“Physical Violence isn’t a way to solve anything. I fight by signing petitions, going to marches and actually getting letters signed to help us get our residency.”
—Carla Torres, Class of 2004
Baydiizye (Daisy) Arevalo
Bookkeeping Specialist, Daisy is a small business owner providing financial information and reporting that includes installation, set up, conversion to QuickBooks, clean up, and on-site training, troubleshooting, and consulting. Daisy has over ten years of business experience, including five years as a senior financial executive with an accounting firm.
Hon. Judith C. Chirlin (Ret.)
Executive director of the Western Center Justice Foundation, Judge Chirlin was appointed by President Nixon to the bench of the Los Angeles County Superior Court where she served 24 years. Judge Chirlin is past chair of the Board of Directors, American Judicature Society, Judge Chirlin has been recognized for her outstanding work as a trial jurist and her tireless efforts to improve the judicial system and to diversify the bench. She has served on the Board of Governors of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, the International Association of Women Judges, and the National Association of Women Judges, whose Committee on Judicial Appointments she chaired for five years. In August of 2003, Judge Chirlin was a member of a delegation sent by the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC), to study and assist the rebuilding and strengthening of Iraq’s justice system and legal profession. She is a member of the faculty of the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (CEELI) in Prague that teaches training seminars for Iraqi judges at the CEELI Institute in Prague, a result of one of the recommendations following the ILAC delegation’s investigation in Baghdad.
Jeffrey Fishman, J.D.
Founder and managing member of JSF Financial, LLC, is a holistic wealth management practice. Nationally recognized as one of the premiere financial planners in the country, Jeff has lectured widely on personal financial planning, estate conservation, and tax-managed investing. He is a fifteen-year veteran of the financial services industry and is often featured or quoted in publications such as Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, and Investment News. Jeff holds a B.A. in Economics and Communications from Yeshiva University, and a J.D. from the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. He is a holder of the Personal Financial Planning designation from UCLA and is a Registered Investment Advisor with the State of California. Jeff is a member of board of the Shalhevet School, Los Angeles.
Alita Zurav Letwin
A senior consultant with the Center for Civic Education for 32 years, Alita has led professional development for classroom teachers for (Out)Laws & Justice since the year 2000. She joined the (Out)Laws & Justice board in 2010. A co-chair of the Task Force on Minorities and Women in Law-Related Education, Letwin’s most recent publication is the annotated bibliography, Literature for Children and Young Adults: Examining Issues of Violence and Conflict Resolution.
Paul Martin
Vice President of Global Recruitment & Inclusion at Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). He is responsible for professional staffing functions at all levels within SPE. Prior to joining Sony Pictures Entertainment, Martin was Vice President, Worldwide Recruitment for Warner Bros. Entertainment. Prior to this, Martin was the Executive Recruiter for Merrill Lynch’s Private Client Division. At age 23, he was recognized as the youngest professional to hold that position and to lead the division twice in the number of total hires and highest diversity placement percentage. Martin was recently recognized by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of the top diversity executives in the country. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in International Politics from Wesleyan University and Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Southern California Law School.
Pedro Antonio Noguera
Pedro Noguera is the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University. Noguera is an urban sociologist whose scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions in the urban environment. He holds faculty appointments in the departments of Teaching and Learning and Humanities and Social Sciences at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Development, as well as in the Department of Sociology at New York University. Dr. Noguera is also the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and the co-Director of the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings (IGEMS). In 2008, he was appointed by the Governor of New York to serve on the State University of New York Board of Trustees.
Marisa Peters
Marisa Peters currently leads executive recruitment for Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group and Sony Pictures Television. Her responsibilities include talent identification and hiring for creative positions in these groups, which are based in Culver City, in addition to establishing strategic recruitment partnerships with international regions such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Latin America. Peters also collaborates with the Global Recruitment and Inclusion team to implement diversity initiatives and oversees the temporary workforce for Sony Pictures. In her previous role, Peters worked directly with the Executive Vice President of Worldwide People & Organization and the Senior Vice President of Leadership & Organization for Sony Pictures. She was involved in facilitating many aspects of the company’s Global Human Resources efforts. Prior to joining Sony Pictures, Peters worked for the founder of Oakwood Worldwide in Los Angeles facilitating initiatives including community outreach to increase global warming awareness. Previously, she led, recruited and managed national trade show campaigns for the publicly-held company Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) in New York City. During her time with PTC, she led marketing campaigns for PTC resellers including 3HTI & Systems 3, Inc. She was a founding member of Gotham Project, a non-profit organization targeting young professionals to teach social awareness. Peters currently volunteers as Director of Alumni Relations for the Department of Musical Theatre at The University of Michigan, where she acts as a liaison for the faculty and alumni. Marisa holds a Bachelor’s Degree with honors from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. She currently lives with her family in Los Angeles.
Rafael Ramirez
Executive Director of Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide training, education and social services within the Pico-Aliso/Boyle Heights district of East Los Angeles serving an area containing one of the largest concentration of public housing west of the Mississippi River. He was the former vice president for development for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). For the past thirty years Ray has been directly involved with education at the local, state, regional and national levels: first as a K-8 teacher and administrator for fourteen years, then as a policy analyst, a Legislative Analyst for U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, as a Director of a National Education Program and as a consultant to the California Master Plan for Education.