Hiroko Kurihara (She/her)
Operations Lead & Program Partner

Hiroko Kurihara has been working in the urban fabric cultivating neighborhood economic development in the non-profit, for-benefit and government sectors for nearly 30 years in Oakland, CA. Hiroko has founded several entities: Hiroko Kurihara Designs (an internationally-recognized, socially responsible wool blanket company); The 25th Street Collective (a sustainable sewn-goods business incubator); Oakland Makers (an assoc. for Artisan producers and industrial fabricators); and the Art+Garage District Group (advocating for equitable land use policies to preserve Oakland’s authentic culture in the midst of massive gentrification). Hiroko emigrated to California, via Germany and Japan, and holds a textile design degree from the Rhode Island School of Design.