Explore the Coast Advisory Board

Advisory Board Members

Everett Au

Everett Au
Everett Au supports The San Diego Foundation’s Community Impact work by administering The Foundation’s environmental grant programs; researching current and future trends of environmental policymaking; and stewarding The Foundation’s relationships with those working to address critical environmental issues across the county, state and nation. Everett has a background in public education and nonprofit work where he wore many hats as an informal educator, academic counselor, volunteer coordinator and grant writer. Everett strives to build connections between communities most in need of support and those with the resources and desire to make a difference.

Andrea Sanchez Davidson

Andrea Sanchez Davidson

Andrea Sanchez Davidson (she/her) is an advocate and filmmaker whose work is inspired by social and environmental issues at the intersection of the natural world and health. As the Program Manager for Resource Legacy Fund’s Ocean, Coast, and Fisheries programs, she shapes and oversees projects that advance coastal conservation, climate resilience, and equitable coastal access. She has over a decade of experience supporting advocate networks as well as efforts to bring public and philanthropic funding to frontline communities. Andrea holds a BA in International Relations from San Francisco State University and a Master’s in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

Carolyn Everhart

Carolyn Everhart

Carolyn Everhart is the Manager of Environmental Education with Friends of Ballona Wetlands in Los Angeles and is a Certified Environmental Educator through California AEOE. She oversees school field trips for pre-kindergarten through 8th grade along with Explore Ballona! Nature Camp. When not in the field leading tours, she is working to create school tours to support state standards, including Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Having worked locally in the Santa Monica Mountains before joining the Friends of Ballona Wetlands team, Carolyn enjoys seeing how the mountains are tied to the wetlands and ocean through the watershed.

Shirley Johnson, MA

Shirley Johnson, MA

I have lived in the Bay Area my whole life and have enjoyed the coast as a child, adult, and as a person in a wheelchair. My disability occurred when I was 21 years old from a car accident. Since then I’ve gone off to college and earned my graduate degree in Environmental Studies. Currently I am part-time faculty at Mendocino College. I’m involved in many nonprofits in my community. Our coast is something I treasure and hope others can enjoy as well.

Shay Franco-Clausen

Shay Franco-Clausen

Shay Franco-Clausen is a fierce environmental, women’s and LGBTQ rights leader and political consultant, who advocates tirelessly to empower, educate and support stronger, comprehensive legislation that benefits marginalized communities that she has proudly risen from. Shay holds a B.A. in Public Policy from Mills College and recently completed the Executive Leadership in State and Local Government at Harvard Kennedy School. Shay has always been centered in conservation and preservation as she dedicated her hosting local beach, neighborhood and creek clean ups, creating community gardens on her children’s school campuses, and being elected in 2018 to the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. Shay currently serves on Alameda County Commission on the Status of Women, Vice Chair of the LGBTQ Caucus, Chair of Courage California C4 Board, Board Member of the Victory Fund Campaign Board, Co-Chair National Black Justice Coalition “Good Trouble Network,” Junior SPAC Delegate of Junior League of Oakland East Bay and Board member with Prison from Inside Out. “I am just trying to be the woman I wished I met at 14,” is the impetus of Shay’s advocacy, which can be seen in her collaborative leadership and deep connections across California and the United States.

Dayana Molina

Dayana Molina
Dayana Molina is a Community Organizer with the Trust for Public Land’s Los Angeles office. She is a community advocate who has been working on access to parks and open space since the age of 13. Her involvement in advocacy for two State Parks, Rio de Los Angeles State Park and Los Angeles Historic State Park, and the Los Angeles River Revitalization efforts in her teens inspired her to pursue a community-organizer career focused on community empowerment and park and open space equity. Through her 20 plus years of community organizing experience, working with various nonprofits in the environmental and social justice sector, she continues to bring commitment, passion and the ability to connect with community members to every project. Dayana is also a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiary and advocate for immigrant rights and resources.

Luis Morales

Luis Morales
Luis Morales is the reserve steward at University of California – Davis’s Bodega Marine Reserve. He is a restoration practitioner that aims to broaden stakeholder engagement in natural resource management through natural history. As an avid recreationist, he is an advocate for programming that develops underserved youth’s water competency, and observation abilities through inquiry-based learning.

Brandon Quintana

Brandon Quintana

Brandon Quintana is currently a master’s student in the Biological Science department at California State University, Fullerton. Brandon graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara majoring in Environmental Studies and a McNair Alumni. He aims to bring light to environmental justice issues faced by historically-excluded communities and make academia a more welcoming and inclusive environment. For his thesis, he is currently studying how biomass and condition index of filter feeders are responding to different factors such as sedimentation and eelgrass in a living shoreline setting. The goal of his research is to use the results of the study to inform restoration management and better protect coastal communities while increasing habitat and biodiversity. Overall, he plans to use an interdisciplinary perspective that combines coastal restoration, education, and policy to advocate for low-income communities on environmental injustice issues they are facing while concurrently preserving natural and human landscapes.

Destiny Preston

Destiny Preston

Destiny Preston is an Encinitas-based climate activist with a background in transportation and coastal planning. She currently works as the Sea Level Rise Lead for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) HQ Office of Air Quality and Climate Change. She previously worked for the California Coastal Commission as a coastal planner, following experience supporting sea level rise planning for the County of Marin. Destiny is on the Board of Directors for the Leucadia 101 Main Street Association and she is also on the Executive Board for the Encinitas and North Coast Democratic Club. Destiny earned two bachelor’s degrees from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree from UCLA.

Katherine Seto

Katherine Seto

Dr. Katherine Seto is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research lies at the intersection of environmental justice, political ecology, and sustainability science within marine and coastal systems. Her work explores the equity, sustainability, and governance of marine and coastal resources, and how they can best support the health and wellbeing of local communities.

Olivia VanDamme

Olivia VanDamme

Olivia VanDamme is a Mexican-American woman who grew up in California and currently lives on Ramaytush Ohlone land. She has worked as an environmental educator for 8 years, beginning at her college Adventure Outings program leading outdoor trips for fellow students. She has exemplified a dedication to helping others build reciprocity with nature, especially with the ocean through City Surf Project and Brown Girl Surf. She has worked on several coastal access and environmental justice initiatives at the government and non-profit levels. Olivia has advocated for more equity and representation in outdoor spaces and has amplified narratives that are underrepresented in media. Through her art, poetry, and music she illuminates her experiences at the intersections of her identities, passions, and connection to nature.