Shahla joined LFA in 2010 with a background in public health, and a belief in the power of policy, direct service, and community to create conditions in which people are able to thrive. At LFA, Shahla partners with organizations seeking to build and strengthen person-centered, trauma responsive, equity driven systems of care within the sectors of reproductive/birth justice, behavioral health, and early childhood.
Shahla is committed to using applied research to promote social justice and individual and community wellbeing — she believes strongly that data and powerful storytelling can help drive strategic decision-making and responsive programming. She has extensive experience planning and leading projects involving quantitative and qualitative methods, practicing deep listening to elevate the voices of those most directly impacted, and navigating complex processes amidst emergent contexts in service of learning. In centering values rooted in racial justice, Shahla embraces the critical and ongoing practices of identity conscious self-reflection, attention to power dynamics and the systems of privilege and oppression that create and uphold them, and grounding in shared purpose. She believes in humor, love, and hard work and brings all three to her professional role.
Outside of her work, Shahla volunteers as a Preemie Parent Mentor and enjoys spending time dancing salsa, training in martial arts, and spending time with her family in the east bay.
Education
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz
Master of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
Selected Project Experience
Evaluation and Learning Partner for the Missouri Foundation for Health Infant Mortality Reduction Initiative
National Evaluation of the Working to Institutionalize Sex Ed (WISE Initiative) of the Grove Foundation
Evaluation of Trauma Transformed (T2), a regional effort to create a coordinated and trauma-informed system of care for youth across seven Bay Area counties
Evaluation and Technical Assistance for First 5 Sonoma County
Evaluation of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s Population and Reproductive Health Program, US Subprogram