Equal Justice Society Board Chair Fernando Gaytan and President Lisa Holder welcome Tiseme Zegeye and Nicole Middleton Holloway to the organization’s board of directors.
Tiseme Zegeye is a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s San Francisco office, representing consumers, employees, and the injured in individual, complex, and class actions. She specializes in women’s health, civil rights, and environmental justice cases, including representing women and families in fertility and gynecologic cancer matters, representing rideshare passengers who were sexually assaulted by drivers, and representing the injured in water contamination and wildfire cases.
Tiseme has been working with EJS since late 2022 as a member of the Lieff Cabraser/EJS team in litigation against hair relaxer companies holding them accountable for cancer-causing products sold to Black women. Over 10,000 women have filed claims in federal court against hair relaxer manufacturers and sellers alleging that the use of chemical hair relaxer products caused gynecological cancers and related injuries. Tiseme also helps lead the Lieff Cabraser/EJS Health Equity Newsletter advocating for racial health equity and environmental justice in the United States.
Nicole Middleton Holloway is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® and co-founder/CEO of Strategy Squad, a wealth management firm based in Oakland, CA. As a financial advisor and a financial activist, Nicole specializes in helping individuals and nonprofits across the U.S. incorporate racial, gender, and economic justice into their investment strategies. Her mission is to empower more investors to adopt investing practices that build community wealth and power, and help transition our world of extraction towards a world of interdependence, liberation, and resilience. Nicole has been able to leverage her skills and expertise to both grow a successful book of business, and open the door for more underrepresented groups to work in the field of sustainable investing. Nicole has also been an advisor with Natural Investments PBLLC since 2020, where she has served in leadership as a Trust Steward since 2023.
See the full bios for Tiseme and Nicole below.
Tiseme and Nicole join current EJS board members Fernando Gaytan, Eric Gibbs, Michael Harris, Lisa Holder, Raymond C. Marshall, Shauna Marshall, and Donald K. Tamaki.
Tiseme Zegeye
A partner in Lieff Cabraser’s San Francisco office, Tiseme Zegeye represents consumers, employees, and the injured in individual, complex, and class actions. Tiseme specializes in women’s health, civil rights, and environmental justice cases, including representing women and families in fertility and gynecologic cancer matters, representing rideshare passengers who were sexually assaulted by drivers, and representing the injured in water contamination and wildfire cases.
Most recently, Tiseme has taken a lead role within Lieff Cabraser’s fertility practice, assisting hopeful parents seeking justice from fertility companies and IVF supply manufacturers including Pacific Fertility Center, Prelude, Chart, CooperSurgical, and Ovation for failures that occurred during their fertility journeys. Tiseme is a board member of the Lawyering Project, a reproductive health, rights, and justice organization and co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Equal Employment Opportunity Committee.
Prior to joining Lieff Cabraser, Tiseme was a Staff Attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York, where she litigated to protect access to abortion. Previously she was a Legal Fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project in New York, where she worked to fight gender discrimination in employment, education, and housing.
Tiseme earned her law degree from the New York University School of Law, where she won the BLAPA Kim Barry ‘98 Memorial Graduation Prize for academic excellence and commitment to international and human rights work, as well as a Dean’s Scholarship. During law school, she worked with the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, interned with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and was active in the Black Allied Law Students Association and the Women of Color Collective.
Prior to attending law school, Tiseme earned a bachelor’s degree cum laude in political science and sociology from the College of William and Mary, where she won the Benjamin Ewell Award for outstanding leadership and service to the College.
Nicole Middleton Holloway
Nicole Middleton Holloway is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERⓇ and the co-founder and CEO of the wealth management firm Strategy Squad. Raised in Oakland, California, Nicole graduated from the Ageno School of Business at Golden Gate University in 2017, where she earned a Master’s degree in Financial Planning, and the University of Southern California in 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Communications.
Prior to working in financial services, Nicole spent the first decade of her professional career working in the entertainment industry. She helped produce popular shows for FX Networks, and served as a producer and communications director for actor and activist Danny Glover. As Nicole took on more special projects related to social justice, and women and girls’ empowerment, she began to witness the power of money to accelerate positive social change. She also saw a greater need for more financial education in her community and representation of women of color in professional advising roles within the financial services industry.
Nicole’s mission as a financial advisor and a financial activist is to help investors adopt investing practices that build community wealth and power, and transition our world of extraction towards a world of interdependence, liberation, and resilience. Nicole has been able to leverage her skills and expertise to both grow a successful book of business, and open the door for more underrepresented groups to work in the field of sustainable investing. Nicole has also been an advisor with Natural Investments PBLLC since 2020, where she has served in leadership as a Trust Steward since 2023.
After transitioning to the field of finance, Nicole held a financial advising role with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management in San Francisco, where she worked on a senior team of advisors to provide wealth management services for high-net worth individuals and families. She has also held past roles in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, most recently as a consultant and philanthropic advisor at East Bay Community Foundation.
Nicole stays involved in her local community by helping community organizations access capital needed to grow and sustain their vitally important work. Nicole was a past instructor with Uptima Entrepreneur Cooperative, a cooperative business based in Oakland that provides entrepreneurs with greater access to education, mentorship, and resources to create thriving businesses. When she is not working, Nicole enjoys family time with her husband and two daughters.