Lauren Roberts (she/her)
Executive Director
Lauren founded and developed Thriving, Not Just Surviving, the cornerstone series of The Thriving Initiative, during her undergraduate career at UC Santa Barbara in 2019 and has been advancing its mission ever since as one of the founders, and now Executive Director, of The Thriving Initiative.
Lauren became an elected member of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious honors society, in 2019 for her academic achievements and commitment to public service. She is devoted to supporting the growth and sustainability of programs that serve and empower survivors of interpersonal violence and the community at large.
Lauren admires the strength and unwavering compassion that makes The Thriving Initiative a community that is ever-growing-- including our officers, participants, providers, partners, donors, and volunteers!
Allison Du (she/her)
Chief Financial Officer
Ally is a founding member of The Thriving Initiative and has a continued commitment to using her knowledge of economics, finance, and accounting to help make community-based work like ours possible.
Ally, a UC Santa Barbara alumna, is now a full-time auditor at EY, one of the big four public accounting firms. Before finding her way to EY, Ally worked at a tech start-up, cementing the logistics of private accounting. When she is not crunching numbers, you can find her at the golf course, or out in nature.
Samantha Cheney (she/her)
Chief Development Officer & Secretary
Samantha graduated from UC Santa Barbara with honors in 2020 with degrees in feminist studies, sociology and a minor in applied psychology. Before graduating, Samantha served as a research assistant in the Sociology department, worked as a behavior interventionist and interned with the Santa Barbara Public Defender. During her time at UCSB, Samantha recognized the ways in which violence affects communities and the resilience individuals and communities demonstrate in response. As one of the founders of The Thriving Initiative, Samantha is eager to promote healing and resilience for survivors and communities in Santa Barbara and beyond. Samantha is particularly fond of how The Thriving Initiative integrates community into personal healing so that all people are able to heal in new ways and under the resilient guidance of one another.
Paige Baldwinson (she/her)
Senior Officer of Social Media
& Marketing
Paige is a UCSB alumnus who double majored in CCS Art and Sociology. During 2020, she spent the year finishing a painting series of four works dedicated to spreading awareness about sexual assault in her community; her experiences promoting her own work on social media inspired her to become more involved in a wider community of people dedicated to supporting survivors of interpersonal violence. In 2022 Paige helped led and design our Painting Initiative: Community Mural. You can ready more about it below and find the mural at the Isla Vista Community Center! This year, she is looking forward to creating posters and designs for the Thriving Initiative and getting to form close relationships with such a talented and caring group of people.
