Core Team
Andrew Winn
Executive Director
Andrew is the Executive Director of the Insight Garden Program. Previously, Andrew served as Director of Project Rebound at Sacramento State, where he supported previously and currently incarcerated people with access to a high-quality post-secondary degree. As the Project Rebound Consortium’s Policy and Advocacy Co-chair, Andrew made significant contributions to successfully obtaining a yearly line item in the state budget, helping pass Ban the Box in Higher Education in California in 2020 and the Incarcerated Student’s Bill of Rights in 2021.
He supported Sacramento State’s 4-year degree attainment program, by leveraging his institutional knowledge to assist in developing a program other state and national universities are attempting to model. Prior to Project Rebound, he co-founded the Underground Scholars Initiative at UCLA, and still engages with the program.
What draws Andrew to working with people with incarceration histories is his own incarceration experience. His experience includes struggles related to poverty, mental health, reentry, and environment, and utilizes those experiences to guide his work in the field.
Today Andrew is a husband to Kimberlee, a dog-dad to Chiko & Pepper, and a good friend to the people in his life. The community of previously incarcerated scholars supports Andrew, it shows every time he enters a prison by the love he freely gives and receives from incarcerated people and staff. Most weekends, you will find Andrew & Pepper on hiking trails either running or walking, and his favorite trails are the ones with friends.
Amanda Berger
Director of Community Partnerships
Amanda is passionate about social change and ending mass incarceration. This includes efforts to expand quality programming and educational opportunities for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. As Director of Community Partnerships, she cultivates external partnerships with community-based organizations that offer trauma-informed programming in prisons and re-entry, colleges, and universities. Amanda has worked with Insight Garden Program since 2015 and has served in various roles supporting our work in prisons across CA and developing our wrap-around re-entry program.
Amanda is a certified professional coach. She has an extensive background in progressive philanthropy and transformational leadership development through her work with the Funders Collaborative for Youth Organizing, the Women Donors’ Network, Rockwood Leadership Institute, and Communities for Public Education Reform (CPER).
Amanda was a past facilitator in training with the Victim Offender Education Group at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, CA. She is the co-founder of Coaching for Healing and Non-Violence at California State Prison, Los Angeles, and serves as an advisor to UnCommon Law.
Karen Hsueh
Deputy Director
Karen first joined as a volunteer in 2015 and is now IGP’s Deputy Director and Co-Facilitator at CMF. She supports IGP’s operations, coordinates a variety of projects led by IGP executive staff, and promotes team collaboration and streamlined processes between organizational systems. In addition to her work with IGP, Karen also consults with multiple California-based criminal justice reform groups. She strongly upholds the leadership and perspectives of those who have been most affected by systems of oppression and incarceration. Her life’s work strives to create intentional and inclusive community-building for healing and transformation, and to embrace each and every person’s inherent ability to love, be loved, and meaningfully contribute to the world.
Karen received a Master’s Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems from Tufts University, and earned her BA in Political Science from Marist College.
Margot Reisner
Regional Lead – Northern California
Margot first became involved with IGP in 2010 as a high school student when she volunteered at San Quentin, working on a curriculum design project. She officially joined IGP’s staff in 2018. As IGP’s Administrative Assistant and Bookkeeper, Margot coordinates office needs including organization systems, communication processes, program materials and financial information. She is involved in many aspects of IGP’s work, supporting the day-to-day organizational needs so programs can operate optimally.
Margot received her BA in Environmental Studies at Skidmore College, where she focused on sustainable food systems and eco-justice. She is a certified permaculture designer, nutritional chef and ceramic artist who has worked as an educator and activist for many years. Margot is passionate about ecological health, anti-oppression work and empowering communities by fostering meaningful connections to nature.
Brook Yciano
Director of Finance and Administration
Brook has 14 years of experience in accounting and finance and is always on the lookout to find new ways in which organizations can be more efficient through the utilization of technology. While gaining her experience as Controller for the California Institute for Mental Health, she went on to consult with various national and international non-profit agencies serving as Director of Finance. She truly enjoys working with mission-driven non-profits, whose values she believes in. IGP’s mission hits close to home as her father was incarcerated most of her life and often wonders if he would have had more success after being released if he had been able to participate in a program like IGP’s.
