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our team

Meet our board members

Kassi Talbot

Kassi Talbot

President

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Kassi Talbot | President

Kassi Talbot (she/her/hers) is a doctoral candidate for Educational Leadership at San Francisco State University. She has been a co-learner/educator for the past six years. She teaches Middle School Social Studies and High School Spanish in Pescadero. Kassandra holds a M.A. in Education, Equity and Social Justice; concentration in antiracist teaching and transformative practices in the rural context. Her ultimate goals include using her position in the community to catalyze transformations in the current school system into one that serves all students equitably. She hopes community members and former students will come back to the coastside community to continue the fight, lead and support future generations. Kassandra is a Red Cross First Aid Instructor, Trauma Informed Instructor and local radio host for KPDO 89.3.

When she is not working on projects for the youth, Kassandra enjoys spending the day with her partner and dogs, cooking, watching a good anime series and surfing.

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Kelly Kramer

Kelly Kramer

Treasurer

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Kelly Kramer | Treasurer

Kelly Kramer has had a successful career in information technology for over 30 years. Starting as an IT leader in major law firms, the majority of her career has been at the global consulting firm McKinsey and Company, advancing to Director in Technology and Digital Services Leadership and Excellence.

Kelly is also a licensed Resource Parent in San Mateo County, California. As a child advocate, she has provided emergency care for children suddenly brought into protective custody, working with county agencies and the family court system. She has extensive knowledge and experience in childhood trauma, attachment disorders and medically fragile infants.

She lives with her Covid companion, Brody, a rescued 5-year-old German Shephard, and is a hot yoga enthusiast who enjoys biking and hiking the coastal trails.

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brandon ferrell

Brandon Ferrell

Member

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Brandon Ferrell | Member

As a licensed California tax preparer with nearly two decades of experience, I am proud to support CoastPride’s mission of creating safe and welcoming spaces for everyone. My journey to this point has been shaped by personal challenges—since I was a child, I’ve lived in a world of confusion and have experienced isolation, including being shunned for religious reasons. As a young adult, loneliness was a familiar companion.

Over time, I’ve learned more about myself, including how being on the autism spectrum influenced the way I communicate and perceive the world. I realized that the confusion I experienced could have been alleviated by the right influence—someone who could teach and guide me toward understanding.

Now, with nearly 20 years of experience fostering clarity and connection in my professional life, I am passionate about helping others by offering a safe space where they can explore their experiences, feel accepted, and grow. By fostering understanding and teaching people to navigate their challenges, I believe we can build stronger, more compassionate communities.

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Beth Pielert

Beth “Basa” Pielert

Member

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Beth Pielert | Member

Beth Basa Pielert’s career spans 26 years in the film and gaming industry as a writer/producer/director and editor. Pielert’s first film, Kiss My Cleats, premiered at the Frameline Film Festival 23 and she has been an active juror of documentary submissions ever since.

Pielert formed Good Film Works in 2001 while writing and directing Out of the Poison Tree for PBS, a documentary that explores truth and reconciliation for survivors of the Cambodian Genocide. Some of her credits include award-winning films such as The Corporation, winner of 24 international Awards, including the Sundance Audience Award, and Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial, winner of the Alternative Spirit Award and Best Documentary at the Palm Springs ShortFest.

For five years Pielert was the Video Director at EA|Visceral Games, directing behind-the-scenes documentaries and marketing trailers for Dead Space 2 and 3, Army of Two and Battlefield Hardline.

Pielert is currently co-directing and producing Echoes of Our Past: A Salmon Story with the indigenous-led Children of the Setting Sun Productions. Echoes is a collaboration with Vision Maker Media and will air on PBS in 2024.

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Aimee shapiro is a person with short brown hair that is slightly curly. she is wearing glasses with clear frames and has blue or light gree eyes.

Aimee Shapiro

Member

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Aimee Shapiro | Member

Aimee Shapiro is the Executive Director of the San Mateo County Office of Arts and Culture. In her role she supports the strong network of nonprofit arts organizations across the County, increasing access to the arts for all residents. Her background is in arts management, museum education, public programming, and equitable access to the arts.

Originally from Queens, Aimee has called the Bay Area home for almost 20 years, living on the Coast for over 10. She lives with her family in Montara where she enjoys hiking, surfing, dogs, and being a parent to a middle-schooler.

