Tara Peterson
Chief Executive Officer
Tara Peterson is a recognized expert in the field of violence against women and is responsible for the executive and administrative leadership of YWCA Glendale and Pasadena. Peterson has played a pivotal role in revitalizing the organization’s 95-year legacy of supporting local women and girls by expanding programs and igniting a change in the culture and conversation around gender and racial equity in Glendale, Pasadena, and surrounding communities. Peterson co-founded and leads the Coalition for an Anti-Racist Glendale, which helped draft Glendale’s historic Sundown Town Resolution in 2020. In the resolution, the city apologized for its racially exclusionary history as a “sundown town.” This work earned the Coalition Housing Rights Summit Award the following year.
Peterson has led YWCA since 2016 and is responsible for ensuring high quality outcomes, financial sustainability, organizational viability, and exceptional service delivery. Under Peterson’s leadership, YWCA was recognized with the Maria Jacobsen Humanitarian Award from the Armenian National Committee of America – Glendale Chapter, and named the 2020 Nonprofit of the Year for Assembly District 43 for its work in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and to the community’s calls for racial justice. During her tenure, she has grown the organization’s operating budget from $1.3 million to $3 million and led the successful 2021 merging of the YWCA Glendale and YWCA Pasadena Foothill Valley subsidiary relationship, and the organization’s subsequent name change to YWCA Glendale and Pasadena.
Peterson brings more than 20 years of experience addressing domestic violence, youth violence, sexual assault, and reproductive rights. She spent a decade working at the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, including five years as its Executive Director, leading statewide policy, legislative, and budget advocacy efforts. She is a fierce advocate with a long track record of successfully advocating for legislative change on behalf of survivors and their children, including leading initiatives to increase access to domestic violence services in underserved communities. Throughout her involvement in this movement, Tara has been called upon to advocate at the federal and state level to secure resources and funding to address the social justice issues amplified in YWCA’s mission.
She represents YWCA Glendale and Pasadena in advocacy efforts at the California State Capitol and with legislative policy makers in Washington D.C. As a recognized expert in the field of Violence Against Women, she encompasses the intersection of domestic violence and communities of color, and has been called upon to deliver speeches on these topics and has presented at several state and national conferences.
Peterson obtained her bachelor’s degree from California State University, Sacramento in Ethnic Studies while on a full-ride softball scholarship. She also holds a master’s degree in Multi-Cultural Education. She has been recognized for her excellence in leadership, receiving the following notable recognitions and awards: the 25th Senate District Women Heroes of the Pandemic Award, the 25th Senate District Outstanding Non-Profit Executive Director Award, and the Soroptimist Glendale Wonderful Woman Award.
Lisa Hirsch Marin
As the new Chief Operating Officer, Lisa Hirsch Marin oversees YWCA Glendale and Pasadena’s HR, Facilities and Program Operations, which includes Government Contracts, IT, Business Operations, Compliance and Risk Management.
Lisa is a bilingual/bicultural executive with over 25 years of vision and experience leading teams to innovative solutions, implementing and evaluating initiatives that break through barriers so that children, youth, and families lead healthy, thriving lives. Her passion is creating opportunities for people to heal from trauma living with violence and poverty, abuse and neglect, and homelessness in underserved communities. A strategic thinker and creative problem solver, she challenges the systems that have created generational cycles of poverty, in particular for people of color. Ms. Hirsch Marin has most recently served as Chief Operating Officer of Wellnest since 2019, leading Housing Programs for Transitional Age Youth, crisis, intensive programming, the Psychiatry Department, professional development, training and evaluation, Total Quality Management and Compliance, and Technology. In addition, Ms. Hirsch Marin helped to broaden the organization’s base of financial support by 8 million dollars and expanded its compassionate, trauma-informed care with the incorporation of nontraditional therapeutic practices such as Healing Circles. Previous roles Ms. Hirsch Marin has held include: Vice President of Programs at Para Los Niños, Director of Mental Health at El Centro Del Pueblo, Regional Director of Clinical Services and Community Mental Health Services at Children’s Institute, Inc., and Children’s Services Administrator at DCFS. Lisa has been recognized by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women as Woman of the Year award recipient.
Ms. Hirsch Marin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and has double Master’s Degrees, a Master of Social Work (MSW) from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and Social Welfare, and a Master of Science in Organization Development and Leadership (MSOD) from the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University.
Fabiola Montiel-Tellez Director of Racial and Gender Equity
Fabiola Montiel-Tellez is the inaugural Director of Racial and Gender Equity at YWCA Glendale and Pasadena. She oversees all our policy advocacy and gender and racial equity programs. Montiel-Tellez serves as our policy point of contact at the national and state level and responds to any media requests related to federal and state legislative policy matters. She works in partnership with other key staff, community stakeholders, and volunteers to ensure that our communications work is fully integrated into our programs and board-approved policy agenda.
Montiel-Tellez has over a decade of experience in multicultural communication and organizational leadership. She has worked on gender-based violence prevention, advocacy and policy change, early childhood systems change, and community transformation. Her recent work experience was as the Community Relations Manager and Communications Officer at First 5 LA, an early childhood advocacy and systems change agency. She developed strategies to build collaborative projects with civic organizations to advocate for early childhood well-being across issues and industry sectors and served as spokesperson for educational and advocacy campaigns. Montiel-Tellez also served as Education Coordinator at UCLA LOSH, a worker leader program to improve health and safety conditions for workers in Southern California. She was a violence prevention educator and counselor advocate at Peace Over Violence, a rape crisis and domestic violence support center. Fabiola started her social justice career as a Universities Campaign Coordinator for Partido Alternativa Socialdemócrata in Mexico City, a progressive political party.
Fabiola holds a Master of Arts in organizational leadership with a concentration in civic engagement from Claremont Lincoln University and a Bachelor of Arts in communication science from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. She is a board member of Esperanza Community Housing, a community development social justice organization in South Central Los Angeles.
Jody Short
Director of Development
Jody Short, Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) is the Development Director at YWCA Glendale and Pasadena. She is responsible for the direction and management of the organization’s fundraising initiatives and activities designed to support and further the mission of the YWCA. Her role entails creating and implementing an effective, comprehensive fundraising plan focusing on identification, cultivation, and solicitation. She provides the highest level of stewardship for all donations to the YWCA and all relationships with donors and prospective donors in accordance with the Association of Fundraising Professionals Code of Ethical Standards and approved business practices.
Short has over two decades of experience as a professional fundraiser in Greater Los Angeles. Her career has focused on raising funds for organizations that work to level the playing field where there are disparities that prevent individuals from reaching their full potential. She has raised funds for programs serving adults with developmental disabilities, low-income at-risk youth, homeless individuals exiting hospitalization, communities with poor health outcomes, previously incarcerated adults, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sufferers, and domestic violence survivors.
Her expertise includes significantly expanding individual giving programs and building major gifts programs from the ground up. She has a BA in Psychology from UCLA. She is a native of Los Angeles and a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Los Angeles Chapter.