Executive Director/Co-Board President

Sophora became the ED after nine years of direct service at Ruby's Place; she has a Master's in Psychology and is an LMFT. Her background includes working with incarcerated adults, housing, trauma, domestic violence, and human trafficking. She helped develop California's Domestic Violence Counselor training curriculum and opened the first adult male human trafficking shelter in the United States.

Associate Executive Director

Debi executes the agency's mission and vision by providing direct leadership and management of Ruby's Place program operations and facilities. She has managed contracts and compliance since 2004 in both for-profit and nonprofit environments. She has experience working across departments to meet program goals, and her database background provides the necessary skills to ensure accurate reports are delivered promptly. Debi is passionate about continuing her personal development, particularly global responsibility and social injustice.

Chief Financial Officer

Sheema is a financial professional with over 18 years of experience. She successfully co-founded and managed a construction technology company with her husband. She is passionate about helping others and supports the mission of Ruby's Place. In her free time, Sheema has been a girls scout leader and volunteers in the local food bank and homeless shelters. Sheema loves the outdoors and enjoys traveling with her family.

Chief of Clinical Services

Pouneh Azadi is a bilingual licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who joined our clinical team in 2016. As the Chief of Clinical Services, Pouneh has 18 years of experience working with families from different cultural backgrounds and has been in the mental health field since 2011. Pouneh is particularly passionate about expanding her knowledge around trauma-informed care, mindfulness, cross-cultural practices, and grief.

Senior Director of Youth & Residental Services

Helen, with 10+ years of experience in services, advocacy, program development, and management, is passionate about supporting newcomers due to her own experiences. She leads Youth Services Programs at Ruby’s Place with a background in Technical Management.

She enjoys music, dancing, and family time, aiming to stay connected to her Colombian roots. As a bilingual, bicultural survivor, her mission is to empower others in their healing journey. Helen strives to be an authentic and ambitious leader who inspires positive life action.

Director of Outreach

Necole has vast professional experience combatting sexual exploitation and addressing the root causes of trafficking within various marginalized communities for the past 16 years.

She's skilled in creating system change through partnership, advocacy, policy, training, and managing direct service programs that provide resources to the most vulnerable populations.

Her work includes national and international work on the demands of human sex trafficking and commercial sexually exploited minors.

Director of Human Resources

Megan, holds the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Senior Certified Professional (SCP) certification. She has worked in human resources and payroll for ten years. Megan's interests outside work are road and mountain biking and finding wildlife (including tarantulas!) in the East Bay hills.

Director of Clinical Services

Associate Director of Housing

Tia has a BA in Criminal Justice from San Francisco State and is now pursuing a dual Master's in Forensic Psychology and Counseling Psychology. She has been on the Ruby's Place team since 2018 and started as an on-call shelter advocate. Tia has been working with survivors of violent crimes for the last five years and hopes to continue working with survivors. Her main passion and focus at the moment are helping survivors secure a safe place for their families and an opportunity to reach self-sufficiency.

Associate Director of Data

Sophia is dedicated to working within the intersection of supportive services for survivors and data. Providing trauma-informed and client-centered care is an ongoing and collective effort throughout Ruby's Place that is reflected in all aspects of the work, including data and reporting practices. Through the growth and expansion of Ruby's Place, Sophia has adapted our data systems to accommodate reporting and compliance requirements with additional considerations on improving systems for an increased level of person-centered care and quality of information.  

She has been on the Ruby's Place team since 2020 and has a B.A. in Mathematics and Sociology from Mills College.