About Caroline
Pronouns: She/Her
Caroline leads housing programs, organizational finance and operations at The Kelsey. She has over fifteen years of business leadership experience across the non-profit, corporate, startup, and philanthropic sectors, most recently as a management consultant she led corporate finance and enterprise transformation projects for technology companies. Caroline came to this work after supporting her mother, who has disabilities, navigate evictions, health crises and housing instability. Through witnessing first-hand how housing insecurity has become wide-spread, she saw that by centering solutions on the disability community we can create better outcomes for all residents.
She grew up in Hayward, California, has a BA from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and an MBA from UC Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and two young children.
What part of The Kelsey’s mission are you proudest to be part of / support?
The housing affordability crisis in California has disproportionately affected people with disabilities and I am proud that we are focused on the production of more housing that is affordable, accessible, and inclusive. Witnessing my own mother who has disabilities be evicted several times from the area she grew up in, I saw firsthand how housing insecurity touches so many people, especially in the Bay Area.
What does it mean to you to be Disability-Forward? Why does it matter?
To me, disability forward means we are designing for people with disabilities first, and enabling others to benefit from that design. As a stroller user, I love curb cuts and couldn’t imagine a world without them. The Kelsey strives to shift the conversation from ‘designing places for people with disabilities because it is required by code’ to ‘designing places for people with disabilities because it creates a better experience for all users”.