Team

Susan formed Common Knowledge to pioneer “community-centric design,” demonstrating how inclusion of diverse “careholders” as well as stakeholders stimulates innovative solutions on issues such as housing, health care, the environment, civic participation and financial literacy. She brings over two decades of experience designing culturally responsive communications and engagement programs across multiple sectors and presents frequently about increasing participation of lesser-heard voices. At the core of this successful work is a unique body of knowledge about the properties of local community ecosystems and how communities can increase their collective capacity to identify and make progress on shared goals. Due to their deep reach into community life, public libraries have played a role in many of Common Knowledge’s projects and the California State Library awarded Susan their Champion of Literacy award.

Susan’s professional journey began in the communications and consumer marketing field, serving as Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble experience and as Vice President of Planning and New Products at Del Monte Foods. Her shift to applying behavioral insights to civic and community engagement includes affiliations with the Kettering Foundation, directing the annual Public Policy Institute at U.C. Davis Extension and consulting for the Institute for Local Government. Due to her interest in combining the best of in-person and digital engagement, as well as the intersection of employee engagement and community engagement, Susan has been an adviser to Paypal, Code for America, Voter’s Edge and other civic tech groups. Susan has served as a board member of the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation and as a board member for the San Francisco League of Women Voters.

Mony has more than 25 years of experience in organizational development, community engagement and capacity building for emerging organizations as well as established agencies throughout California. Mony’s skills in culturally competent communications, facilitation and training have been integral in Common Knowledge’s work for clients such as Sonoma County (Best Practices for Community Outreach to Latinos, Seniors and Residents with Low Income), Redwood City (convening and collaborating with Latinx leaders) and ongoing trainings for cities, libraries and nonprofits in putting diversity goals into action. Mony has been a lead consultant in the implementation of several new initiatives at both the state and county level for First 5 Commissions and the Public Authority on In Home Support Services. She has also worked with the Social Security Administration, Head Start, and the California Department of Education, among others.

As a fluent Spanish speaker and accomplished spokesperson, Mony has developed ongoing relationships with Spanish language media. Mony has the added perspective of extensive volunteer service leadership positions for the League of Women Voters of the United States as well as the League of Women Voters of California, the City of Oakland’s Commission on Disabled Persons and the National Civic Leagues’ Model City Charter Review Commission. She is also an Ambassador with her local County 2020 Census Committee.

Harriet serves as the Research Director of Common Knowledge and is also a founding partner of Mayeri Research. She has over 35 years of experience designing and implementing qualitative and quantitative research for non-profits, government organizations, corporations and in academic settings. Harriet is a nationally known expert on consumer perceptions, attitudes and behavior among all demographic, socio-economic and psychographic segments and she has been a featured speaker at American Marketing Association meetings in London and Chicago.

Harriet has worked extensively with non-profits and government agencies with Common Knowledge for such clients as Cool California, the Institute for Local Government, Next 10, California Department of Health Services Office of AIDS, Finelite and others. Prior to founding Mayeri Research, Harriet was Director of Consumer Research for the New Ventures Group at DDB Needham, helping clients to develop positionings, strategies and communications for new products and re-positioning of existing brands. Harriet holds a B.A. in psychology from New York University and did graduate work in social psychology as a National Institute of Health Fellow at Columbia University.

Víctor grew up in Puebla, Mexico, moving to California in 1985. With over twenty years of experience as a counselor, journalist, translator, educator and community organizer, Víctor now describes himself as a “cultural interpreter.” He was a co-founder and Spanish editor of the bi-lingual community newspaper Visión Latina. For more than fifteen years, he has written a bi-weekly Spanish column for the Pulitzer Prize-winning Point Reyes Light. With a degree in Social Anthropology, Víctor has done in-depth study of issues of diversity, minority groups and human migrations.

Some of Víctor’s projects and clients include: drug and alcohol counseling, supporting schools with parent communications around their student’s learning plan, editing the popular Guía fácil para el votante; consulting and interpreting for the San Rafael Canal Ministry’s Canal Healthy Neighborhood Project; consulting for the Proyecto Cholula on central Puebla migrants’ experiences in US; translating Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Knudson’s A Dying Sea series for the Sacramento Bee; Spanish translation and cultural adaptation of the Jeanne Gibbs’ educational book Tribes, A New Way of Learning and Being Together.