BEST Friends Board
Get to know us.
Danielle Lew is a born and bred Angeleno and loves all things Los Angeles, including LA’s BEST! She is a proud USC Trojan alum, holding a degree in Communication, and was excited to have an opportunity to stay in Los Angeles to begin her career. Danielle’s background is in PR, events and marketing, and she has worked with some top brands in the lifestyle industry. She is currently a Marketing Director for Modern Times, Inc., a consulting agency in the public works/capital improvement industry, while taking on independent projects/events (and weddings!) on the side. Danielle is also an instructor at Pure Barre Santa Monica/Brentwood, where she teaches barre classes a few times a week. As the Chair of the LA’s BEST Friends Board, Danielle also serves on the Board of Directors.
Hirak Bali is currently a Vice President at TerraMar Capital, a Los-Angeles based private equity fund. Previously, Hirak was a Vice President in TCW’s global fixed income group. Prior to TCW, Hirak was an Associate at Aurora Capital Group, a middle-market focused private equity fund. Hirak started his professional career at Jefferies & Company, a global investment banking firm.
Hirak received a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in Business Economics, with minors in Accounting and Political Science, from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Jonathan Fields is the CEO of a funded peer to peer employee recognition company called Assembly. Jonathan started his career in investment banking but quickly realized he loves to build and grow companies. Jonathan joined a small startup called ZipRecruiter early on in his career, which was less than 20 people when he joined, and rode the wave up to 1,400 employees +. In his free time, Jonathan loves to hang with his fiance, play golf, tennis, poker, snowboard and eat delicious food!
Jaclyn is a passionate marketing leader working with high-growth technology companies in Los Angeles. She currently leads marketing and communications at Pex, the global leader in digital rights technology. Prior to Pex, she built the first marketing team at Firefly and led global marketing programs at Factual for five years. She got her start in tech marketing at Rubicon Project, helping the company grow from a start up to a public company, and never looked back. It was at Rubicon Project that Jaclyn met Mallory, her inspiration and intro to LA’s BEST!
Jaclyn grew up in Orange County and moved to Los Angeles shortly after graduating from California State University, Fullerton, where she earned a degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, sipping good wine, rooting for LA’s sports teams, and of course, volunteering for LA’s BEST.
Justin Fredericks is the Co-Founder and CEO of Art x Co, a business that connects artists with companies and communities. Art x Co’s two primary brands are Street Art House (producing art experiences) and Paper and Fabric (producing art merchandise). Previous to this role, Justin worked in the tech industry for a decade, in business development leadership positions. On the LA’s BEST Friends Board, Justin serves as the STEAM Chair, to further art and technology afterschool programming. In addition to this volunteer role, Justin also serves on the Emerging Leaders Board of Art Share L.A. Academically, he received a B.A. in Sociology from UCLA and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. In his personal life, Justin enjoys tennis, documentaries and trying new vegetarian dishes.
Brian Gaughan was born and raised in the Chicagoland area and moved to Los Angeles in 2015. He lives in San Pedro with his husband Mark and their two dogs Nico and Olive. While in Chicago he volunteered with the Chicago after school enrichment program, “After School Matters”. When he landed in LA he was pleasantly surprised to learn United Airlines partnered with LA’s BEST and was immediately hooked after one BEST Friends Friday event. He currently leads a team of Customer Service Representatives at LAX and has held numerous positions in his 32-year career with United.
Paul Keltner is a 30-year Los Angeles area resident. He leads Zurich North America’s west region Middle Markets commercial insurance underwriting team. Paul grew up hiking, camping, and fishing in Arizona. He spends his spare time raising his son and enjoying the outdoors — skiing, fly fishing, and training for triathlons. He holds a BA in Economics and MBA in Finance.
Paul was introduced to LA’s BEST by a close friend and Board Member in 2013. After attending several amazing events with LA’s BEST FRIENDS and participating grade school children Paul was invited to join the BEST FRIENDS board.
Megan is currently in global marketing at Neutrogena, a division of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., based in LA. She has held numerous roles in sales and marketing within J&J, in both Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Megan received a Bachelor of Science in Business, with a double major in Marketing and International Business from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Kristen Kolbeck was born and raised in Los Angeles, where her mother, Martha Jordan, served on the LA’s BEST board. Kristen graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2016 with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Education. During her time in Berkeley, she was also a four-year member of the Cal Field Hockey team, and worked in recruiting operations for Cal Football. Upon graduation, Kristen moved back to Los Angeles to continue an athletic career off of the field, working for the Los Angeles Rams since the team’s return to Southern California. Currently, she works in the team’s operations department, helping coordinate logistics for the practice facility, training camp, travel, and the opening of brand new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. Currently, she is leading the team’s Stadium Operations efforts, which most recently culminated in the Super Bowl LVI Championship efforts at the Rams home, SoFi Stadium, in February of 2021. Throughout her life and career, Kristen has been passionate about making sure women have equal access to athletic opportunities and resources.
