Director of Special Programs
Joel Ojeda
Meet
The Team
Founder & CEO
Narda Mamou
Narda is a tri-lingual (Spanish, English, and American Sign Language), highly effective Certified Career Coach, Recruiter, Diversity Consultant, and Job Placement professional dedicated to matching talent to employers' needs. She has been successfully coaching and inspiring individuals to succeed in careers aligned with the 21st-century job market since 2005.
COO
Mary Di Stasio Hoffman
With 30+ years of experience in the staffing/recruiting arena, Mary is well-grounded and knowledgeable. She has had the pleasure of working with many of the larger Fortune 500 companies and has learned a great deal along the way. She also enjoys managing staff and is proud to say that her teams, over the years, are known for their tenure.
Director of Training & Development
Kristina Ervin
Kristina is a graduate of CSU Eastbay with a Master of Social Work for Community Mental Health and her Baccalaureate in Psychology with a minor in Human Development. She is currently working on hours as a clinical social worker (LCSW) as well as performing career coaching with Trends. She is a legally blind mother of 3 wonderful girls, has a guinea pig, two cats, a pet dog, and a guide dog named Gretsky. In her free time, she enjoys exercising outdoors and playing online games.
Career Counselor
Trisha Tran
Trisha is a creative career counselor with over 10 years of experience providing career development services to students, clients, and the community. She is devoted to supporting clients to reach their true academic and career potential. She has a Master’s degree in Educational Counseling and a Bachelor’s degree with double majors in Psychology and Sociology from San Jose State University.
Director of Special Programs
Joel Ojeda
Career Counselor
Casey Gaston
Joel's interest in people of different abilities, human behavior, and the thought processes, mental illnesses, and development of mental health led him to pursue a B.A. in Psychology and a Masters in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He focuses on assisting marginalized people of color and/or people with disabilities through professional and personal development to bridge the gap of opportunities in the workforce, diversify businesses, and create tangible change in our communities. When he's not on the job, he loves hiking, spending time with his dogs and family, and staying active at the gym.
Career Counselor
Olivia Davis
Olivia has a Master's degree in Clinical Mental Health in Counseling and a Bachelor's in Psychology with a Minor in Disability Studies. She has a passion for helping people in the disability community in achieving their goals. She has 10+ of years experience advocating for people with disabilities. When she is not working, she loves painting, playing with her cat, and reading.
Career Counselor
Mike Palmieri
Mike has been helping clients set and achieve their goals for over 16 years, with a focus on listening, guiding, and developing self-advocacy. He's worked with college students, adults in career transitions, and people of all ages. Mike has a background in college student affairs, disability services, advising, and foster care social work. Mike earned a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from New College of Florida, and a Master's of Education plus a graduate Career Counseling certificate from University of South Florida. Mike's always up for discussions about books, TV, or movies (especially: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, comedy), and anything related to food!
Career Counselor
Mehrnaz Hada
Mehrnaz holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and is a lifelong learning enthusiast and has formal training in business development, coaching, diversity, leadership, and mentorship. She is an experienced high-tech professional having held roles in marketing, business development, strategy, leadership, management, career counseling and recruiting in Silicon Valley for over 25 years. She is highly enthusiastic and motivational with clear concise communication style. Her experience in coaching, recruiting and career guidance to potential candidates with various backgrounds, as well as her passion in helping others succeed is a great asset in offering sound advice and career path assistance.
Career Counselor
Jackie Clark
Jackie is a recent undergraduate with a BA degree in sociology with an emphasis in Human Service from Holy Names University. Her interests are helping those in need of support. She has worked in community outreach for 5+ years and sits on the International Faith Center Ministries board of directors as a trustee. Her spiritual gifts are in giving my time, talents, and treasures. She loves singing gospel music, traveling, and hanging out with family and friends.
