Way to Win Co-Founder | President & CEO

Tory Gavito is President of Way to Win and is responsible for steering the vision and strategy of the power network of donors and strategists. Prior to Way to Win, Tory was the Founding Executive Director of the Texas Future Project. Under Tory’s leadership, the Texas donor table transformed from an idea to a powerhouse institution; established the Texas Future Project Research Center; and developed and financed a strategic plan to make Texas competitive statewide by 2022. Alongside power-building strategists, Tory organized donors around races that culminated bringing the loss margin in Texas to a mere 2-points in 2018, making it a battleground 2020. Tory has a JD from Saint Mary’s University School of Law, was an advocate for immigrants in the workplace for a decade, and grounds her work in movement-building. Tory’s career is inspired by her grandmother and namesake, who immigrated to Texas from Mexico in the 1940s.

Way to Win Co-Founder | Vice President

Leah co-founded Solidaire, a network of philanthropists who are committed to funding social movements with a focus on racial and economic justice. For the first five years, she served as Founding Executive Director and grew the membership from a small handful of progressives to a vibrant community of over 160 members. Leah has a PhD from Princeton University, where she studied religious philosophy and political theory and wrote her dissertation on the history of the concept of solidarity. She has served on numerous boards and acts as an advisor to her family foundation, the Sister Fund. Her writings have been featured in The Nation, Huffington Post and Politico, and she has been profiled by Salon, Avenue Magazine, and San Francisco Magazine.

Way to Win Co-Founder | Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer

Jenifer oversees Way to Win’s political strategy and narrative work and serves as an advisor to the Way to Lead PAC, which supports candidates with bold visions who reflect their communities. Prior to coming on full time to Way to Win, she served as Vice President at Women Donors Network, helping to run the national community of women donors who leverage their wealth, power, and community for a more fair, just, and sustainable world. She has a wide range of experience in communications, donor organizing, strategy development, grassroots organizing, and multi-racial coalition building. Jenifer has worked as Director of Strategic Communications at Citizen Engagement Laboratory, as a consultant to the Democracy Alliance, as a top legislative aide in the California State Assembly, and as a news reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

Vice President & Chief of Staff

Tori joined Way to Win at its founding in 2017 and currently serves as Chief of Staff. He marshals internal resources and organizes programming and services for Way’s power network of donors and organizers. Tori was previously Program Manager and principal deputy of a philanthropic fund at the Democracy Alliance where he managed the funding process for a portfolio of high-performing power building organizations on behalf of individual and institutional donors. Within philanthropy, Tori constantly advocates for under-resourced communities and their most authentic leaders. Tori is a member of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), Funders for LGBTQ Issues, and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). Tori was born and raised in a union family in Hawai‘i. He remains Okinawan American.

Senior Director of Political Strategy

Colleen is a queer feminist who has been working to empower women, young folks, and communities who haven’t been lifted up across the nation. She most recently served as Deputy Director of the Texas Future Project where she advised major donors on how to best leverage investments in Texas infrastructure to build independent political power while also strategizing how to win near-term elections for long-term people power. Colleen has worked in many fields of campaign work from field to communications to political, having managed campaigns as well as recruited and trained pro-choice Democratic women to run for office. She knows that the strategy of winning close races lives in the creative space where data meets culture. She is a fourth-generation Texan from a union home, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Women Donors Network Reflective Democracy Grantee, and an alumna of the Obama campaign and Annie’s List.

Senior Director & Chief of Design

Elise is a modern-day nomad, who has spent the past three decades traversing the globe. After moving to NYC, she joined The Public Society, a design-thinking firm focused on creative disruption. Elise became deeply involved in environmental and social justice work there, partnering with clients including Greenpeace, Avaaz, the Carbon XPRIZE, The Rockefeller Foundation, Beautiful Solutions (with Naomi Klein), The Urban Future Lab, The NYU Entrepreneurial Institute, Conergy, and Mosaic Solar. Before joining Way to Win, Elise worked with Solidaire and Solidaire Action Fund, where she helped to launch the Emergent Fund and design the JustFund portal. In 2018, she moved from Brooklyn, New York, to O‘ahu, Hawai‘i where she now resides. Elise believes that design and inclusive innovation are powerful tools for transformation: they help us see a more just and beautiful world is possible, and invite us to join in its creation.

