YWCA’s Girls Inc. program. She spent five rewarding years as the Youth Development Director for the Metrocenter YMCA where she directed leadership programs for girls in middle school as well as civic engagement and service learning programs for young adults. At the Ophelia Project’s national conference “Changing the Culture for Girls” she presented a workshop addressing the transformative power of residential leadership programs for adolescent girls. She was trained as a facilitator by the Power of Hope, which unleashes the potential of young people to create social change through the arts. Just before moving to the Bay Area Susannah provided administrative and operations support to the team at SkB Architects, where she came to truly understand the impact of design in our daily lives. At GirlVentures she is able to combine her passion for creating opportunities for young women to build confidence with her love of art and design.  When not at work Susannah can be found exploring the endless hiking trails in the area, searching out the perfect cup of coffee, or watching the latest independent documentary film.

Sarah Heath, Program Manager
Sarah was involved with GirlVentures as a volunteer mentor and instructor prior to joining the staff full time in January, 2007. An east-coast girl at heart, Sarah is having a blast here on the west coast playing and exploring outside. Raised in a family of educators and outdoor enthusiasts, mixing the two with a M.Ed. in Adventure-based Education was natural step in following her calling. Sarah's other loves include her cat & her fiance, Saturday morning yoga & farmers market, and anything involving the water. Sarah's life philosophy is nicely summed up in the words of Garrison Keillor: "Be well, do good work and stay in touch.