It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Sarah Dusseault, Executive Director of LA4LA, is a policy-maker and advocate whose innovative approach to addressing local issues has helped shape the Los Angeles region over the last two decades.

Sarah served on the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Commission, the joint city-county agency that coordinates housing and services for homeless individuals and families in Los Angeles County. As Commission Chair from 2019 to 2020, Sarah helped lead COVID-relief efforts such as the implementation of Project Roomkey, providing emergency housing to more than 8,000 individuals in Los Angeles County. She is committed to policy-making that addresses issues unique to women experiencing homelessness and to bold investment in crisis response to homelessness. Her passionate advocacy and pragmatic approach to this issue is guided by her personal experiences with her brother, who suffers from schizophrenia and has previously experienced decades of being unsheltered.

Sarah is chair of the Housing Justice Action Team for The Angeleno Project, a collaboration of philanthropic, non-profit, business, labor and other organizations addressing the region’s most pressing issues. Working with researchers from UCLA and USC, the group issued No Going Back, a roadmap for addressing economic, pandemic, and racial justice issues currently facing our community. She also serves as an Advisory Board Member for the Los Angeles Business Council and a Board Member of the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

Sarah has served as chief policy advisor to numerous elected officials and candidates, including Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn for whom she served as Deputy Mayor for Housing and Homelessness. Sarah also served as Senior Policy Advisor to Mayor Eric Garcetti during his 2013 mayoral campaign, and during his tenure as President of the City Council. She was most recently Chief of Staff to L.A. City Councilmember David Ryu, the city’s first-ever Korean American councilmember.

Sarah holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale College and a J.D. from UCLA.

Deidre Lind is an award-winning community leader respected as an expert in philanthropy and civic partnerships with impact-driven results and who today leads A Better Impact providing social impact advisory services to clients across all sectors.

Deidre co-founded the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles in 2014 as a platform for public/private partnerships focused on innovation and effectiveness and lead the organization through its unprecedented COVID-19 response efforts. In 2023, Deidre and the Fund received Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies award for social impact.

She also created and served as the Founding President of the California Volunteers Fund in partnership with the Office of CA Governor Gavin Newsom. Deidre has built a career over two decades leading corporate responsibility and philanthropy programs including leading the Pfaffinger Foundation, one of the oldest private foundations in the region, and serving for a decade as Mattel’s chief global social impact strategist where she launched their two-percent pre-tax profit annual commitment and delivered the Company’s first global sustainability assessment.

Deidre currently serves on the Boards of numerous local and national nonprofits and in 2021, served as Co-Chair of the Working Group coordinating the Council on Foundation’s virtual Annual Conference, Leading Together.

Jesse Leon leads Alliance Way, a consultancy that develops programs and impact strategies for foundations, governments, and nonprofits focused on affordable housing, education, substance abuse, mental health, and human trafficking.

His extensive background includes managing over $1 billion in public and private sector investments for affordable housing projects, notably the financing of the first LGBT senior housing development in Florida. Jesse also spearheaded the development of over 5,000 units, totaling more than $2 billion in mixed-income housing and master development projects.

Multilingual and fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, he has over 30 years of experience addressing substance abuse challenges and issues affecting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities. As the award-winning author of "I’m Not Broken" and "No Estoy Roto," and a sought-after TEDx and motivational speaker, Jesse's personal journey from overcoming human trafficking and homelessness to achieving significant professional milestones fuels his commitment to social justice and transformative impact.

Educated at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the University of California at Berkeley, Jesse completed a postgraduate fellowship in Urban Redevelopment at the University of Pennsylvania.