Our Staff
Christy Applegate
Financial Manager
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Christy Applegate has worked with nonprofit organizations for 15 years including the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, American Society on Aging, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Currently, she is a consultant with GroundSpark focusing on financial and database management. Her first position at GroundSpark was office manager way back in October of 1998. Christy is currently attending graduate school in pursuit of an MBA with the eventual goal of being a licensed CPA. In between studying and working she plays board games, reads comic books, and watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"I’ve always enjoyed doing the background, administrative work for people that make good things happen. GroundSpark impresses me with the vast amount and scope of work that gets done with limited staff and resources. Top that with our success rate in opening minds to issues of social justice, and I am thrilled to be part of the team!"
Debra Chasnoff
Executive Director and Senior Producer
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Debra Chasnoff is an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has fueled progressive social-change movements in many fields. She is a the executive director at GroundSpark and co-creator of The Respect For All Project, a program that produces media and training resources to help prevent prejudice among young people.
Her films in The Respect For All Project include: Let’s Get Real (2003; director/producer), a powerful documentary about young teens’ experiences with name-calling and bullying in which youth speak up about racial tensions, anti-gay taunting, sexual harassment and much more; That’s a Family! (2000; director/producer), which looks at family diversity from a kids’ perspective, and was screened at the White House and been embraced by scores of national children’s advocacy, education and civil-rights organizations; and It’s Elementary -Talking About Gay Issues in School (1996; director/producer), which was hailed as "a model of intelligent directing" by International Documentary and has served as a catalyst for schools all over the world to become more proactive in addressing anti-gay prejudice in the classroom.
Debra’s other film credits include the Oscar-winning Deadly Deception - General Electric, Nuclear Weapons & Our Environment (1991; director/producer), a crucial component of a successful international grassroots campaign to pressure GE out of the nuclear-weapons industry; Homes & Hands - Community Land Trusts in Action (1998; co-director), which is used extensively to inspire local communities to explore new models of creating permanently affordable housing; Wired for What? (1999; director/producer), part of the PBS series Digital Divide about the push to computerize education; Choosing Children (1984; director/producer), which explored the once seemingly impossible idea that lesbians and gay men could become parents; and, One Wedding and a Revolution (2004:Director/Co-producer), which captures the frantic days leading up to the bold political decision of San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom to start issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Debra serves on the national advisory board for Frameline, the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and Jewish Voices for Peace. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, lives in San Francisco, and is a mother of two.
Cristy Chung
Community Programs Manager
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Cristy Chung began working with GroundSpark as a facilitator in September 2003; and joined the staff full-time in September 2007. Cristy provides ongoing management and coordination of The Respect For All Project community based programs and outreach initiatives. With twenty years of experience working in the nonprofit sector she has worked extensively in the fields of diversity education, safe schools planning, cross-cultural service delivery, domestic violence intervention and prevention and creating supportive programs for lesbian/gay headed families.
"As a parent I am passionate about the need for hate-free, welcoming learning environments for our children. The Respect For All Project gives educators, families and the communities they live in an opportunity to ensure all children feel safe and supported."
Adore Davidson Rodriguez
Development and Administrative Manager
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Adore Davidson Rodriguez, currently the Development and Administrative Manager at GroundSpark, has been working with the organization since September 2004. Adore manages the organization’s development needs, serves as liaison to the board, oversees human resources and operations, and facilitates staff meetings and organizational planning. Adore holds a Master’s degree in Social Justice in Intercultural Relations from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. In her free time, Adore can be found at Ruby’s Clay Studio, a community pottery studio in San Francisco.
"I initially became interested in GroundSpark because of its dedication to creating sustainable social change through documentary films that address social inequities, raise awareness and help to open hearts and minds. After three years of working with the committed, passionate and amazing staff, board, colleagues and supporters that make up the GroundSpark community, I feel even more dedicated to this work."
Alana Esquivel
Office Manager
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Alana Esquivel joined the GroundSpark team after uprooting from Santa Cruz, California in September 2007. In her role as Office Manager she oversees the many day-to-day operations of the busy office and works with the Financial Manager handling billing and expenses for the organization. With a B.A. in Film and Digital Media, years of administrative experience, a history of volunteer work in areas
of diversity, and a love for organizing (literally) Alana felt this position would be a great match for her. She has not been proven wrong.
