Meet Our Team

JILL SORENSEN

CO-FOUNDER KNOCK OUT ABUSE / PRESIDENT - KNOCK OUT ABUSE WEST 
 Jill Sorensen co-founded Knock Out Abuse Against Women with Cheryl Masri in Washington DC in 1993 with a desire to band women together to help other women. Together they created a huge sisterhood and a deeply sought after charity event that is still popular today. In June 2018 together with Barbara Chinlund and Susan Pfeuffer she launched Knock Out Abuse West. Jill is a native of Sweden and originally came to the US to work as a fashion model. After living several years in NYC and Washington DC she now resides in Los Angeles. Jill is a writer/producer/designer and women's activist who writes and speaks about women's issues. Knock Out Abuse is committed to giving women a voice and working towards a society and culture that is 100% free of violence against women.
2006 Recipient of The Salvation Army Compassionate Citizen Award.
Jill's podcast  THE NEW FEMINIST   is focused common sense feminism.

BARBARA CHINLUND

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Barbara Chinlund is the Executive Director of Knock Out Abuse West. She is responsible for overseeing the administration, programs and strategic plan of the organization. Having known first hand what it's like to go to a shelter with her mother and siblings in the middle of the night, she is extremely passionate about helping victims of domestic violence rebuild their lives. Having a warm place to come to where women and children can feel safe, secure and protected is at the top of her wish list.  Barbara was instrumental in helping launch Knock Out Abuse West in Los Angeles together with Jill Sorensen and Susan Pfeuffer.  Besides her work with KOAW Barbara is a mother of four, and runs an organizing and styling business.  She has a background in the fashion industry and a masters in spiritual psychology from the University of Santa Monica
Breaking the silence saves women's lives!

 

SUSAN PFEUFFER

TREASURER & SECRETARY

Susan Pfeuffer is the Treasurer and Secretary of Knock Out Abuse West. With a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Science & Finance from Colorado State University she handles all things money, business and numbers at KOAW.  Formerly a Business Development manager a Hewlett Packard and Vice President of Fig Street Marketing she now has spent the last few years as an indelible tour de force for many charitable organizations in Los Angeles.
Her philanthropic work for New Roads and Brentwood school has helped make their auctions great financial successes. She is also in charge of the great Live and Silent Auction at Knock Out Abuse West's annual event.

KNOCK OUT ABUSE WEST AMBASSADOR

CARRE OTIS

Carré Otis has long been one of the most recognizable faces in the modeling industry. A native of Northern California, she first achieved fame when she appeared on the cover of Elle (France) in April 1986. Over the next few years, she became an extraordinarily successful supermodel, headlining campaigns for Guess, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, and Revlon. Carré has appeared on the covers of Vogue (USA, France, Great Britain, Italy); Harper’s Bazaar; Glamour; and Cosmopolitan. 

Carré has long been open about her past battle with eating disorders. Graced with years of recovery as a result of intense spiritual and personal work, Carré is committed to speaking out about the pressures that so often overwhelm young women in and out of the modeling industry. She has traveled around the world and appeared on many nationally televised programs, offering her unique insight into the business of beauty, and the high price that business demands.

Carré’s memoir, Beauty Disrupted, was released in 2011 by HarperCollins Publishers. She has contributed to Huffington Post, Mind Body Green, Elephant Journal, Patheos, The Conversation and Vogue Australia , and is passionate about the dangerous impact subversive media-messaging has on our culture-especially our young women-but also enjoys writing on topics related to health, nutrition, yoga, relationships, sexual intimacy, mind-body connection, and spirituality. Carré grew increasingly concerned about unfair labor practices and poor working conditions in the modeling industry and has become an advocate for young women in and out of the industry. She’s on the Advisory Board of the Model Alliance, a non-profit industry group working to establish fair labor standards for models in the U.S., as well as a long time Ambassador for National Eating Disorders Association. Her strong commitment to helping others reclaim physical and emotional health, develop positive body image--fulfill and empower themselves in allareas of their lives--is what makes her a powerful and inspiring voice for change in the world today.