In addition to her work with IGP, Brook also spends time mentoring and training fellow accountants who are looking to grow and expand their careers.
Rosalinda Venegas
Bookkeeper
Rosalinda came on board with IGP in the summer of 2020 as a Bookkeeper. She graduated from the University of the Pacific in 2009 with a degree in Business Administration with an emphasis on Finance. She has been working in the accounting field for the past 9 years. She enjoys sharing her knowledge as well as learning from others. Her favorite hobbies include gardening, hiking, camping, and traveling.
Damir Musić
Administrative Coordinator
After a few stints as a volunteer, Damir joined Insight Garden Program on a more official basis as the AmeriCorps VISTA Reentry and Programs Associate in 2021. Damir earned his BA in Literature from California State University, East Bay. He lives to collecting stories, often flowing through narrow gorges between steep mountains to do so.
Cindi Prado
Reentry Coordinator VISTA
Cindi Prado joined IGP in April of 2023 as Reentry Coordinator. She is extremely passionate about helping people, it brings her joy. She is curious and loves learning. Cindi spent many years in the library field as Programming Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator where she was able to create programs and offer mentorship to the community. The library gave her the opportunity to assist an under-resourced population find services that helped create personal stability. During this time Cindi also learned a lot from the people she interacted with. The number one takeaway from her work was how important it is to have empathy and compassion for all. In her free time, she loves spending time with her family and fur babies. Cindi loves animals of all kinds (except spiders ;). One of her dreams is to have a rescue farm where animals can be loved, cared for, and free to roam. She also enjoys watching sports of any kind, especially college. Cindi looks forward to growing in experience in the nonprofit world and meeting new people.
Hannah Michele
Communication Coordinator VISTA
Hannah joins us with twelve years working with system impacted youth, using gardening, botanical styling, and urban agriculture as a tool to teach life skills, instill environmental consciousness, and create opportunities for personal growth. She has seen first hand the profound impact that time outdoors and working with plants can have on people who have experienced trauma, and she is committed to creating programs and spaces that support healing and wellbeing. As a member of our Communications team, Hannah uses her past experience in writing, social media, and public relations to amplify our organization’s message and share our work with the world.
Site Team
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Jill Plumb
Program Manager
Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP)
Jill began her career as an adult educator and is credited with improving her school through the additions of WASC Accreditation, competency-based curriculum, and the use of varied learning styles to help all students achieve their full potential. As a teacher, she developed the Woodland Joint Unified School District K-8 Home School Program, and her documents were adopted as models for the State of California. Later, as an inventor and businesswoman, Jill designed and marketed her invention, the M Brace, to help gardeners everywhere make easy and stylish raised beds.
Jill has a deep appreciation for all her fellow beings and expresses this in her daily meditation practice and social justice activism. She is a lifelong gardener who believes every garden is a place of growth and renewal, and every person can benefit by interacting with the natural world. She is grateful to be part of the Insight Garden team.
Gary Burt
Program Manager
California Healthcare Facility (CHCF)
California Medical Facility (CMF)
Gary is passionate about social justice reform and ending mass incarceration. He comes to IGP with two-
years of experience in running rehabilitative programming inside of Folsom State Prison and working
with the reentry population since 2019. During that time, he also worked with previously incarcerated
individuals at the community college level as a case manager with Re-Emerging Scholars an equity
program for those impacted by incarceration at Sacramento City College. He aims to assist in removing
barriers and empower both formerly incarcerated and currently incarcerated individuals achieve their
educational and rehabilitative goals. In 2021 he earned his Master’s Degree in Social Work from
California State University, Sacramento where he was a member of Project Rebound and the Student
Association of Social Work. Throughout his decade of freedom from incarceration Gary has worked with
such vulnerable populations such those facing homelessness, food insecurity, mental illness,
incarceration, and those on parole.
