Jackie Bastard
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
A first-generation college graduate, Jackie earned her B.S. in Criminal Justice from the University of Houston-Downtown with a minor in Political Science and her M.A. in Criminology from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Prior to joining Jolt, she gained eight years of experience in human resources, operations, and youth programming. Her educational achievements and hands-on experience at Jolt uniquely position her to guide our organization into its next decade with strength and purpose.
Jackie is excited to be part of Jolt, an organization that empowers, equips, and mobilizes individuals to speak up not only for themselves but for those who are afraid to do so for fear of reprisal.
Maria Tolentino
DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS
Maria is a proud Texas native, Chicana, and first-generation Mexican-American. She is the granddaughter of migrant farmworkers and daughter to immigrant mother from Monterrey, Mexico. Maria has been in the non-profit sector for 16 years working with underserved communities, single-parent households and at-risk youth to remove barriers while developing employment and educational opportunities. She is a proud mother of five and a hobby sugar artist/baker for local and national charities.
Through her personal experiences of the injustices facing the Latinx communities and political issues that were near and dear to her heart, she was drawn to become involved with Jolt. She wants to be a voice of empowerment and become a force for positive change in the Latinx community.
She hopes to encourage, educate and mobilize the Latinx community to use their voting power for positive change in addition to advocating for those who cannot vote.