Monica Rodriguez Kuniyoshi, Board Member, is a committed lay leader in the Bay Area Jewish community, having served in various volunteer capacities for Upstart, Kol Emeth Congregation, IsraAid, Jewish Baby Network, Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, and other organizations focused on innovation and inclusion in the Jewish community. Monica is also a proud alum of the Wexner Heritage Program (SF ’14).

Of note:

  • Monica has enthusiastically supported various UpStart programs, including the Collaboratory and other efforts over the last several years. She is currently on the Digital Marketing Task Force.
  • She is actively involved with IsraAid and serves on IsraAid’s Bay Area leadership board, supporting their outreach and fundraising efforts. She participated in a very meaningful mission to Puerto Rico in 2019.  
  • She has been a long-time advisor to Jewish Baby Network, especially in connection with grants and programming.  
  • At both Kol Emeth Congregation and Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, she has focused her passions on the next generation. At Kol Emeth she teaches a class on ethics to 7th graders in the religious school. At Hausner, in 2019, she led a semester-long class for middle-schoolers focused on immigration issues. Their work resulted in a podcast that was submitted to the NPR Student Podcast Challenge. From 2008-2010, she also taught ethics to middle schoolers at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos. 
  • She served on Kol Emeth‘s board in 2012 and participated in a project to evaluate synagogue communications and engagement.   
  • Prior to coming to the Bay Area in 2007, she worked with Ayecha, an organization focused on Jews of Color in New York. She is especially proud to have produced a groundbreaking concert in 2005 celebrating Jewish diversity. The “Jewish Soul Celebration” had a special emphasis on the contributions of Black Jews to the tapestry of Jewish music and attracted over 500 attendees. 

Professionally, Monica is Chief Marketing Officer of Gunderson Dettmer, an international law firm focused exclusively on the high growth startups and venture capital, where she leverages her 20+ years of experience in marketing communications, outreach and organizational development to improve collaboration and business outcomes. 

She has an M.S. in Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco’s Masagung School of Business, and a B.A. from Vassar College. She lives in Palo Alto with her husband Ethan Kuniyoshi and daughters Avivah and Michal.