MEET THE WOMEN LEADING CIVICAS

Civicas Founding Board

Cynthia Hirschhorn was inspired to found Civicas because she is fortunate to know so many talented and resourceful civic-minded women leaders. Originally formed as Women4CommonGround.org, the website and group became WCAN.la (Women's Civic Action Network) after the 2017 Women's March then evolved into the Civicas Network in 2018. Cynthia is an environmental designer and advocate for healthy civic life, proudly serving on the boards of AltaSea and RiverLA as well as the advisory board of UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation. She channels her passions for public art, urban gardens and water into flowproject.la, a resource site promoting civic arts, civic education & water resiliency, and patronizing civic cultural groups including The Council of the Library Foundation. Cynthia developed and implemented "PartyBook" a successful fundraising and community building platform for parents at Harvard-Westlake School, enjoys hosting salons, leading urban explorations and organizing events celebrating community. A native of Los Angeles, Cynthia attended Yale College, and has a BA in Cultural History and a Masters in Architecture from UCLA. She and her husband Charles have three adult children and live in Pacific Palisades.

Laura Fox is a professor of social entrepreneurship at the USC Marshall School of Business and a lecturer at UCLA.  Currently, Laura is the Board Chair of P.S. Arts, the Board Vice Chair of City Year Los Angeles and serves on a number of advisory councils including Human Rights Watch Los Angeles Committee, University of Michigan LSA Dean’s Advisory Council and Common Sense Media Los Angeles Advisory Council.  Previously, Laura served as Board Chair of the Brentwood School and on the Board of Directors for Para Los Ninos and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles. Laura worked in the entertainment industry for fifteen years, where she was responsible for overseeing business and legal affairs for the DreamWorks movie division, and was the VP of Legal Affairs for Walt Disney Pictures and Touchstone Pictures. Laura graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and Psychology from the University of Michigan, and received a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.  Laura lives in Santa Monica with her husband and two children.

Nicole Mutchnik is a social entrepreneur and longtime advisor to public projects and officials.  She serves on the National Executive Committee of the ADL, having served as its regional Board Chair, the Executive Committee of the Women’s Political Committee, having served as its Co-Chair, and most recently founded the California Democracy Fund. With her husband, she recently created the Mutchnik Leadership Fellows at both the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell Law School. She previously worked for Governor Gray Davis, Treasurer Kathleen Brown, Speaker Robert Hertzberg, 1994 World Cup USA games, and the American Cities Initiative, as well as many other political and nonprofit projects. She graduated from UCLA in International Relations, and was a Fels Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Fels Graduate Institute of Government.

Debra Wong Yang is a former United States Attorney for the Central District of California.  She was appointed in May 2002 by President George W. Bush, making her the first Asian American woman to serve as a United States Attorney.   After leaving the US Attorney's office, Yang became a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Los Angeles office.  Reflective of her broad practice and comprehensive abilities, Ms. Yang is Co-Chair of the firm's Crisis Management Practice Group, White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group.  In 2009, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa nominated Yang to a vacancy on the Los Angeles Police Commission.  In 2016, she was listed as the potential choice for SEC Chief in Donald Trump's cabinet.  The Daily Journal has named her over the years to its list of California’s Top 100 California lawyers.  The National Law Journal has also named her to its Outstanding Women Lawyers list.  In 2018, the Los Angeles Business Journal named her among its Most Influential Minority Lawyers in Los Angeles.

Partial list of Civicas Advisors:

Mitra M. Best is an entrepreneur, technologist, and innovation leader. As Principal in PwC New Ventures she identifies and incubates technology-enabled businesses aligned with solving critical challenges faced by organizations, the ecosystem of stakeholders, and the workforce. Mitra holds Bachelor degrees in Computer Science & Linguistics from UCLA, Graduate Management Certificate in Innovation & Strategy from MIT, and an Innovation Masters Certificate from Stanford University. She is a lifelong learner who values continued education as an imperative for growth and development.

Romi Lassally is a former media executive turned social entrepreneur and child welfare advocate.  Most recently, Romi co-founded Ready To Succeed LA, a non profit organization on a mission to change the lives of transition age foster youth by providing them with the resources, mentorship and internship experiences they need to succeed in college and beyond. Before entering the non profit sector, Romi worked in digital media as the founder of an online content company for women, True Media, and the founding features editor for the Huffington Post. Romi started her career in the entertainment industry, working as as a studio executive and producer.  Romi is a graduate of UCLA and lives in Pacific Palisades with her husband and three children.

Heather Pulier is a hybrid angel investor focused on providing strategic guidance to a select group of companies through the perils of early growth.

Carolyn Ramsay is a political and non-profit fundraiser, working predominantly with California Democratic Congressional candidates. She is a former Los Angeles City Council Chief of Staff, Los Angeles Program Director for the Trust for Public Land and People Magazine correspondent. She and her husband Andy Goodman live in Los Angeles and have two grown children. 

Tara Roth is the president of the Goldhirsh Foundation. Prior to this role, Tara bridged the worlds of marketing, media, and philanthropy as the founding COO of GOOD and a social strategy advisor. Tara began her career in marketing and business development for NBCinternet and Infoseek. She has worked with organizations such as Participant Media, Fifteen Foundation, and the New Schools Venture Fund. As a senior advisor to GOOD, Tara helped launch the Pepsi Refresh Project. Tara received a bachelor’s degree at Cornell University, and has an MBA from Oxford University where she was awarded a Skoll scholarship in social entrepreneurship. Tara serves on the board of Southern California Grantmakers and USC's Sol Price School of Public Policy and on the regional advisory boards of Opportunity Fund, FUSE Corps, and 826LA. She is a Senior Fellow at USC's Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab.

Amy Sloane-Pinel has over 25 years of senior level experience in public affairs, corporate communications, and change management, including extensive strategic responsibility for public and private sector entities in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the U.S. In recent years, her focus has been on impact investment and sustainable development (ESG), particularly in building the public private partnerships so critical to supporting social infrastructure in emerging nations and underserved communities. She has served as an adviser to ArtBasel, The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF), The Henri Cartier Bresson Foundation, Vivendi, Corbis, EMI Music Group, Bertelsman Music Group, Sapient, and Eurosport, among others, as well as several private family office entities. She holds U.S. and French citizenship.

Leslie Weisberg studied international affairs at Barnard College, Columbia University. After years in the film Industry, her continuing passion for news and information led her to conceptualize Perseev, an immersive AI powered platform using pictures as gateways to content, experience and opportunity.

Sarah Zurell is an LA-based branding and strategic partnerships executive creating, managing, growing, and improving the profitability of startup companies. As Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Eternal Fleur, a luxury flower company, she is helping drive sustainability within the floral industry. Previously Sarah Co-Founded and was Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer of Pavemint, an environmentally conscious mobility brand helping change the way people park. Before that Sarah worked as the Head of Content for Google Ventures’ “Strut,” working directly with the CTO to categorize 7K brands and help transform 45% of downloads into daily users (compared to the industry average of 14%). In her spare time, Sarah advises “Can’t Do Nothing,” a charity helping displaced Syrian refugees, volunteers to help prevent homelessness, is Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and Co-Chair for the Hollywood Walk of Fame, working alongside elected officials on one of the largest revamp & rebrand projects in Southern California.