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Lauren Smith Wells has short, straight blonde hair and brown eyes, and is wearing a black zip front top

Lauren Smith-Wells

Member

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Lauren Smith-Wells | Member

Lauren Smith-Wells has spent the past 15 years building startups from the ground up, and brings to the Board expertise in strategy, operations, and finance. She is currently the VP of Operations and Strategy at Crafty Counter, an award-winning, plant-based egg company. She lives in Pacifica where she is also a member of the Pacifica Economic Development Committee, and helped formalize its city-wide Pride celebration in 2023. She holds a B.A. in International Relations from Claremont McKenna College and a Masters in International Business from Tufts University.

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Jennifer Taylor Mendoza

Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza

Member

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Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza | Member

Dr. Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza serves as the 10th president of College of San Mateo (CSM), established in 1922 as the first college in the San Mateo County Community College District. She is a longtime leader in the district having served as the Vice President of Instruction at Skyline College in San Bruno for four years (2017–2021). Prior to this, she served as the founding Dean of Academic Support and Learning Technologies (2014–2017) and the founding Director of the Learning Center (2011–2014) at College of San Mateo.

President Taylor-Mendoza leads for social justice and liberation, recognizing our shared responsibility to address the historical legacy of racism to create a more just system of access, reward, and long-term equitable outcomes. She is co-author of Minding the Obligation Gap in Community Colleges: Theory and Practice in Achieving Educational Equity and applies theory to practice as an instructor in the Educational Leadership Program at San Francisco State University.

President Taylor-Mendoza has served on a variety of county councils and boards, including workforce and economic development. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Human Investment Project (HIP) Housing and has served on a range of State Chancellor’s Office committees. She is an Aspen Institute Presidential Fellow and an adviser to the Chancellor’s Office on the Aspen Trustee Fellowship, where she provided strategies to support trustees in their roles as district leaders identifying regional workforce gaps and measuring student equity goals.

A proud community college alumna, Dr. Taylor-Mendoza holds a B.A. in Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles, an M.S. in Counseling, California State University, Northridge, and a Ph.D. in Education, Claremont Graduate University.

As recent empty-nesters, she and her husband James spend time up and down the San Mateo coast, hiking, surfing, and plotting their next vacation trip to exotic locales. Daughter Aramis is attending Caltech studying Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace. Her son Kendall lives and works in Southern California.

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Jennifer Taylor Mendoza

Jenny Walter

Member Emeritus

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Jenny Walter | Member Emeritus

Jenny Walter is a founding member and former board president of CoastPride, serving Pescadero through Pacifica. She was the first co-chair of the San Mateo County LGBTQ Commission and during her five-year service, the Commission conducted a county-wide needs assessment of LGBTQ+ residents and promoted the establishment of the San Mateo County Pride Center. As CoastPride Board Emeritus, she is actively working to bring allcove, an integrated mental health model for young people, ages 12–25, to the coastside. She served as a task force member on the Coastside Recovery Initiative and community stakeholder on the Half Moon Bay Streetscape Master Plan. She served as counsel to the California Tribal Court-State Court Forum at the Judicial Council. Before that she was directing attorney of Legal Advocates for Children and Youth in San Jose and staff attorney at Legal Services for Children in San Francisco. She presently serves as a tribal appellate judge for the Northern California Tribal Court Coalition and law partner at Hedger & Walter, LLP, which is committed to helping tribal courts and nonprofits achieve their vision to serve their communities. Jenny graduated with a degree in linguistics from UC Berkeley in 1982 and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law. She was inducted into the San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame in 2024. She lives with her wife in Half Moon Bay, California, where they raised their daughter, and have two dogs, one chicken, one canary, and one mini-pig.

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Meet our staff

cameron zeller in a black tshirt standing in front of white and wood wall

Cameron Zeller

Operations Director

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Cameron Zeller | Operations Director

Cameron lives in El Granada with their partner, Demi. They enjoy making music, spending time with family around the Bay Area, and being outside. Cameron has been working in construction and project management for the wastewater sector for 10 years. In 2021, they had the opportunity to begin working part-time at CoastPride, supporting all of the amazing work done by the all-volunteer board. They are now the Operations Director at CoastPride, helping to deepen the foundation of the organization’s existing programs and expand services based on the needs of the coastside LGBTQ+ community.

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sponsors and partners

CoastPride would like to acknowledge the many supporters, partners, and grantors that make our work possible.
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