Board Of Directors

An adventurer at heart, Andrew is an explorer, builder, advisor, and mentor. He grew up in Arroyo Grande before moving to San Francisco. An avid reader especially as a child, Andrew is a big proponent of education but barely managed to graduate high school. The format and structure simply didn’t work for him. He found his passion working with founders and became involved in startups. Today he’s a C-level executive and helps develop the people, programs and processes that drive revenue for high-growth companies.

Andrew has traveled to over 30 countries, summited Mt. Whitney (highest peak in the lower 48), Mt. Kilimanjaro (highest peak in Africa), Toubkal (highest peak in North Africa), and Mount Teide (highest peak in Spain), come face-to-face with his limitations, works to accept them, and pushes hard to challenge them. He sometimes lives out of a carry-on bag for months at a time and embraces a growth mindset. Far from perfect, and far from finished, he’s deeply passionate about sending the elevator back down and setting others up for success.

Lili Sinclaire, is a founder of TalentDreams and native of Arroyo Grande. An entrepreneur, published author of both fiction and nonfiction work, she is also the owner of Tigerlili Publications. Lili has trained with four institutions to develop her communication skills, including the international organization for Non-Violent Communication. She’s worked as a Parent Coach and support group facilitator for The Parent Connection of SLO. She’s also a former Crisis Counselor for the Women’s Shelter Program of SLO County. Lili was also a reading tutor for Americorp working with ESL students of migrant workers.

Lili firmly believes in the powerful ability each of us has to create change in our lives by becoming aware of our choices. She’s deeply passionate about helping people achieve inner and outer transformation through self-awareness. Although Lili struggled with learning disabilities that presented challenges throughout her life, she developed skills that help her work with them. She graduated from Cuesta College with Honors (a 4.0 and Alpha Gamma Sigma), with degrees in Social & Behavioral Science and Sociology. After raising two boys in AG, Lili founded TalentDreams with the mission to empower our local youth and set them up for success as they create the foundation for the rest of their lives.

Julia serves as the COO for TalentDreams. She is proud to be a part of this organization because she believes everyone has the potential for greatness with the right support and that working as a community results in better outcomes for all. Seeing first hand the struggles teens are having in the current education and work environments, Julia is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience to help them better navigate the changing landscapes.

Julia has over twenty years of experience working in healthcare administration. She attended Cuesta College before receiving her Bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and her MBA from Chapman University.

Born and raised on the central coast of California, she is invested in the local community through various organizations mostly related to youth sports and the arts.

Born in Puerto Rico to a dad serving in the Navy, Chris fell in love with the ocean at a young age. They moved to the central coast of California where Chris learned to surf and play soccer. Chris attended Cuesta Community College and UC Santa Barbara. Following college, Chris went on to dental school at Creighton University in Omaha Nebraska. After four years at dental school in a landlocked state, Chris craved the ocean, so he chose a residency for dentistry on the Big Island of Hawaii.

In many ways, the Big Island and the central coast of California formed who Chris is today. A slower way of life, and focusing on the outdoors and good people remains Chris’ true core. After returning to California, he met and married his wife Julia, and together they have three young children, Violet, Leo, and Ava. Chris is currently focused on restoring a VW van and his larger circle of family and friends. He is a loving dad and a very compassionate dentist.

Trish Daughtrey graduated from Cal Poly in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and a concentration in accounting. In 2008, she started working with Radakovich, Shaw & Blythe, LLP as a CPA preparing and reviewing tax returns and tax planning for various clients.

As a tax preparer and consultant, she has over six years of experience in preparing and assisting simple to complex tax returns for individuals and small businesses. Trish started teaching at Cal Poly in the spring quarter of 2014 and currently teaches Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, and Federal Taxation for Individuals.

Sarah Haughey has been a resident of the Arroyo Grande area for over ten years and is passionate about her community.

Sarah grew up in both Texas and California where her parents operated and owned a chain of local drug stores. Having entrepreneurial parents as role models, she was fortunate to have cultured business basics from a young age. She understands how important nurturing individuals’ skills in their early formative years can be. Sarah attended Texas Tech University. After her time at university, she moved back to the Central Coast where she has more than 10 years experience in the dental field as an office manager.

Sarah is a firm believer in the power of connecting people through their talents passions and common interests, just as she connects with others through hers. She bonds with others through photography, fitness, and outdoor adventuring. She is a member of local wine clubs as well as a women’s book club. When she is not working or doing projects, Sarah enjoys spending her days with her husband Jeremy, catching sunsets and enjoying a good cup of coffee.

Semu is a Central Coast local. He was born on a private Native American reservation east of Santa Margarita and moved to Los Osos in 2nd grade. He attended Cuesta College, then transferred to Cal Poly to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management.

Semu soon fell in love with teaching, while volunteering some evenings as an English teacher to immigrant families. He went back to school to earn his teaching credential and Master’s degree in Cross-Cultural Language-Acquisition. Upon finishing his degree he decided to enjoy the summer surfing in Costa Rica. While there, he met Christi (from Switzerland) whom he would later marry.

After teaching in San Jose, CA for a couple of years, Semu then decided to give Switzerland a try. He wound up staying there for over 12 years, working as a teacher and pedagogical leader at a bilingual school. He moved back to the Central Coast in 2017 and is now the site coordinator for a Public Montessori center in Morro Bay, part of Family Partnership Charter School.

He lives locally with his wife Christi and two young sons. Semu is a strong advocate for education and helping young people reach their potential.

Sam DeMatteo grew up in Ojai, CA where she learned the value of teamwork and coaching while pursuing her passion for athletics including soccer, softball and dance. Sam later moved to the Central Coast to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where she received her B.S. in Statistics. After graduating, Sam jumped into the business world and started growing her career in the data field in various analytical roles within pre-IPO and public SaaS companies. Now in a senior leadership position, the heart of her profession is in building and developing individuals and teams that solve business problems and provide value to organizations through analytics and innovation.

Being in the STEM field, with the majority of her career in the tech industry, she often finds herself to be the only woman in the room in such a male-dominated industry. Sam’s experience with teamwork and mentoring fuels her passion for supporting the next generation of female leaders and providing opportunities to female youth to grow their leadership and STEM skills. Knowing they played an important role in her development, she strongly believes in paying it forward to meet the need for role models and mentors to inspire and empower today’s youth to find the confidence and direction to pursue their own individual talents.

Sam lives locally on the Central Coast with her husband Eric and their daughter Charley. When not working or spending quality time with family, Sam enjoys all things fitness, from hiking to barre to spin classes, or relaxing at home with a good book.

Eric DeMatteo was born and raised in Grover Beach California. He loved his community upbringing and knew the Central Coast was always going to be home, but first, he wanted to see what was outside the area’s unique bubble. Eric attended San Diego State University, where he received his degree in Public Administration. Eric worked in restaurants all through his youth and college years. This experience inspired him to want to open his own restaurant someday.

After being gone from the Central Coast for 10 years, Eric returned and achieved his career goal of restaurant ownership while opening The Shell Beach Brewhouse. He is currently partnered in three local restaurants. While building his career in the food industry, Eric met his wife Samantha and they have a young daughter named Charley. Eric loves sports, traveling, and spending time outdoors with his friends and family.

Eric is passionate about business and the people of the Central Coast. In his profession one of the most important roles he values is mentoring and supporting local youth and young adults. He takes pride in investing time in the next generation to provide mentoring and support towards their future successes. Eric believes that success in business brings personal accomplishment, but the opportunity to motivate and empower others towards their own success is an even greater reward.