Staff List

David Ayala-Zamora was born in El Salvador. His desire to achieve peace, justice and democracy in his homeland brought him from a Christian youth church leadership position to being an audacious labor organizer during the US-backed Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980s. He was arrested by the El Salvador government, and jailed and tortured. He arrived in the United State in 1990.  Since then, he has committed himself to organizing and working on immigrant issues.  His experience includes working for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project as a paralegal, talking to immigrants and employers across Washington, ORegon and Idaho about employement-based discrimination; helping to organize CASA Latina, a Seatle center for day laborers; and being one of the founders of the Comite Pro Amnestia y Justicia Social, which sought to bring more attention to immigration issues, including beginning the May 1st march in Seattle. Most recently, he has spent many years working for SEIU Local 6 in Seattle and Local 49 and 503 in Portland, helping to organize several successful campaigns in the private sector, most recently Service Master on Swan Island, OR.  David tells organizers he leads that "The organizer's job is to help people discover the power they have when they work together." In this context, he has helped hundreds of janitors, immigrants, and US Citizens take risks in order to achieve common goals as members of society. He left backpacking and running marathons to marry Siovhan Sheridan-Ayala. He has three kids who keep him young.

Ashley Leasure joined OneAmerica as Interim Development Director in February 2009.  Her work in the field is guided by more than sixteen years of experience as a Director of Development and member of executive management teams for social service, arts and medical-based non-profit organizations, most recently expanding the fundraising programs of ACT Theatre and Seattle Theatre Group (the historic Paramount and Moore Theatres).

Prior to coming to Seattle, Ashley led successful development programs including a seven-county division of the March of Dimes and CENTERS for Children & Families. In early 2007, she founded her company, OrangeGerbera, Inc., and began consulting and contracting with several nonprofit groups in the Puget Sound area including Legal Voice (formerly Northwest Women's Law Center), Lifelong AIDS Alliance, Hedgebrook, Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, Women's Funding Alliance and the American Lung Association.

Elsa was born and raised in Mexico city, where she studied social anthropology at the Escuela Nacional de Antropologia e Historia. Her training as a community organizer and educator began while working with a popular education-focused organization in various rural indigenous communities in Mexico. In the past 10 years Elsa has worked professionally and volunteered for different social and environmental justice organizations locally and internationally such as BUSCA, AC and Oxfam in Mexico, the Monteverde Institute in Costa Rica, and EarthCorps, Casa Latina, Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, YouthCare and Global Visionaries in Seattle, WA.  Elsa believes the only way to social change is committing through community empowering.

Jen joined OneAmerica after working as Development Manager for a Snohomish County non-profit. She has been grant writing for over two years, and fundraising for three. She obtained her Master degree in Social Work in 2005 from Andrews University in Berrien Springs Michigan and holds Bachelor degrees in English and Social Work from Xavier University. She worked as a domestic violence counselor and mental health counselor before entering into fundraising. Jen is a second generation Polish immigrant with strong ties to her family.

Sarah came to OneAmerica after working as an intern and consultant at the Migration Policy Institute's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. She graduated from George Mason University (GMU) with a Masters in Anthropology in 2008. Her thesis research centered on the relationship between local institutions and immigrants and how these relationships change under duress. While at GMU, Sarah was the graduate research assistant at the Mason Project on Immigration, project director for the Barriers to Ethnic Entrepreneurship study, and an interviewer for Virginia's Changing Communities study in Prince William County, VA. She received a BA in Community Development from the University of Kentucky.

Prior to joining OneAmerica as the State Policy and Legislative Manager, Toby was the State Policy Director at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) where he coordinated the organization’s state advocacy efforts and provided training and technical assistance on immigrant access to benefits. At MIRA he also had the opportunity to work on English language and workforce development programming and policy with the English for New Bostonians program and English Works Campaign. He holds a master’s degree in social work from Boston University and is very glad to be back on the West Coast.

Abdullahi is working to build the base of immigrant and refugee communities around Washington State and strengthen ties with allies on grassroots leadership and issue campaigns. Abdullahi has been with OneAmerica since 2004. In the past five years, Abdullahi held numerous positions at OneAmerica, including Civic Engagement Coordinator, Community Coalition Builder, advisor to the Executive Director and Senior Organizer. His tasks include working with immigrant and refugee groups in the community to empower and find solutions to their problems, providing trainings to assist immigrants in civic participation, maintaining open communications between all groups, and identifying and recruiting members. In his home country of Somalia, Abdullahi taught human rights law at the Somali National University and worked with the Government of Somalia negotiating peace treaties. Abdullahi has an MPA in Criminal Justice from City University in Bellevue, Washington and a Bachelor of Law degree from the Somali National University.

Teresa joined OneAmerica after graduating from Eugene Lang College at the New School for Liberal Arts in New York City. With a B.A.in Cultural & Media Studies, Teresa's academic focus was in digital activism and media production, including web design and documentary film. Prior to OneAmerica, Teresa had done communications work for NARAL Pro-Choice NY, the Northwest Film Forum, Comedy Central, and had also worked as a Political Assistant for the U.S. Mission to the European Union.

Stacey's awareness of the need for comprehensive and humane immigration reform was heightened while serving two terms with AmeriCorps. She tutored and mentored students of all ages within the large and primarily Spanish-speaking immigrant community that makes up the work force of the agriculture industry in North Central Washington.  After AmeriCorps she advocated for immigrants' access to quality health care in her work with community health care clinics in North Central and Western Washington.  She also advocated for her fellow workers as a member of the SEIU 1199NW bargaining team, successfully negotiating a contract with her employer that protected workers' rights and provided for fair wage increases. 

Since early 2008 she has been fighting to protect women's reproductive rights as a founding member of the Planned Parenthood Action League of Tacoma.  Meanwhile, upon reports of human rights abuses at the newly constructed NW Detention Center in Tacoma, increasingly frequent ICE raids and incidents of hate crimes across the country she sought avenues to respond with action.   She calls the opportunity to dedicate herself full time to the immigrant rights movement and the struggle for comprehensive immigration reform a "dream come true.''