About Me

I'm Gini. I'm not originally from San Jose, and my kids are growing up here, but for a long time my bio just read "a lover of the trees," a nod to the years I spent in the Pacific Northwest. Some part of me never fully let go of it. Then one summer, standing back in Washington, it hit me: this wasn't home anymore, not really, and if I wanted to actually be in San Jose, I had to stop treating it like a placeholder. So I made a decision. I was going to show up. And show up I am.

By day, I'm a nonprofit leader. I've spent years in the trenches with organizations like Junior League, Las Madres, Girl Scouts, and Happy Hollow Foundation. Right now I serve on multiple nonprofit boards and civic commissions, including PTA, Commission on the Status of Women, Library and Education Commission, and others. This work has taught me most of what I know about how community actually gets built and how progress happens. It happens with people showing up for each other, over and over again.

I'm also a mom, which means I think about all of this differently than I used to. I look at our children and I see a future I need to help create. I believe it's my job to do the right thing, to show up in every way that I can to build a beautiful world for as many people as possible.

Here's what I believe, and it's the thing everything else on this site comes back to: connection isn't just nice to have. It's the key to happiness. When we feel connected to each other and to where we live, we're healthier, more fulfilled, and more likely to invest in making our communities better.

A few things guide how I show up in this work:

Connection is the Key to Happiness I mean that literally, not as a tagline. Strong relationships are the foundation everything else gets built on.
Do the Right Thing Justice means everyone deserves to thrive: housing, belonging, opportunity. I try to center that even when it's uncomfortable.
Never Stop Learning I don't have all the answers. I'm figuring a lot of this out in real time, and I'd rather be honest about that than pretend otherwise.
Community Care Over Individual Self-Care I don't buy the "empty cup" version of self-care that tells you to fix yourself in isolation. Real wellbeing comes from taking care of each other.

I'm not an expert handing down wisdom. I'm a neighbor who cares a lot and is willing to do the work of learning out loud.

About the podcast

Connection is Key started because I wanted to understand what makes San Jose what it is. I'm not a journalist and I'm not an expert. I'm a mom and a community builder who kept meeting fascinating people doing real work in this city, and I got tired of being the only one who got to hear their stories.

So now I record conversations with the people building San Jose from the ground up: nonprofit leaders, school board candidates, neighbors running blogs out of their living rooms, city commissioners, the folks you'd never hear from otherwise. Every episode blends what I'm personally learning with real conversations, because I'm figuring this out as I go, and I'm inviting you to figure it out with me.

Each episode follows the same rhythm:

What I'm Learning My honest rundown of something I've been chewing on lately: a policy I had to untangle, a stat that surprised me, something a guest taught me that I didn't see coming.
Community Spotlight A local group or event doing work worth knowing about, with a real way to get involved.
The Conversation Interviews with people doing the work of building community in San Jose, or sometimes just me, thinking out loud about something that matters.
Take Action Because learning without doing isn't really the point. Every episode ends with something concrete you can actually do.

I made this podcast for two people: the neighbor who's already invested and wants to do more, and the one who cares but doesn't know where to start. If an episode leaves you feeling like a friend just walked you through something confusing, a little more ready to act, and a little less alone in caring about this city, that's exactly what I'm going for.

You can find Connection is Key on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts

About my work / Connection is Key

The podcast is where most people find me, but it's really one piece of something bigger. Connection is Key started as a show, but it's grown into how I think about all the work I do: building relationships, strengthening organizations, and creating spaces where people can show up for each other.

Nonprofit Consulting I work with nonprofits and community organizations across the board, from strategic planning and board development to fundraising, program and operations, and volunteer management. Basically, if it helps a nonprofit run well and grow, I've probably had my hands in it. I love working with small and mid-size nonprofits that put people over optics: staff who actually feel like they belong, donors who understand the real why behind the giving, and communities treated like partners, not projects.
Connection Circles These are monthly gatherings built around the same idea as the podcast: showing up for each other and talking about what matters. Some months we do a craft. Some months we dig into an article or video together. Some months we just vent, and that's okay too. The format changes, but the point stays the same: connection is key.
One of my favorite Circles was the one where we celebrated ourselves and made crowns to share. We went around naming something we were proud of surviving, building, or figuring out that year. Most of us were never really taught to celebrate ourselves, and watching a room full of women actually practice it, out loud, is a moment I still think about.
Boss Bar Events Hosting is one of my love languages, and I love putting that energy toward community good. If your nonprofit needs an event space (aka our bar & backyard) to raise awareness or funds, I'd love to help coordinate something beautiful. From intimate plated dinners to drag queen bingo auctions, we can do it all for community!

Whether you're listening to an episode, joining a Connection Circle, hosting a fundraiser with me, or bringing me in to work with your organization, it's all the same belief underneath: we build a stronger San Jose one relationship at a time.