our team
Sarah delights in all things beautiful and dreams incessantly of a better world. She has worked for over a decade in the graphic design industry in both agency and corporate contexts. For many years she has dreamed of designing a creatively beautiful product that will help empower under-resourced people groups.
Some of her industry experience spans retail branding for Levi’s, financial services for Charles Schwab, technology and solar innovation for Applied Materials, and social responsibility for Safeway. She has also won numerous professional awards for her work in graphic design which include AIGA Design awards, HOW magazine awards, and has been published in various industry magazines and books. Her client list has spanned the Fortune 500, small start-ups, and non-profits.
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Elton is a champion of change for good. He's an experienced leader and entrepreneur in both for-profit and non-profit settings and is passionate about ventures that are profitable and make positive impact.
Elton graduated from UC Davis and Trinity International University and speaks regularly at conferences, seminars and churches. He is a sought-after coach and mentor and loves helping others start purposeful ventures.
Grace loves order. Making systems smooth is her forte. As a former PriceWaterhouseCooper Financial Consultant, biology teacher, wedding consultant, and homeschooling extraordinaire she brings her multi-faceted mindset to EllieFunDay.
Grace holds a BS from UC Davis (go Aggies!) in Microbiology and a MS in Finance from SJSU. In her free time she likes to brew her own water Kefir and sprout her own seeds with her two rambunctious girls.
our contributors
Calvina Nguyen is a lifestyle documentary photographer who has a gift for capturing the beauty in life, she can see details that are unseen by others. Her photographs capture movement and emotions that define a moment. She’s not simply capturing faces and things that are bound by the edges of a photograph, but she gives life to time that has passed. She makes EllieFunDay’s stories come alive through her award-winning photography. She has been published and recognized by many mainstream photography institutions for the work that she has contributed.
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Nate’s film directing talent skyrocketed to fame when his friends and him started tinkering with writing “love letters” to their favorite rock bands in the form of raw and unplugged videos. This was the genesis of Yours Truly, a response to music lovers’ need for real music again. From here he filmed and directed top talents like Lykke Li, Grimes, and Little Dragon. He has now transitioned into filming an episodic series called Magnum Opus: short documentaries on the most defining record of the greatest rappers, Eminem, 50 Cent, LL Cool J, Common, Erykah Badu, Rick Ross, and Puff Daddy. On his free time he jets home from New York to Petaluma, CA to visit his family so he can remain a farm-boy at heart.
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Manus’ love for photography started at Tiny Prints when he was one of the first employees which eventually lead him to become the lead photographer after their acquisition by Shutterfly. His expertise in telling product stories through his styling and photography experience has helped EllieFunDay’s products shine in the best light. He likes to spend his spare days hanging with his wife and two adorable girls by eating at Chik-fil-A and finding the lastest boba shops.
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Vivian Gee is a dreamer of all things possible. She was Head of Asia at the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow. She is responsible for selecting leading social entrepreneurs in Asia, and identifying opportunities for them to engage with global decision makers. Vivian has also consulted for non-profits, social enterprises, and small/medium enterprises in South Africa, India, the United States, as well as Indonesia. Vivian holds an MBA from INSEAD in addition to Bachelors and Masters degrees in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University. She currently reside in Malaysia and has a great affinity for eating durian.
Lyn Johnson is about creating lasting and meaningful connections. She is passionate about people, hospitality (she is more excited about a pretty table than spending hours in the kitchen), and taking world-changers on trips to foreign places to volunteer their time. Over a 21-year period of time, Lyn built a team of direct sales consultants from just herself to over 2,000 women entrepreneurs.
She is co-founder of the Institute for Innovation, Integration and Impact and launched Heartistry, a new series of Hospitality Seminars that are held in exotic international locations. She just became a grandma and EllieFunDay blankies are her go to gift for her most precious little ones.
Stefanie Tsen has always had an affinity for her “bao bae” (precious blanket) so when she was paired with EllieFunDay for the prestigious LVMH Rise Program as an advisor she so graciously accepted. Stefanie’s passion is to see businesses thrive in the marketplace through her expertise in retail marketing, consumer products and customer experience. With over 14 years in the retail space she has built and managed teams from Louis Vuitton, Bath & Body Works and Merrill Lynch.
She is currently the SVP of Omni-channel Marketing at Neiman Marcus and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Aside from jetting across the world she enjoys a good bowl of Taiwanese Beef Noodle soup from her home town in Jersey City.