Career Counselor
Patty Lev
For more than 15 years, Patty has been a driving force in helping individuals and institutions reach their full potential. Her unwavering dedication revolves around the belief that everyone has unique perspectives and gifts to contribute, and that we are here to care for and to help one another. Throughout her career as an educator, Patty has served as an academic and career counselor, faculty member, Dean, and student services leader for several local Colleges and Universities. There is nothing more satisfying to Patty than helping her clients reach their academic, personal, and career goals. She has a Master’s degree in Educational Counseling from San Jose State University, and a Bachelor’s in Liberal Studies degree from the California State University at Monterey Bay. When she is not working, Patty loves to spend time with her family including their new Corgi puppy, and exploring our beautiful Bay Area.
Career Counselor
Kristian Perez
With 8 years of expertise in HR and Recruitment , Kristian Perez is a results-focused leader who delivers talent acquisition, retention and motivational solutions that help companies harness the full power of one of their most valuable assets - their people. He is dedicated to empowering and motivating employees to realize their full potential and bring their best to their job.
He prides himself on an in-depth interview process which has made him successful in aligning his clients with the best career opportunities.
Career Counselor
Marjorie Vega
Marjorie is a bilingual (Spanish and English) health advocate with 5+ years of experience providing resources for low-income communities, LGBTQIA+, older adults, and people with disabilities. She has successfully supported people of all ages with group counseling, individual behavioral therapy, job and internship placement, and personal development workshops. Marjorie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from California State University of Long Beach. Her mission is to empower people to reach their highest potential and guide them through a successful career path. She is confident that with compassion, patience, determination, and teamwork anything is possible. On her free time, she enjoys studying herbalism, painting, taking dance classes, writing poetry, and spending quality time with her Chihuahuas.
Career Counselor
Camille Brooks
Camille Brooks has a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a Minor in Organizational Development. Camille is a Leader, Coach and Diversity Ambassador with a breadth of experience that spans all types of industries. With over 20 years of experience in Talent Acquisition, Strategic Partnership Engagement and Community Involvement. As a resident of the SF. Bay Area, Camille prides herself on bridging unique relationships to create opportunities and pathways for under-represented groups in my surrounding city and broader communities. Camille is passionate about volunteering her services, coaching and mentoring individuals and seeing people evolve on their journey’s.
Career Counselor
Brian Hartness
Brian holds a Bachelors degree in Business Management and a Masters in Organizational Management as well as Certificates in Mediation and Conflict Management from UC Berkeley, (Go Bears!) and Human Resource Management from Loyola Marymount.
Brian brings almost 40 years of experience in Transportation Management as well as Compliance review and employee development. Far and away the most gratifying work was in identifying young talent and mentoring and shepherding individuals into management. During the pandemic, he developed a training program to give first time managers and supervisors the tools and skills needed to lead teams in the workforce.
When not working in developing curriculum, Brian and his wife Delfyn enjoy traveling. Japan and Europe are regular destinations.
Career Counselor
Benjamin "Ben" Thomsen
Benjamin, or more often just ‘Ben’ has never been one to take the path chosen for him. Diagnosed with severe learning disabilities in the 1990’s he strives to be the advocate that he felt was absent in his own life. Rather than starting with a degree Ben served six years in the U.S. Navy as an Intelligence Specialist before leaving the organization to pursue a B.A. in Politics/Legal Studies from U.C. Santa Cruz. While in the Navy, he helped mentor and developed the skills of junior analysts in honing their craft in order to advance down their career paths.
Ben is an active individual in both mind and body. You can often find him at the gym lifting weights while listening to audio books. He will always enjoy discussing the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Heinlein, Homer, and Orwell among many more.
Career Counselor
Jude Pierotti
Jude is a compassionate individual with decades of entrepreneurship under his belt. Having run several businesses over his career, he is well versed in recruitment, management, collaboration and implementing new practices and processes. Jude enjoys helping clients at Trends Careers. As a Veteran, he loves to help people, whether it is helping veterans to stay off of opioids, finding them work, or just being there when needed. Outside of work, he spends time with family and loves playing card games.