The track record of Cal State LA as a national leader for economic mobility - the demonstrated success of innovation and entrepreneurship programs on campus, and a committed, diverse body of students - make it the perfect home for the LEEAF Program. LEEAF’s team is led by women of color, with deep community connections and over 30 years of combined workforce and economic development experience.
MEET THE LEEAF TEAM
Elianne Rodriguez
Elianne Rodriguez is a serial DACA entrepreneur with 15yrs of experience in small businesses, education and tech. Elianne believes entrepreneurship and technology are great disruptors to build accessible, and equitable ecosystems. Elianne fosters community and designs culturally competent programming to connect diverse talent to opportunities that reflect the intersectionality of Los Angeles across racial, socioeconomic, gender, education, sexuality, and immigration status. Elianne is a fur mom to Lilly, a yorkie- schnauzer mix and is an avid earring collector.
Marla Parker
Dr. Marla Parker is an assistant professor in the political science department and co-founder of the Civic and Social Innovation Group. She’s also a startup enthusiast having started her own consulting company focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging as well as helping other startup organizations implement their mission of making the world a better place. It’s this experience that allows her to understand the thrills and challenges of being a business leader.
Dmitri Seals
Dmitri Seals is a collaborator dedicated to fostering people, teams, institutions, and systems that efficiently and creatively scale past obstacles toward justice. A founder of youth voice nonprofits BAUDL and SVUDL, co-founder of the Civic and Social Innovation Group (CaSIG) and LEEAF, and leader of community-engaged sociology courses at Cal State LA, Dmitri devotes his diverse skillset to teams that tackle inequalities of class, race, gender, and other intersecting systems of human division. He is a proud papa of two little humans and one big cat, a blues violinist, and an amateur chef always ready to throw down a mean omelet or pecan pie.