Senior Director of Marketing & Communications

A native Georgian, Alyssa's diverse background in marketing, strategic communications, and public relations led her to Way to Win. At Texas Civil Rights Project, Alyssa demystified legalese for mass media, built compelling narratives, and captured national headlines around voting rights, bail reform, and immigration and border wall issues. While at Smithsonian Folkways, part of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, she used music, history, and traditions from around the world as tools to further social justice, empathy, and cultural understanding. A graduate of the Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, she returned for 5 years to teach publicity and promotion at the Terry College of Business at UGA. During her time in the music industry, she helped run Sufjan Stevens’ label, handled PR for clients ranging from major labels to independent artists, and helped market sold-out music festivals. She has been featured or published in Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Splice, and more.

Deputy Political Director

Born in the Bay Area and raised in California’s Central Valley, Jennifer’s values are shaped by her mother, an immigrant and single parent. As a first-generation college student, she led campaigns to improve campus safety policies for women, access to higher education, and served as UC San Diego’s first Asian American woman student body president. She has served as a nonprofit leader and consultant at the national, state, and local level with the US Student Association, PowerPAC, 18MillionRising.org, League of Women Voters of California, Mobilize the Immigrant Vote, Common Cause, CA Donor Table, East Bay Asian Voter Education Consortium, and FairVote, on issues of capacity building, issue campaigns, civic engagement, and electoral reform. In 2010, Jennifer ran for Oakland City Council and although she didn’t secure the seat, the campaign made a significant impact in the community by engaging new and infrequent voters. For the past 15 years, she has served as a trainer and facilitator for APIAVote, Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, New American Leaders, and re:power (formerly Wellstone Action) and has trained thousands of candidates, elected officials, campaign managers, and community organizers.

Media Relations Coordinator

A native New Yorker, Samantha comes from a family of activists who introduced her to politics and organizing at an early age. She graduated from Syracuse University’s School of Design where she received a BFA in Communications Design with a minor in Political Science from the School of Maxwell. She has experience designing for the Working Families Party where she gained a substantial background in politics and message building via social media. Her passion for social media led her to work with Michael Moore on the release of his film Fahrenheit 11/9. Samantha also shares a passion for production and film. In her free time, she can be found working on future film projects.

Design Coordinator

Born and raised in the beautiful islands of Hawai‘i, Kimi is a strong believer in equality and justice, with a passion for empowering women. Eager to make an impact in her community and the world around her, she made a swift career move into the realm of design from retail management. Utilizing her background in business, operations, and customer service, Kimi globally views the field of graphic/web design + development. When she is not glued to her computer screen, Kimi can be found “dancing through life”, twirling and dining her way through different landscapes and cities.

Content Coordinator

Dailey is an Alabama native with a longtime interest in advancing social justice, particularly in the South. She studied political science and art history at the College of Charleston and spent most of her senior year working for Charleston’s 2015 mayoral candidate Ginny Deerin. Before joining Way to Win, she worked for nationally known artist Chris Roberts-Antieau, supporting the growth of Antieau’s three gallery spaces, assisting the gallery director, and managing the artist’s studio. Dailey currently lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she enjoys reading, writing, and rollerblading around the city.

Fundraising Manager

Alina (she/her) comes to Way to Win from Progress Alliance where she managed and created new systems to support donor cultivation and engagement, funding a progressive political network advancing racial equity, democracy reform, and economic justice in Washington state. Alina previously worked with rural and immigrant communities on disaster relief in her home state of Texas after Hurricane Harvey. She also provided administrative and research support to the Artists & Activists CoLab, a philanthropic collaborative behind projects that advanced civic participation through the arts and media.

