Staff

Megan Whelan (pronouns: she/her/ella/siya) is our interim Director. She began working with the California Domestic Workers Coalition in 2016. In what became her role as Statewide Logistics and Communications Coordinator, Megan supported the convening of hundreds of domestic workers across California to assert their power in the State’s capitol; trained dozens of worker and employer spokespeople; and led the development of the core messaging and story-based communications strategies. After the coalition won the establishment of the Domestic Worker and Employer Education and Outreach Program under the CA Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in 2019, Megan became the Director of Programs for the Coalition to help lead the design and implementation of the first-of-its-kind program to make domestic workers rights a reality in California. In 2021, Megan became the Associate Director with the growing CDWC staff team. She is grateful and honored to be able to learn from and work alongside the brilliant domestic workers who are leading the movement across the state. 

Aide Rodriguez (pronouns: she/her) our Development Director, is originally from the Chicagoland area with Mexican immigrant and working-class roots. Aide brings over 15 years of experience in development, communications, and program support across the nonprofit, education, and arts and culture sectors. Her introduction to domestic worker rights and grassroots movement building began during her time as Grants and Contracts Manager at Mujeres Unidas. Throughout her career, Aide has secured funding, managed programs, and built community by collaborating with artists, activists, academics, and organizations on immigrant rights, policy-making, and cultural and direct service work. She holds an MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts, and dual BAs in History and Sociology from the University of Michigan. Her work in the nonprofit sector has allowed her to merge academic training with a passion for meaningful social change, supporting POC and immigrant communities through advocacy, storytelling, and resource-building.

Vanessa Barba (pronouns: she/her/ella/siya) joined the domestic worker movement as a volunteer with Mujeres Unidas (MUA) in 2014, just after the CA Domestic Workers Bill of Rights had been passed. During this time she conducted outreach and education on the new landmark legislation with domestic worker leaders and built her knowledge of MUA’s programs and statewide domestic worker organizing before moving into her role as MUA’s Development Assistant. In this role, she was able to ensure that both MUA and the CDWC operated sustainably. In 2016 she moved back to her hometown of Los Angeles to work as an Organizer with the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA), a worker center focused on workers in low-wage industries in LA. As an Organizer with KIWA, Vanessa organized workers from a variety of industries, including restaurant, garment and domestic workers, to develop worker leadership, organize workplace campaigns against wage theft and health and safety violations, and to strengthen relationships with local labor law enforcement agencies. Vanessa’s experience as an organizer includes drafting grassroots legislation, leading local policy fights, and ensuring enforcement and implementation of housing, immigrant rights, and workers rights policies. Vanessa joined the Coalition in January 2020.

Bry Gonzalez (pronouns: they/she/elle/ella) was born in Los Angeles and raised in the Inland Empire to two immigrant parents, both of whom are former domestic workers. Their experience with working class struggles and issues was shaped early on by their experiences working alongside their parents. Their experience with organizing began with grassroots student organizing at UCLA, as part of the Student Labor Advocacy Project (SLAP) to advocate that the university treat their students with respect and provide them with the rights they deserved. As an intern for AFSCME 3299, she worked to create solidarity and community support between career and student workers to further the fight for labor rights on the UCLA campus. Graduating in June of 2022 with a degree in Labor Studies, their undergraduate thesis analyzed the relationship between conceptualizations of racialized gender and domestic worker hiring practices via the platform economy to illustrate how racial stereotypes are used to exploit Latina and, more broadly immigrant, women. Bry is committed to a grassroots approach to collective liberation.

Alexandra Early (pronouns: she/her/ella/siya) comes to the coalition with more than 10 years of experience working in labor and community organizing. Previous to joining the coalition she worked for 3 years as an organizer with the National Healthcare Workers Union where she organized and trained worker leaders to stand up for better pay, working conditions and patient safety.  Prior to that Alexandra coordinated an immigrants workers center at the Chelsea Collaborative in MA. There she assisted workers in fighting back against wage theft, sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions and trained community leaders to participate in local and state campaigns. Alex worked for U.S. El Salvador Sister Cities from 2010 to 2014, coordinating solidarity relationships between a network of cities in the U.S. and their sister communities in El Salvador, and advocacy campaigns on U.S. foreign policy in Central America.