Sandra Maciel is the Founder and CEO of Sync Consulting, a technical services consulting firm that helps consumer product companies develop, launch and manufacture amazing cosmetics, lotions, and potions. She is a graduate of Yale University where she earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and later earned an MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business. When she’s not fixing sunblocks or moisturizers, she’s spending time with her husband, Jose, and their two children, Aliyah and Nicolas.
Bill is a native second-generation Southern Californian, from Long Beach. He graduated from Pepperdine University in 1994, with a B.A. in Philosophy. In 2004, he earned an M.B.A from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, with an emphasis on Entrepreneurship and Finance. Bill has spent nearly 20 years in Operations Management, spending most of his career with several household beauty brands including Neutrogena, Elizabeth Arden, and his current role as COO at Stila Cosmetics. Bill currently resides in Mount Washington with his fiancé, Jee, and his border terrier, Harry. In his spare time, Bill is an outdoor enthusiast, enjoying snowboarding, surfing and backpacking. Bill also enjoys great restaurants, wine, cooking, and gardening.
Miguel Melendez is Senior Writer at Entertainment Tonight. He was previously a writer/producer at TMZ. Prior to writing about celebrities, Miguel spent 15 years as a sports journalist at USA TODAY, FOX Sports, NFL Network, L.A. Daily News and The Orange County Register. His byline has also appeared in The Associated Press and The Boston Globe. Miguel grew up homeless in Los Angeles and attended seven different schools as a kid. He was introduced to LAs BEST in the third grade and to the music program in the fifth grade. He’s a product of the L.A. Unified School District and now lives in Austin, TX.
Raymond Mora is currently the Programs and Support Manager for End Homelessness California (DBA The Shower of Hope), a local non-profit serving the unhoused community in the City and County of Los Angeles. Raymond is a Pepperdine University Alumni, holding degrees in Political Science and Economics. Raymond couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give back to his community through The Shower of Hope’s efforts in serving the local communities in which he was raised. Raymond attended Griffin Avenue Elementary in Lincoln Heights, where he also attended LA’s BEST.
Amani Roberts is a Professor and Director, Center for Entertainment and Hospitality Management at California State University, Fullerton, a Professional DJ, Music Producer and is the Chief Musical Curator for his company, The Amani Experience. This company specializes in providing music for corporate events, social events, creating original music for commercials or videos, and teaching students of all ages how to DJ. Amani also hosts a weekly podcast called, “The Amani Experience Podcast,” where he interviews creative professionals from all over the world about why they took the leap from corporate life to the creative life. In his free time, Amani loves to read, play soccer, follow his hometown Washington DC sports teams, improve his salsa dancing skills and chase after his dog, Nyla.
Mona Sobhani, Ph.D. is a cognitive neuroscientist, author, and entrepreneur. A former research scientist at the University of Southern California, she holds a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Southern California and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University with the MacArthur Foundation Law and Neuroscience Project. She is now co-founder and Head of Research at Pala, a platform that delivers trusted wisdom in short, engaging, and relatable videos using scientifically-proven methods that accelerate personal and professional growth. She is the author of Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist’s Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe (forthcoming August 23, 2022, Park City Press/Inner Traditions), which details her transformation from a diehard scientific materialist to an open-minded spiritual seeker. In the Brave New World of Psychedelic Science newsletter, she writes about the psychedelic renaissance and consciousness.
Evita Wong is almost a California native, hailing from the San Gabriel Valley via a cross-country move with her family from New York at six years old. After completing a double major in Film and Journalism at the University of California, Irvine, Evita initially pursued a career in the film industry, moonlighting on music video sets as a camera assistant before joining the production team on an independent film. Evita found her calling at the socially-conscious brand, TOMS. From 2011-2017 she worked on their public-private partnerships team, building and managing relationships with non-profit organizations across Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2018, Evita transitioned to the non-profit sector as the Senior Associate Director of Advancement for Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, dedicated to ensuring that where a woman and her family lives does not determine if they live.