isa peña (they/them/elle)
Program Manager
San Quentin State Prison (SQ)
Solano State Prison (SOL)
isa is a beekeeper, urban farmer and floral artist from southern california. isa began volunteering at IGP’s programs at Solano and San Quentin in 2022 before becoming program manager at both sites in 2023. isa’s life experience supporting loved ones facing incarceration drove them to pursue a career path in restorative justice and healing for systems-impacted communities.
isa’s involvement in the labor and housing justice movements in Los Angeles led them to open a flower studio with an emphasis on mutual aid and public art installations. In 2020, they participated in Crenshaw Dairy Mart’s #JailBedDrop performance at the For Freedoms Congress in Los Angeles, an interactive installation that explored the intricacies of our prison system. Prior to joining IGP, isa helped manage a plant nursery and led garden and food systems education programs for youth in the South Bay with an emphasis on environmental and racial justice. isa holds a certificate in permaculture design from Soul Flower Farm’s Reclaiming Roots of Traditional Sustainability (ROOTS) course and earned a BA in History and Latinx Studies at Williams College where they researched the carceral geography of suburban California. isa is currently starting an apiary in the Bay Area with an emphasis on BIPOC centric beekeeping training programs and hopes to bring bees to IGP.
CENTRAL VALLEY CALIFORNIA
Calliope Correia
Regional Lead – Central Valley & Southern California
Program Manager
Avenal State Prison (ASP-Yard C)
Calliope began volunteering with IGP at ASP on Yard D in July 2017 and has been the Program Manager on Yard C since July 2018. She became involved with IGP because she believes in the power of nature to heal and IGP provides an amazing opportunity to bring nature to a population that lacks access to the natural world’s beauty. She appreciates how the curriculum encourages participants to grow from within while facilitating vocational and life skills.
Calliope has a BS in Plant Science from Fresno State as well as a MS in Interdisciplinary Studies in Plant Science and Rehabilitation Counseling. She wrote her thesis on curriculum development for young adults with disabilities using horticulture to improve life and social skills. In 2015, she obtained a certificate from the Horticultural Therapy Institute and is a guest lecturer about the practical side of horticultural therapy. She is currently an Instructional Support Technician with California State University Fresno and manager of the Horticulture Nursery on the Fresno State Farm. She is passionate about getting people connected to the natural world and teaches classes to everyone from children to elders on the benefits of getting in the dirt and how to improve well-being through interaction with nature.
Lauren Beatty
Women’s Reentry Associate
Program Manager
Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF)
Lauren is a climate and social justice activist as well as an Accessible Yoga Instructor. She currently attends Maharishi International University pursuing a B.A. in Liberal Studies with an emphasis on Sustainable and Regenerative Living. She has been a volunteer in her community bringing accessible yoga and food access to underserved communities and has recently started a local food distribution to the unhoused community in her neighborhood. She is passionate about climate action and alleviating food insecurity. She believes that there is empowerment and community building through the radical act of growing your own food.
Lauren is also a certified Intermediate Herbalist with a Permaculture Design Certificate and in her spare time enjoys creating herbal remedies and working in her permaculture garden. She especially enjoys spending time with her two children, her partner, and 5 rescue animals.
Sylvia Derby
Director of Human Resources
Sylvia Castelino Derby is a human resources professional with a strong interest in restorative justice. She is passionate about creating spaces for deep sharing and listening. Currently, she is learning more about restorative justice and has been training to be a facilitator for circles and victim offender dialogues.
Prior to this, Sylvia worked with International Justice Mission, Mumbai and Delhi, India for nine years until Feb 2019 as Head – People & Admin Operations where she served teams combatting human trafficking issues. Before IJM she gained 7.5 years of corporate experience, including 5.5 years in investment banking at JP Morgan bank where she successfully managed the credit default swap process. Academically, Sylvia holds a Post Graduate Degree in Business Administration through Symbiosis, Pune, India specializing in Finance. Sylvia has also been on the board of a non-profit, Counsel to Secure Justice (CSJ) in Delhi, India since its inception and continues to serve as the Chairperson.