In December of 2013 she gave her first Ted Talk in San Francisco where she addressed several themes related to her activism. In 2006 Carré married Matthew Sutton, an Environmental Business leader. They have two daughters, Jade and Kaya, and reside in Boulder, Colorado.

LESLIE MORGAN STEINER

At 22, Leslie Morgan Steiner seemed to have it all: a Harvard diploma, a glamorous job at Seventeen magazine, a funky New York City apartment. Plus a handsome, funny, street-smart boyfriend who adored her. But behind a façade of success, this golden girl hid a dark secret. She’d made a mistake shared by millions: she fell in love with the wrong person.
At first Leslie and Conor seemed as perfect together as their fairytale wedding. Then came the fights she tried to ignore: he pushed her down the stairs of the house they bought together, poured coffee grinds over her hair as she dressed for a critical job interview, choked her during an argument, and threatened her with a gun. Several times, he came close to making good on his promise to kill her. With each attack, Leslie lost another piece of herself.
 Gripping and utterly compelling, New York Times bestseller Crazy Love takes you inside the violent, devastating world of abusive love. 
Today, Leslie Morgan Steiner is an expert on violence against women and other women’s issues. Her TED Talk about surviving domestic violence, titled “From the Ivy League to a Gun at My Head,” has been viewed by over six million people. She has served as a board member for the One Love Foundation, in honor of slain University of Virginia senior Yeardley Love; the National Domestic Violence Hotline; Liz Claiborne’s MADE council; and as former spokeswoman for The Harriet Tubman Center in Minneapolis, the country’s oldest shelter for abused women.
She is a regular national television and radio guest, appearing on National Public Radio, NBC’s Today Show, The Diane Rehm Show, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and other programs.  She holds a BA in English from Harvard College.  Her first job was as an editor at Seventeen Magazine; she financed her MBA in Marketing from Wharton by writing for Seventeen, Mademoiselle, New England Monthly and Money Magazine.   As an author and international speaker, Steiner’s subject is women. She is the editor of the anthology Mommy Wars and a former parenting columnist for washingtonpost. com. Her other books include The Naked Truth(2019), about aging and female sexuality, and The Baby Chase (2014), which explores the ethics of global surrogacy.  She lives in Washington, DC, New York and New Hampshire.
 

KOAW EVENT CHAIR WOMEN

MICHELE GOFFIN 2019

Michele has been living in Los Angeles for almost twenty years. She is passionate about women’s causes because women - across all ethnicities and religions - are the most discriminated class. As mothers, aunts, wives/partners, nurturers and hard workers, they have fought for equality regarding voting rights, education, pay, marriage, job advancement, their bodies and recognition. When a woman is abused, she is degraded and made to fear for her own well being and that of her family. She cannot live to her full potential and be a vibrant contributor to her family and society. 

Michele is working with Knock Out Abuse to overcome these barriers. She strives for all victims of abuse to find shelter and support, and to discover the possibilities of becoming themselves again. When Michele was an investment banker in a well known bank, she dealt with abuse - sexual harassment. "I dealt with it myself by chastising the men. I should have been more vocal to bring greater awareness but I was concerned it might reflect poorly on me and it wouldn't change anything. I want to help women - especially those victims of domestic violence - to know that it is not okay and that there are alternatives.  That is why the efforts of Knock Out Abuse matter to me.  By helping to raise awareness and thus raise funding for shelters, we help change individual lives." 

Please join us to support and help Knock out Abuse one step at a time.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

(In alphabetical order)
KRISTIE ALARCON
NOLA AMAZARO
SYLVIA CALLENDER
FLAVIA CARROZZI
ANGELOU DEIGN
HENRY DODGE
BILLY UMAR GARBA
MICHELE GOFFIN
DEANNA GRAVILLIS
SIENNA JACKSON
STAMIE KARAKASIDIS
MAYA MAY
JOHN NJOROGE
ANNA MARIA NOELLERT
LIBBY LYDECKER
JULIE ROBB
TARA SHANNON
SUZIE SWERNER
YELENA YORK
LYDIA WENDT
CHARMAINE WINSLOW