“It had been a personal goal of mine to work for an organization that does something I truly believe in. GroundSpark is made up of a dedicated staff that creates an astonishing amount of work which in turn, moves the world forward in a positive way.”
Brett Rogstad
Edit Room Manager
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Originally from Sacramento, California, Brett Rogstad moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2002 to pursue his filmmaking interests. While obtaining a bachelor’s degree in film production at San Francisco State University, Brett volunteered his time to numerous independent feature films. In 2005, Brett’s short film “Here, With Me” was nominated for a Princess Grace award by the SFSU faculty. After graduating, Brett worked as an assistant editor on the documentary “American Blackout” which picked up the audience award in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, among others. He has until recently worked in the corporate media industry under the auspices of Delphi Productions. At Delphi he was able to further develop his editing and animation skills while creating original videos for their various corporate clients. When not working on a film project, Brett is usually found reading, writing, and, more often than not, wasting time with a video game. He loves vintage punk music and red sneakers.
"I’ve always been impressed with the power of the film medium to incite laughter, tears, or anger. I want to take full advantage of that power in order to cultivate thought and change in our world. With film, you have a limited amount of time to make use of people’s attention. Why waste that time? The staff of Groundspark understand this - and I hope to apply my filmmaking skills to further achieve their goals for tolerance and respect for people of all kinds."
Maritza Schäfer
Director of Communications and Marketing
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Maritza Schäfer joined GroundSpark in March of 2008 as Director of Communications and Marketing, and is responsible for getting our message out and promoting GroundSpark’s work nationally. Prior to coming to GroundSpark, Maritza was Communications Manager at Tides Foundation where she developed and implemented communications and outreach strategies to position Tides as a leader in progressive philanthropy. Maritza has also worked as a researcher in public opinion and marketing and as a video producer of documentaries and educational programs. She received a BFA in Film, Photography and Visual Arts from Ithaca College and a MS in Communication from Cornell University. With over a decade of experience in the communications field, Maritza’s expertise includes public opinion, issue visibility, traditional and new media, online communications, market research and social network analysis.
Amy Scharf
Director of Educational Programs
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Amy Scharf joined GroundSpark in April 2008. As our new Director of Educational Programs, she oversees the day-to-day work and the visionary expansion of GroundSpark’s core program, the Respect for All Project. Amy previously served as Program Director for California Tomorrow where she led a statewide training program on diversity and equity for afterschool programs and spearheaded efforts to inform local and state afterschool policy initiatives. Amy directed a three-year national study on equity issues in the afterschool field and is co-author of Pursuing the Promise: Addressing Equity, Access and Diversity in Afterschool and Youth Programs and Our Roots, Our Future: Affirming Culture and Language in Afterschool and Youth Programs. She holds a PhD in Social and Cultural Studies in Education from the University of California at Berkeley and is an experienced trainer, teacher and policy analyst.
Ryan Schwartz
National Outreach and Media Relations Manager
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Ryan Schwartz began as the national organizer for The Respect For All Project in February 2007. He started working in the safe schools movement when he was in high school and founded a coalition of gay-straight alliances in Houston, Texas. He holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University, where he studied international humanitarian and human rights movements. Part of his fellowship work at Stanford included researching for a South African NGO ensuring democratic governance and beginning an award-winning weekly community radio program for a Namibian LGBT organization. As the national organizer, Ryan helps gain visibility for the program by conducting outreach, planning events, creating program materials, and coordinating the National Coalition workshops and partnerships. Outside of work, Ryan happily fathers a mystery mutt named Swala.
"I am continually impressed by our small and unique GroundSpark staff, whose talent and passion are helping to create a new generation of youth that truly embrace difference and are equipped with the skills and language to confront prejudice when they see it."
Helen S. Cohen, former co-director and co-founder of The Respect For All Project, is now an independent producer. To contact Helen S. Cohen, e-mail Helen@openstudioproductions.com.