Staff

Executive Director

Jonathan Cordero​, PhD
Ramaytush Ohlone, Bay Miwok, Chumash, Cochimi
[email protected]
  • Metush (Chair) of the Ramaytush Tribe​
  • Steering Committee member, Regional Watershed Management Program
​Dr. Cordero received a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctorate from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has written several articles on California Indians during the Mission Period.  Dr. Cordero works as a consultant in both the public and private sectors, especially in the arts, and he serves as a leader, speaker, and activist in the broader Ohlone and Chumash communities. 

Culture Director

Gregg Castro
Ramaytush Ohlone, T’rowt’raahl Salinan, Rumsen
[email protected]
Gregg Castro [t'rowt'raahl Salinan/rumsien-ramaytush Ohlone], has been involved in preservation of his cultural heritage for nearly three decades, for both his late Mother’s rumsien Ohlone heritage, and on his late Father’s side, the since ended ‘Salinan Nation Tribal Council’ (serving two terms as Tribal Chair) and currently the non-profit organization, Salinan T’rowt’raahl. Gregg is a member of the Society for California Archaeology (SCA).  Gregg is a Co-Facilitator for the annual California Indian Conference, a 30+ year gathering about California Indigenous heritage. Gregg is a writer and activist within the California indigenous community, on issues regarding cultural preservation, protection, education and traditional practices.

Director of Native Ecology

Sara Moncada, M.A.
Yaqui
[email protected]
​Sara Moncada is a Native educator, dancer, filmmaker, author and cultural arts advocate. She is co-founder of Wise Women Circles, a women-owned media company and was previously CEO of The Cultural Conservancy. She is the producer of the internationally successful documentary film NURSES If Florence Could See Us Now and produced the first four seasons of The Native Seed Pod podcast series. In 2021, she was honored to serve as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2024 served as a panelist for the San Francisco Arts Commission. Sara presents internationally on TEK, religion & ecology, and arts &culture, and is co-author of the book The Dance of Caring, a book exploring Native American Hoop Dance as a model for wellness. Sara graduated summa cum laude with her Master Arts Humanities from Dominican University of California and is adjunct professor at San Francisco State University American Indian Studies. 

Administrative Assistant

Mina Fardeen
[email protected]
​Mina Fardeen is Persian on her late father’s side, and Irish and Polish on her mother’s. She earned her bachelor’s in Landscape Architecture at the University of California Berkeley with a Certificate in Global Urban Humanities. She has past professional and volunteer experiences working with, for, and alongside Native peoples in Molokai’I, Hawai’i, Huchiun (‘East Bay’), and Yelamu (‘San Francisco’), California. She creates administrative and operational frameworks for the non-profit branch of ARO. Her current work supports projects aiming to restore, maintain, and/or strengthen our relationship to and with ‘place’ – both in the lands we come from and those we occupy. Mina spends her free time with family or learning Persian, practicing family recipes, and/or journaling. 

Founders Council

Indigenous Advisors
Pam Curry
Carol Gannon-Hembel
Victor Stene
***Under Construction***

Non-Profit Board of Directors

Kouslaa Kessler-Mata (yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash)
​Gregg Castro
Jonathan Cordero