Leadership
Mary Lim-Lampe is the Executive Director of Genesis. She graduated cum laude with a B.A in Political Science from University of Missouri-Saint Louis and Juris Doctorate from Saint Louis Unversity. Mary was blessed by God and the Universe to mother a 15 year old who shows her a great example of courage everyday. The proud daughter of Chinese immigrants, she was summoned into organizing during a "perfect storm" at a Gamaliel Network organizer training when a good agitation by her mother was followed by her throwing up and deciding to come out of the shadows and build power.
Mary began her work as the community organizer for MORE2 (Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity), the Gamaliel Affiliate in Kansas City, Missouri (her home town). She cut her organizing teeth by leading MORE2 to monitor a community benefits agreement with the Missouri Department of Transportation that required that .5% of the total project budget must be reserved for training and apprenticeship programs to prepare minority workers for jobs on the Christopher S. Bond Bridge. This agreement was part of the “Missouri Model” which set a precedent throughout the country on how transportation/infrastructure contracts could benefit communities of color and women. Her current work includes a campaign to Disrupt the School the Prison Pipeline, and Bringing Justice to People with Different-Abilities.
Jazzy Sakaniwa, is the 2022 Chair for Genesis Leadership Council. She is a first generation college graduate, cum laude wit a B.A in Justice Community and Leadership and M.A in Education from Saint Mary's College of California. Jazzy began her journey with Genesis virtually at the beginning of 2020 as a member of the leadership council. In 2021 she was elected secretary and later appointed the youngest Chair in Genesis history at the beginning of 2022.
Jazzy is currently a middle school math educator in the Fruitvale area of Oakland and is dedicated to fostering a love for learning and activism in the youth she works with.
Nicole Sutton is Genesis’ 2022 MICAH Intern. Her job at Genesis is to support the non-profit organization and work as the program coordinator for the 2022 Youth Summer Internship.
She is a rising senior at Saint Mary’s College of California, majoring in Social Psychology, and the President/Co-President of SMC Psychology Club 2022-2023. Nicole plans to pursue a career in Organizational Psychology with an emphasis on Training and Development, and hope to stay close to the social justice sphere, and support non-profits in the future.
She believes working within the community is the best way to understand and combat issues of social injustice. She views Genesis as a great organization to start with, as she is compelled by the intentionality of getting the youth involved.
Rev. Dr. Hubert Ivery is on the At-Large Caucus of Genesis and is currently the senior pastor at Geneva Avenue United Methodist Church in San Francisco. Born in Clayton, Alabama during Segregation, Dr. Ivery’s family moved to Miami, Florida when he was about 3 years old. Because of intermittent periods of time when he lived with his grandparents, he grew up in both Miami and Alabama. Dr. Ivery experienced the harsh reality of injustice towards African Americans in the post-Reconstruction South, while also experiencing firsthand the riots in Miami stemming from violence and injustice.
Dr. Ivery has a PhD from California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco) in East-West Psychology, where he did his dissertation on Howard Thurman. He also has Master degrees from Boston University School of Theology (Boston) and the Interdenominational Theological Center (Atlanta, Georgia) and a Bachelor of Science from Texas Southern University (Houston).
Dr. Ivery has facilitated Intercultural Communication workshops for the California Nevada Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He has served as the Chair of the Committee of Christian Unity and Interreligious Relations. He is the current convener of Ecumenical Officers Committee of the Bay Area. Genesis’ goal to work towards dismantling structural racism dovetails with Dr. Ivery’s passion for working for the transformation of our society towards a Beloved Community.