Deputy Advising Director

Becca Moser joins Way to Win after spending the last 3 years as the Deputy Director for ProgressNow Colorado. There Becca managed fundraising efforts including events, grants, and donor relations. Becca brings with her a background in local politics, community organizing, and most importantly, fundraising. She has also worked with Development at One Colorado, the state's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization. Previous to that, she managed campaigns with New Era Colorado, and for late State Representative John Buckner, and worked for Rep. Buckner under the gold dome.

Political Manager

Melody Oliphant is a political strategist, fundraiser, and leader in Democratic campaigns in the South. She spent the last three years working to elect progressive women in Georgia, most recently leading three red-to-blue state house campaigns in 2020. Originally from Georgia, Melody moved back to her home state to work on the Stacey Abrams for Governor campaign. She continued her commitment to ensuring ballot access and voting rights for all Georgians in her role at Fair Fight. Melody is excited to join Way to Win in building Democratic power for women, particularly women of color.

Political Manager

Roksana Borzouei joins Way to Win following her time as National Director of Student Power Networks. She is a community organizer with experience in directing electoral and issue-based campaigns and field programs around labor, immigration and racial justice. A writer, organizer and former social justice educator, Roksana was born in Tehran, Iran and grew up in Tampa, Florida navigating life in post-9/11 America as an Iranian-American. She is committed to supporting working class leaders of color in growing a strong progressive movement. Roksana has previously worked as canvass director and campaign coordinator at One Pennsylvania, program director of Student Power Network at Movement Voter Project, organizing fellow for the 2012 Obama for America campaign, and as a policy intern for the National Iranian American Council. She designed NIAC’s youth and student engagement program that serves as its organizing model today. As a student organizer, she worked to build a coalition of Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) students to receive institutional support and to begin organizing together around shared struggles. Recently, she was a research aide to Dr. Neda Maghbouleh for her book “The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race.” Roksana holds an AB in International Relations from Brown University.

Fundraising Manager

As a native Northern Californian, Sara has been engaged in helping her communities and advocating for marginalized populations from a young age. Her perspective is in part informed by her experience as a disabled woman born with a hearing loss and her educational background in Sociology, Comparative Literature and Art History from the University of California, Davis. She most recently served as Senior Program Manager at the California Fire Foundation where she managed fundraising efforts and a wide variety of programs including implementing multiple local disaster relief plans in response to the devastating fires and natural disasters throughout California. Sara has also served as a Field Representative for State Senator Lois Wolk in California’s 3rd Senate District where she acted as a liaison to constituents through developing and maintaining relationships with community members. Sara has broad experience working and volunteering on campaigns, including implementing field operations, advising groups and training volunteers on community organizing and canvassing to increase voter turnout and register voters.

Administrative Assistant

Delaney is a recent graduate from UC Santa Cruz with a double major in Politics and Sociology. Aside from working with Way to Win in college, she also spent the fall of her senior year interning with CALPIRG’s New Voter Project, helping to register and turn out over 10,000 young people to vote across California. When Delaney's not working, she spends her time tending to her many plants, singing and playing guitar, and trying out new restaurants around the Bay Area. She is thrilled to be back with such a hardworking and passionate group of people and excited to work with those who she has yet to meet!

Interim Executive Assistant

Jason is the CEO & Founder of Go Digital Hero, LLC, a veteran, minority, LGBTQ+-owned digital assistant company. He has collective management and administrative experience of over 18 years, spanning the military, government, nonprofit, and private sectors. When not being a Digital Hero, he is serving our country as a Uniformed Hero. Jason is a Senior Master Sergeant in the United States Air Force Reserves and is the Reserve Senior Enlisted Leader for Religious Affairs at United States Southern Command in Doral, Florida. He and his husband, Jacob, enjoy being foodies and spoiling their two fur babies - Atlas and Aspen. Jason is excited to bring Administrative Zen to the Way to Win team.