Arnold Trevino
Central Valley Reentry Coordinator
Program Manager
Avenal State Prison (ASP-Yard D)
As co-facilitator at ASP, Arnold is motivated to witness the possibilities of change. He has a strong desire to show those who are inside and outside that transformation is possible. This ethic has led him to work within the California Prisons, side-by-side with the prison population.
Arnold earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Social Work at Fresno State University. In addition to co-facilitating at ASP, Arnold assists with Project Rebound, a student support services program for formerly incarcerated students at California State University, Fresno. He also interned as a mentor at Fresno’s Juvenile Justice Campus in the Focus Forward program and continues to play an active role there, he now currently interns at West Care’s Health and Wellness Program as he finishes his last semester at Fresno State.
Arnold deeply values the opportunity that IGP provides for humans to grow from seedling to full bloom. Having spent the better half of his life in prison, he experienced his own transformation which enabled him to break out of his shell and become a proactive and productive member of society. IGP has allowed Arnold to continue this fruitful journey as he shares his personal life story and the endless possibilities of change with those he now works with the inside of prisons.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Michelle Mondia
Program Manager and Facilitator
California Institution for Women (CIW)
With a curious mind and strong connection to nature, Michelle found IGP’s mission to be in alignment with her personal values and joined as a Program Manager in 2021. As a consultant in the public health sector for nearly two decades, Michelle has managed multitude of projects, including evaluating the impact of rehabilitation programs on incarceration. She is dedicated to working with organizations that focus on community building, restorative justice and systems thinking.
Michelle received her Bachelors from University of California, Berkeley and Masters in Public Health from Boston University with a focus on International Health. She also holds a certificate in Alcohol and Drug Studies from UCLA as well as Integrative Thanatology from the New York Open Center. Currently, Michelle also works as a death midwife and helps people reclaim the end of life journey.
Robert Ortiz Archila
Southern California Reentry Coordinator
Program Manager California State Prison
Lancaster (CSP-LAC, Yards A and B)
Robert Ortiz Archila (he, him, El), is originally from Bell, California. Robert served in the U.S. Army as a Paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A purple heart was awarded to Robert after he was wounded in combat, and as a result of his injuries he was honorably discharged. His transition to civilian life proved difficult. After recovering from alcohol addiction, homelessness and incarceration, Robert set out to pave a new path for himself by entering and successfully completing a recovery program from at the Loma Linda VA Hospital. Soon after, Robert enrolled at San Bernardino Valley College where he earned an Aeronautics degree with honorary distinctions (Summa Cum Laude). Robert transferred to California State University Fullerton where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies with a minor in ChicanX studies.
His journey continues at Cal State Long Beach, where he is working on his Masters of Science Degree in Counseling with an emphasis in Student Development in Higher Education. Robert serves as the new addition to Project Rebound Cal State LA staff. His dedication to the reentry community continues as he supports participants leaving CIW/ CSP Lancaster. His values include, equity, diversity, inclusion, social justice and the value of academic grit. His hobbies include Off-Roading and flying Cessna Airplanes. Robert currently lives with his wife in SoCal and is eager to begin his Ph.D. program.
Jamala Taylor
Reentry Manager / Alumnus
Jamala became involved with IGP while incarcerated at CSP-LAC after being transferred from solitary confinement at Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit (S.H.U.). Jamala spent 15 years in solitary and 31 years overall in maximum security prisons across the state of California. As a result of changes in the law (AB260 and AB261) commonly referred to as the “youth offender laws” he was released from prison on December 20, 2020. Jamala has recently joined the IGP team officially and has been accepted into CSU-Fullerton’s Sociology program where he plans to earn his bachelors degree.
Jamala is a revolutionary, working for liberation and just treatment of the incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and poor people. Jamala is also committed to developing reentry resources for women While incarcerated he facilitated several classes (CGA, NA, Anger management etc.) He has committed his life to combating exploitation, oppression and making a positive and impactful contribution to the world.