Olivia has been active in the communities in which she lives and works since beginning her career in 1973. Her first passion was encouraging African American high school students to pursue college degrees in math and science. Working on behalf of professional organizations such as the National Society of Black Professional Engineers and the Black Data Processing Associates, she served in mentoring and computer camp programs to expose young black students to new possibilities for over ten years.
After gaining management experience, Olivia began to serve on non-profit boards. She was a member of the board of directors of the Childrens Discovery Museum for seven years and was instrumental in developing the museum’s information technology strategy to overcome Y2K risks. She took this experience to a start-up board of managers for the Bayview Hunters Point YMCA branch. Still an active member of this board, she has contributed to moving this important community focal point from a store front to a facility offering family and youth services while being renovated to provide full YMCA services. Continually leveraging her experience, her newest service venture is another non-profit start-up, One Smile at a Time, which provides dental services to small villages in Central America.
After completing mediation certification in 2003, Olivia began volunteering on community resolution panels for the Center for Human Development, which serves the San Francisco bay area. She applies transformative mediation to help neighbors, families, and small business come to resolutions they can continue to live with as members of the same community. Olivia also contributes her time as a facilitator when called upon by America Speaks, which designs and facilitates large-scale town meetings on public policy issues.