Elly Matsumura

she/her

California Director

San Jose, CA

Elly Matsumura brings together the local organizing of our California affiliates into a statewide force to fight for working people and communities of color to govern in the world’s fifth largest economy. She leads the California team in devising and driving strategies to build worker power and push back on corporate dominance, raises funds, and collaborates with fellow statewide power-builders to advance justice and equity.

Growing up as a queer, mixed race, Jewish girl, Elly learned that home is to be found not in traditional families or communities but in those co-created through acts of solidarity, defiance, and love given and received across borders and boundaries. These lessons led Elly to our network— a place to be part of multiracial, multi-issue, multi-strategy coalitions organizing people to take power in their jobs and neighborhoods.

Elly spent 13 years with Silicon Valley affiliate Working Partnerships USA — most recently as Managing Director — leading policy, research, and civic engagement projects; leadership development for elected officials and coalition allies; and the fundraising, communications, and operations team. Elly spearheaded the coalition campaign to pass the nation’s most comprehensive living wage policy, created leadership and governance training programs replicated in over a dozen regions across the country, and provided strategic advising to sister organizations on campaigns for equity in jobs and income, transportation, health, education, and formerly incarcerated workers. As a consultant for the County of Santa Clara, she recommended design for the Women’s Equality 2020 Leadership Council and developed the Census 2020 Strategic Plan, which was recognized as a model for the state. She began her career developing youth leaders with Coro Northern California, doubling the scale of the organization’s youth programming.

Having joined PowerSwitch in 2018 as our first California Program director, Elly has led the network to become a key player in movement building and worker power in the state. She is a co-founder and leader in the California Coalition for Worker Power, uniting dozens of worker centers, advocates, policy experts and labor unions to advance transformative campaigns and programs to scale worker organizing in the state. She also co-founded Safety Net for All at the start of the COVID pandemic to demand unemployment benefits for undocumented Californians, co-leading the campaign to organize hundreds of workers, nonprofits, and local elected officials to win over $800 million in direct funds for those excluded from unemployment and federal stimulus.

Elly earned her bachelor’s degree in Feminist Studies. She has published reports on power building strategies and her leadership development work has been featured in research by the University of Southern California’s Equity Research Institute. Her writing has appeared in publications of the US Department of Labor, The Nation, and Shelterforce. She is an alumna of the Coro Fellowship, Rockwood Leadership Institute, and Center for Creative Leadership. She received awards for Leadership in Advocacy from Assembly Labor Committee Chair Ash Kalra and Community Partner of the Year from the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Club.

Elly lives in downtown San Jose with her partner, two kids, and two cats. Her hobbies are feeding and cleaning up after children, feeding and cleaning up after cats, running slowly, crocheting slowly, and imagining having other hobbies. She is recognized in her extended family for her sukiyaki, gobo kinpira, potato latkes, and macaroni and cheese casserole.