Our Leadership Team
EMILIE STILLMAN, FOUNDER & DIRECTOR
Emilie Stillman is a passionate community leader and dedicated learner of the Spanish language and Latino cultures. She founded California Bilingüe in 2011 as a way to share her love for Spanish, give back to her community and build cross cultural bridges.
Emilie first learned Spanish through her time spent living in Chile and Spain and earned a B.A. in Spanish with minors in Latin American Studies and International Relations. Eager to use her Spanish to support immigrants in California, Emilie completed a certificate in Spanish/English Legal Court Interpretation.
Emilie believes in the power of customized learning experiences, and is committed to helping California Bilingüe students use their Spanish to build relationships. As a non-native Spanish speaker, Emilie understands just how uncomfortable it can be to take your Spanish outside the classroom, but she also knows all the rich connection and life changing possibility that awaits once you take the leap.
In 2018, Emilie founded Café Puente - California Bilingüe’s non-profit Spanish speaking café in Petaluma, California with the mission to cultivate a vibrant multicultural center where Spanish is the primary language, Latino cultures are celebrated and all are welcome. Emilie believes that together, California Bilingüe and Café Puente have the potential to transform our society in California to become radically welcoming to Spanish speaking immigrants and their families. Her optimistic outlook and hopeful vision for a bright future where intercultural relationships transform our communities give her energy each day to guide both organizations to be successful in carrying out their synergistic missions.
Emilie received her MBA in Sustainable Management focusing on Social Enterprise from Presidio Graduate School. She lives in Petaluma with her husband, Jake, daughter, Wren, and dog, Moyo.
ANA MORALES ÁLVAREZ, ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR
Ana is originally from Michoacán, México. She immigrated to California at the age of eight.
She is an experienced Administrative Coordinator committed to ensuring the smooth functioning of an office. Prior to moving into administration, Ana worked as a paralegal providing administrative support and legal assistance to immigration attorneys. Ana hopes to start her own administrative consulting business and is excited to be moving into this new role with California Bilingüe to help further her skills in supporting mission aligned small businesses to have excellent administrative organization.
Ana is passionate about giving back to the immigrant community and is devoted to uplifting marginalized communities. Ana was therefore drawn to California Bilingüe’s mission to support the Spanish Speaking community and to create leadership opportunities for immigrant workers.
Ana graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.S. in Administration, where she worked as a student assistant. She speaks Purépecha, Spanish and English.
Ana lives in Santa Ana, CA where she enjoys spending time with her 2-year old son, Nyjah, catching up with friends, and reading.