Who We Are - Student Leaders and Board of Directors

We have a core group of ten student leaders – five in Marin County, five in Los Angeles County. Our leadership group has devised the Five 4 Five Student Speaker’s Bureau which will reach over 800 students this year. We plan to run workshops and peer counseling sessions that will help students plan their future as citizens and active participants in their communities.

We meet our students through educational programs. They have big dreams and we are supporting them in every way we can. Here are descriptions of what they are up to and how Five 4 Five is able to help:

• One budding journalist just got into a prestigious university with a scholarship. She is planning on becoming a broadcast journalist and she is working on a series of articles to help end toxic dumping in her community.

• Our group's computer expert is doing analysis for one national financial services company while serving as our presentation designer as well. He wants to be an executive in an innovative company and we are doing all we can to see he meets the right people to make the best choices.

• Accounting isn’t for everybody, but one of our students cannot get enough of those numbers. We helped him find a job with a socially-responsible accounting firm and he is doing splendidly, taking a leadership role in school and supporting his family.

• Our prize winning California Art Scholar has purchased her own camera and is deep into visual arts studies at an excellent college. Her work will go up shortly in a special exhibit space we have found for her. We see many gallery openings in her future.
  

• Our talented graphic design student wants to create a clothing production house that will bring dignity to artists and workers. He has joined with a partner to set up a business. And we are going to help him bring it to fruition.
  

These are just five of our Five 4 Five-ers. When you help Five 4 Five you help these young people and many others like them.

The Five 4 Five Board of Directors – Five 4 Five

Mary Ann Maggiore, President & Executive Director
Mary Ann Maggiore, the Co-Founder has been actively involved in educational issues for over 20 years. The founder and CEO of Maggiore Communications, a business writing workshop and consulting company, she is also the Vice Mayor of Fairfax, CA. She recently became Director of Girl Scouts Save the Bay – One of Northern California’s largest environmental organizations serving 55,000 girls. Mary Ann received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College outside of Philadelphia, where she worked for many years. She became even more interested in inner city youth while studying for the ministry at Starr King School for Unitarian Ministry at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

Mary Ann has counseled young people both in the Northern California area and in Los Angeles. The mother of two former teenagers, Mary Ann has done extensive studies on school-to-career models.

Gina Brownstein, Vice President
Co-Founder of Five 4 Five, Gina Brownstein has been working with youth in Marin City and South Central Los Angeles for over ten years. A photographer and a sculptor who works in clay, Gina graduated with honors in both Art and Community Service from Scripps College in 1990. She has since then also become an art teacher, heading up photography and visual art departments in public high schools. Awarded California’s highest art prize for teens when she was a high school student, Gina has since helped ten of her students to achieve the same goal. A brilliant and inspiring mentor, Gina has guided many of her students to succeed in college and go on to successful careers in business, technology, education and art.

Gina is the originator of the Five 4 Five project, Shoot! Photo Essays to End Violence by California Youth. This documentary art exhibition and book have reached thousands of young people and their families in both Northern and Southern California. Shoot! has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Marin Independent Journal, and many other news media. Gina continues to receive acclaim for her own art as well. Named as “a young artists to watch out for” Gina’s photography was recently featured on MSNBC TV. Gina is fluent in Spanish.

Gina recently was honored with the Scripps College for Women's highest alumnae prize. See this link for more about her commendation.

Albertha Owen, Secretary
Albertha Owen is a native of Marin County and has worked with youth and arts projects for her entire life. A former Technical Director for Antenna Audio in Sausalito, she has also served as Communications Manager for Point Reyes Bird Observatory. Albertha received a scholarship to Mills College in 1995 and concentrated her studies on work in education and media arts.

Amee Sas, Treasurer
Amee Sas graduated from Dominican University in San Rafael with a dual degree in Business and Art. A bookkeeper for several years for a number of well-known corporations, she changed careers several years ago and is now a sales representative for Benchmark Properties. She specializes in first-time home buyers. Amee spent a year studying in Spain, is fluent in the language and has traveled widely in Latin America.

Kellie Owen, Logistics
A graduate of Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington, Kellie took several months to visit a variety of educational communities and mentoring models around the world. Today, she is a landscape gardener and business manager for a successful Marin County landscape design firm.