Diverse artists transform the world through their powerful art – stories, images, and songs. The Center for Cultural Power creates a thriving ecosystem for diverse artists and culture makers to shift worldviews away from domination and extraction toward collaboration and interdependence.
VISION
We inspire artists to manifest a world where power and culture are distributed equitably, bio-cultural diversity thrives, and regenerative relationships abound.
PEOPLE
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Aisha Goss
Chief Executive OfficerAisha Goss (she/her) joined The Center for Cultural Power as Chief Development Officer in January of 2022. As of March, 2025, Aisha has stepped into the role of Chief Executive Officer of The Center for Cultural Power. For more than 20 years, Aisha has served as a fundraising and development professional to a variety of non-profit organizations. Her expertise has aided multiple organizations in building sustainable development processes and has reached more than $15 million in annual funding goals. Aisha began her development career at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association. Additionally, she was formerly the Deputy Director of the Secular Coalition for America. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Aisha received her B.S. in Communications from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is an avid reader, crafter, and bourbon whiskey collector and enthusiast.
Mohini Tadikonda
Chief Advancement OfficerMohini Tadikonda (Mo) is an accomplished Chief Advancement Officer with almost three decades of leadership experience. Her expertise in both the nonprofit and design sectors, offer a unique blend of creativity, strategic planning, and executive leadership. Based in New York City, she most recently served as Chief Advancement Officer at Movement Strategy Center overseeing Development, Philanthropic Services, and Communications. Mo is a trained coach who has provided consulting, coaching, and strategic support to nonprofits, social enterprises, and women-led artisan groups globally. She brings an equity-rooted, coaching-centered approach to team development and leadership. Earlier in her career, Mo was a creative leader in the apparel industry, where witnessing the environmental and humanitarian impacts of mass manufacturing inspired her career transition to nonprofit work focused on workers’ rights, environmental justice, and racial equity. She has used her extensive experience as Design Director for luxury lifestyle brands and Fortune 500 companies to inform the strategic direction of social impact program development in the non-profit sector and create positive change in the fashion industry. She has conceived, implemented, and executed numerous programs for a corporate foundation, small NGO’s and social impact start-ups, and coached artisans looking to penetrate the western market. In addition, she serves on the board of Her Future Coalition and holds degrees in Art History and Design from Parsons School of Design and an Advanced Coaching Diploma from NYU. Mo is a lifelong artist and art activist. She practices an Ayurvedic lifestyle and enjoys attending innovative and eclectic dance performances, outsider art shows, and sound baths. She loves herbal teas, rock collecting, pebble beaches, and adventurous travel to remote places.
Irene Godinez
Chief Programs OfficerIrene is a values-driven leader with more than 20 years of experience advancing equity-centered programs across public affairs and civic engagement. Irene brings a powerful track record of leadership at the intersection of arts, culture, and social change, with deep experience building programs that center community and narrative strategy. Her work reflects a deep commitment to progress, leadership, and collective possibility.
Liesel Bocalan-Lim
Interim Chief Operations OfficerLiesel (she/her, they/them, siya) is Storyteller, Poet, and Operational Leader. For nearly two decades she has utilized storytelling, strategy, and her somewhat unhealthy obsession with The Sims to lead in the development & implementation of sustainable and innovative infrastructure for various non-profits and mission-driven organizations. She has spent the last decade at the intersection of Arts & Activism- as an arts administrator, teacher, and creator, developing organizational ecosystems that are as creative and resilient as the individuals they support. It is her hope that through her art and equally fierce operational acumen, she will be able to continually push the dial towards equity and justice.
BOARD
Jeff Chang
Board ChairA leader in narrative and cultural strategy, cultural organizing, and cultural justice advocacy, Jeff Chang co-founded CultureStr/ke, now the Center for Cultural Power, and the Webby-nominated May 19th Project. He led the Butterfly Lab for Immigrant Narrative Strategy. He helped to write the Cultural New Deal alongside a number of artists and culture bearers. His first book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, was named by Slate as one of the best nonfiction books of the last quarter century. Born of Chinese and Kanaka Maoli descent, Jeff is an alumnus of the University of California at Berkeley and the University of California at Los Angeles.