Claudia Palacios (pronouns: she/her/ella/siya) Claudia is a Salvadoran artist, mother, organizer, and birth worker. She is the daughter of a union organizer, and migrated with her mother to Los Angeles, CA at the age of four. Growing up in the garment worker labor movement, she was inspired to create art that is meaningful to communities who are fighting to uphold their dignity. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a major in Neuroscience and Behavior, because she recognized the importance of science knowledge in  healing our communities. While at UCSC, she was also heavily involved in Rainbow Theater, a multiethnic theater troupe. She continued her theater training at El Teatro Campesino, where she got to learn about Luis Valdez’s work – using theater to organize farmworkers. In 2017, she began her work in the domestic worker movement with IDEPSCA’s Mujeres en Accion. She has continued supporting workers rights by  creating art through community murals, altar work, and theater work. She has been part of the CDWC since 2021 and is excited to continue the work in the Domestic Worker Outreach and Education Program.

Lizbeth Rivas (pronouns: she/her/ella/siya) Lizbeth grew up in a working class immigrant family & community in Lynwood, a city in Southeast Los Angeles. In 2012, she graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in Sociology. After moving back to LA, Lizbeth worked in the research & evaluation department of Bienestar Human Services, working with LGBTQ Latinx communities through 2 federally funded linkage to HIV care programs. This work led Lizbeth to pursue her Master’s degree in Social Welfare with a concentration in social & economic justice at UCLA. As an MSW scholar, Lizbeth grew a particular interest in development and the barriers faced by some community-based organizations in securing funding through philanthropic systems that emerged out of colonized wealth. Lizbeth is committed to intersectional and actively anti-racist frameworks towards social and gender justice equity, mental health, and working with immigrant communities of color. 

Dani García (pronouns: she/her/ella/siya) grew up in San Francisco’s Mission District in an immigrant, working-class family and community. Dani graduated from Pitzer College in 2022 with a B.A. in Critical Global Studies and Spanish, where she studied local/global movements for justice in the US and Latin America. During her time at Pitzer, she became involved in labor organizing as a member of a student-worker group supporting labor issues on campus and in the Inland Empire. Dani served as a volunteer at PEOC, where she helped coordinate community exchanges between students, day laborers, domestic workers, and campus food and janitorial workers. She is passionate about advancing the rights of immigrants, women, and all workers everywhere.

Rose Arrieta (pronouns: she/her/ella) was born in LA and has lived in San Francisco since 1991. She comes to the coalition with more than 25 years of communications experience. Previous to joining the coalition she worked for Causa Justa :: Just Cause, an immigrant and housing rights nonprofit in the Bay Area, where she highlighted hundreds of stories of tenants and immigrants fighting for their right to remain in their homes. She is a former print and broadcast journalist whose work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian (UK); In These Times; AlterNet and others. She considers her role leading communications for the coalition amplifying the fight for justice and worker rights deeply rewarding and necessary. With roots in El Paso, Texas, she remembers her mother’s stories about her experiences as a domestic worker.  “I have always been drawn to issues of civil rights and social justice. As a communications organizer, I amplify the stories told by immigrants and people of color. I find it very satisfying to pay it forward and foster a new generation of communications storytellers, organizers and cultural workers because our voice is our power.”

Sarah Quiroga (pronouns: she/her/ella/siya) is the third generation to be born and raised in the Pomona Valley area. In 2012, Sarah became the first in her family to graduate from college. She graduated with a degree in Political, Legal, and Economic Analysis at Mills College in Oakland, CA, where she lived for 12 years before moving back to her hometown in Southern California. While working and living in Oakland, Sarah found her calling in the non-profit sector at Movement Strategy Center where she experienced deep joy while leading logistics and event production in youth organizing. Later, Sarah helped convene grassroots leaders from across the country and across sectors to identify and implement ways to transition from a world of domination and extraction to a world of resiliency, interdependence, and regeneration.

Sarah strongly believes that people on the ground and most directly impacted have the wisdom to know what is needed to advance change, and it is her role to support and create space for their leadership. As the Domestic Worker Education and Outreach Organizer, Sarah approaches her work by uplifting and centering the knowledge and experience of the coalition members to create and strengthen a culture of care.