Founding Executive Director

Emma Mayerson

Emma Mayerson is the Founding Executive Director of Alliance for Girls (AFG), the nation’s largest membership association of girls-serving organizations. Under Ms. Mayerson’s leadership AFG has become the nation’s largest regional alliance of girls’ organizations, working collectively to ensure girl-serving organizations are more connected, more effective and better able to prepare the girls of today to be the leaders of tomorrow.

Prior to AFG, Mayerson was a community organizer for the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, and worked in development for the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco and the Women’s Foundation of California. She has also served on the Board of Directors for Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, ProjectGlimmer, and the Jewish Community Federation’s Impact Grants Initiative.

Mayerson is a recipient of Oasis for Girls’ Spark Award for Visionary Leadership, the National Council on Jewish Women’s Outstanding Advocate for Social Change Award, the Delilah Beasley Award, Love Never Fail’s Advocacy for At-Risk Girls Award and the National Girls Initiative Innovation Award. She has also received honors in recognition of her leadership from the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women and Equal Rights Advocates. Her work has been featured on CBS Channel 4 News, ABC 7 News, KCBS, the Oakland Post, NPR’s All Things Considered and Telemundo.

Director of Programs

Livier Gutiérrez

Livier Gutiérrez joined Alliance for Girls’ (AFG) staff in December 2017 as the director of programs. In this role, she provides research, development, and programming support and strategy to the organization. She oversees the organization’s youth participatory action research and evaluation efforts, including the research associated with the Meeting Girls Needs Initiative and the Young Women’s Initiative. She also works in partnership with member organizations and young women in implementing the Young Women’s Leadership Board, a non-profit board development program for young women of diverse backgrounds. Livier Gutiérrez has worked on the intersection of research, practice, and philanthropy as it pertains to preventing community violence for over a decade. Prior to joining AFG, she worked as a researcher at the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, a research and policy organization, and as the director of the violence prevention department at Enlace Chicago, a community-based organization in Chicago’s Little Village community. Her violence prevention work has focused on undocumented and (im)migrant communities, justice-involved youth, and the intersection of violence that occurs at home and on the streets. Livier has a background in research, evaluation, and collective strategies, including leading and evaluating collective impact efforts and providing direct, mental health and restorative justice services at schools with youth and families in Chicago, Illinois and the San Francisco Bay Area. Ms. Gutiérrez earned her Master’s degree in social work from the University of Chicago, with a concentration in violence prevention research, policy, and practice. Her Master’s thesis explored girls’ involvement and association with gangs and resulted in a curriculum for girls at risk of becoming associated and involved with gangs. Ms. Gutiérrez also holds a B.A. in sociology and social welfare from the University of California, Berkeley. Ms. Gutiérrez’ professional mission is to support service providers and community members by better bridging research and practice to create systemic change for individuals in all points of the gender spectrum.

Membership & Marketing Manager

Kailin Chou

Kailin Chou joined Alliance for Girls’ staff in July 2014, providing broad support for leaders of girl-serving organizations, managing membership engagement and outreach, developing Alliance for Girls’ communications, and managing the organization’s operations. Since joining, Alliance for Girls has become the largest alliance of girls’ organizations and champions working collectively to effect powerful change for girls, young women, and their communities.

Ms. Chou has a strong passion for supporting children, youth, and marginalized communities. She has years of experience in the nonprofit sector, both in direct service and in management and administration. This includes mentoring children, supporting residents at a homeless shelter, developing the digital strategy for a large international NGO, consulting local nonprofits, and leading awareness campaigns on human trafficking.

In 2012, Ms. Chou earned her Masters in Public Administration from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, with concentrations in Nonprofit Management and International Development. Her studies culminated in a consultancy for the Community Alliance for Safety and Peace, an alliance of over 30 stakeholders in Monterey County working together to reduce gang violence in Salinas and its surrounding areas.

Ms. Chou also holds a B.S. in Management Science/Economics from the University of California, San Diego. A Bay Area native, she enjoys cooking, the outdoors, art and design, traveling, and learning languages.