Sonya Childress
Board Vice ChairA native Angeleno of African American and Puerto Rican descent, Sonya is a veteran strategist in the documentary film sector. She is a founding Co-Director of Color Congress, an ecosystem-builder that resources, supports, and connects organizations led by people of color that serve nonfiction filmmakers, leaders, and audiences of color across the US and territories. As Senior Fellow with the Perspective Fund, she supported projects that moved the documentary field towards equity, ethics and transparency. She spent two decades leading impact and distributions strategies at Active Voice, California Newsreel and Firelight Media, where she helmed impact campaigns for Stanley Nelson’s films and piloted a fellowship for impact producers of color. She is a founding member of the Documentary Accountability Working Group, a 2015 Rockwood JustFilms Fellow, and recipient of the 2023 Doc NYC Leading Light Award. Sonya is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Documentary branch.
Tony Francis
Board TreasurerBorn in Palo Alto, CA, Tony spent the vast majority of his youth in the southern part of the US, growing up in both Louisiana and Alabama — which he claims as home. He is an alumnus of Morehouse College where he earned his BA in Accounting and earned his MBA from Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, TX.
Since fall 2014, Tony has enjoyed working in Finance at Google and is currently a Sr. Program Manager running the global Early Career Programming for the Finance department. Tony’s decision to leave traditional finance and take on his current role was motivated by his passion for coaching and caring for the development of young professionals. Tony has served as a Global Lead for the Black Googler Network and sits on two non profit Boards as Their Treasury, the Center for Cultural Power and Youth Speaks.
Prior to joining Google, Tony maintained 11 years of progressive accounting and finance experience at various organizations including Xerox, CEC Entertainment (a.k.a. Chuck E Cheese) and PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Rashida Petersen
Board MemberRashida Petersen’s 20- year career began as the East Africa Trade Officer with the Department of Commerce. Her expertise was expanded by securing government grants and implementing programs at 4-H and OIC International in Africa and the Caribbean using USAID and USDA funding. Working within the development departments of these international nonprofits, she was responsible for annual funding goals of $18+ million dollars in institutional funding and corporate sponsorships. She founded two companies: 1847 Philanthropic, a fundraising consulting firm specializing in creating lasting impact in Africa by bringing the essentials of fundraising to grassroots non-governmental organizations, and the DIA Fund, a diaspora crowdfunding platform. This experience provided her with insights into international fundraising and executing small campaigns.
Ian Inaba
Board MemberIan is a serial entrepreneur with experience as an investment banker, award-winning filmmaker, and silicon valley executive. He is a co-founder of Onramp.io and Citizen Engagement Lab (AKA Cultural Engagement Lab) as well as CEL Education Fund (NKA Center for Cultural Power). Over his career, he has helped to raise over $75MM for private, early-stage start-ups, over $500MM in public financings and has negotiated the successful acquisition of multiple companies. He has helped to start numerous incubators and accelerator programs to foster social change and has served on the boards of ITVS, League of Conservation Voters, the Schott Foundation and as an advisor to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Ian is also a published author and award-winning filmmaker, having directed and produced a Sundance Jury prize winning documentary and an MTV VMA nominated music video. Ian is a graduate of the Engineering and Wharton Schools at the University of Pennsylvania.
HISTORY
MOVEMENT TIMELINE
2011
The CultureStrike Project is launched; Co-founders Jeff Chang and Favianna Rodriguez lead a delegation of artists to the Arizona border to protest anti-immigration law, SB1070. This project will lay the groundwork for the founding of The Center for Cultural Power.
2012
The Center for Cultural Power is founded.
2020
Cultural Power convenes with a team of field leaders to design and launch the Constellations Culture Change Fund, a $23 million, three-year initiative that invests both in individual Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) culture makers as well as BIPOC-led cultural strategy organizations.
2022
Cultural Power partners with Good Energy to develop The Playbook for Screenwriting in the Age of Climate Change, debuting at the Hollywood Climate Summit.
2023
Cultural Power launches the Autonomy Is My Joy campaign to raise awareness for high mortality rates in Black women and birthing people and the need for policy like the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act.
2024
Cultural Power partners with the University of Arizona to launch the Reclaiming the Border Narrative Digital Archive.
2025
Cultural Power convenes with social movement leaders, cultural strategists, artists, and funders across the world at the Queer Arts & Justice Summit in Salvador, Brazil.
2025
Aisha Goss is appointed as Chief Executive Officer.
