Venessa McGhee
Accounts Manager, KONO Lounge Lead
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Venessa McGhee, an Oakland Native shares her family's passion for small business and community engagement have more than a decade of experience working with agencies such as OMLF (Oakland Merchants Leadership Forum) and Oakland Grown. In 2015 she joined the Oakland First Fridays team starting out at the front gates. Shortly after she helped establish and manage the festival's first ever outdoor bar, the KONO Lounge which has grown 3x in size over the years and is currently located on Sycamore St. In addition to running the KONO Lounge she also handles vendor relations, registration and placement. She is so gifted with arts and crafts herself that we wouldn't be surprised to see her vending at the festival too.
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Michelle Ortega
Digital Marketing and Social Media Manager
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Michelle is a Bay Area native who is into anything and everything social media and marketing! As our social media and marketing manager, she is in charge of putting together campaigns and post that resonate with our target audience, expanding our reach and impact through our online presence. Her expertise in both fields has been a great help behind Oakland First Fridays' online success. So when you engage with us online on any of our social media platforms, just know you're talking to Michelle!

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Shari Godinez
‍Executive Director, KONO Community Benefit District
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Shari is a third-generation Oaklander and since 2010 has been Executive Director for the nonprofit KONO Community Benefit District, which produces Oakland First Fridays. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley with a BA in Political Science. Prior to joining KONO, Shari was the Programs Manager/Executive Director for the nonprofit Oakland Merchants’ Leadership Forum (OMLF), served on the Oakland Grown marketing committee, spent 15 years as a private business owner of a retail store and has worked as a property manager for the past 22 years. Shari loves this city and has spent the last 17 years advocating for Oakland and Oakland’s small businesses. Shari has overseen staff and production of Oakland First Fridays since it was taken over by KONO in 2013.
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COURTNEY RUSSELL  
Executive Assistant to Shari Godinez
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Courtney comes with over 10 years experience as an Executive Assistant for a Fortune 500 company. She also has more than 12 years working in the financial industry as a bank manager, Loan Processor and in Accounting.

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