About Hermosa Hermanos
Founded in 2022, Hermosa Hermanos (HH) is a group of mothers and sons who are committed to local service in their community. The program is a 4-year commitment for boys in grades 9-12 who are Hermosa Beach residents or graduates of local schools and are currently enrolled in local high schools.
Enriching the lives of Hermosa Beach young men through volunteerism and community involvement with the support of their moms.
Co-Directors
Lynn Garofalo-Wright
Lynn is a healthcare strategy and operations improvement executive at Kaiser Permanente. A busy mother of two, Elle (MCHS class of 2025) and Liam (Hermanos member and MCHS class of 2028), Lynn carved out volunteer opportunities that would allow her to spend time in the classroom and meet other community members since her kids were at Manhattan Montessori. This has included volunteering in the classroom, being a Young at Art docent, sitting on the Young at Art executive board, and serving on the Hermosa Baseball board. Lynn is thrilled to now join Hermosa Hermanos in a greater capacity to carry forward the legacy established by its founders.
Tracy Barr
After being a carrier in sales and hospitality, Tracy decided to be a stay at home mom with her second child Liam. When Liam was 18 months she joined a non profit for stay at home moms and after 2 years of being a member she became president until she and her family moved to California. She continued her involvement in her new community with meals on wheels , volunteering for school activities like Young at Art and being part of the Halloween Carnival committee. When the opportunity to be co-director for Hermosa Hermanos was presented, there was no hesitation to say yes being that giving back to her community and being involved in her children’s world is so important to her.
Class Leadership
Katherine O'Connor
2026 Class-Leader
Rosanna Savone
2027 Class-Leader
Amy Schauwecker
2028 Class-Leader
Cathy Hwang
2029 Class-Leader
Liz Tyndorf
2026 Class-Leader
Evy Jacobson
2028 Class-Leader
Becky Scholten
2029 Class-Leader
Sherah Wyly
2027 Class-Leader
Courtney Unser
2028 Class-Leader
Jane Mancuso
2029 Class-Leader
Board of Directors
Liz Tyndorf
President
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Lena Hansen
Board Treasurer / VP Finance
Rachel Burger
Co-VP Philanthropy
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Noriko Zaw
Co-VP Events
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Megan Gerst
Co-VP Technology
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Katherine O'Connor
Vice President
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Rose Rocchio
Co-VP Technology
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Kim Allen
Co-VP Philanthropy
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Rosanna Savone
Co-VP Operations
Shea Self
Co-VP Membership
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Kristina Cantelli
Board Secretary / VP Communications
Sherah Wyly
Co-VP Membership
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Kayoko Okada
Co-VP Events
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Kate Kurz
Co-VP Membership Admin
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Rachel Van Landingham
Co-VP Operations
Our Founders
Liz Tyndorf
Liz has been married since 2006 and is the mother of twin sons Owen and Griffin. She spent 20+ years in corporate sales and marketing specifically working in the medical device industry. She currently works as a marketing consultant on a part-time basis. Her lifelong passion has been volunteering through philanthropic organizations starting with Girl Scouts in 1975 and she has consistently been involved with numerous national and local philanthropic organizations throughout her life. ​
As a mother of teenage sons, Liz hoped to find a mothers and sons volunteer group specific to Hermosa Beach or the South Bay area of Los Angeles, California. Her goal was to spread her love of volunteerism to her sons throughout their high school years. She was surprised that there were so few groups in existence with the type of commitment to service that her family was looking for, and most of those had to turn families away every year. She collaborated with her dear friend Katherine O’Connor and sought advice and counsel from another local boys' volunteer group who graciously shared their information.
Hermosa Hermanos was born in March 2022 and is growing annually to boys in Hermosa Beach or who are graduates of Hermosa Schools. Their hope is to include as many boys who qualify and to collaborate with their team of Moms to provide interesting and rewarding volunteer opportunities for high school boys representing multiple high schools.​
Katherine O'Connor
My name is Katherine O’Connor and I am honored to co-chair Hermosa Hermanos with my dear friend Liz Tyndorf. My parents taught me early on the importance of giving back and volunteer work has played an important role in my life ever since. Sharing Hermosa Hermanos with my son is so important to me and is the next stage of my lifelong passion and commitment to volunteerism and child development. My education is in child psychology and early childhood education. I am currently being certified as an Education Therapist for early learners.
I have dedicated my adult life to the welfare of children from working as a court-appointed child advocate for the Children’s Courts of Los Angeles, to working at UCLA in the psychology department to support children prenatally exposed to drugs and alcohol and their adoptive families. I also worked at Redondo Union High School in the Special Education department where I helped integrate special needs students into typical classroom settings. It was also my honor to have been the founder and director of Smarty Pants Academy in Hermosa Beach where children in our community came before and/or after school for tutoring and enrichment classes.
One of my passions is promoting literacy and I currently volunteer my time as a tutor for Reading Partners of Los Angeles. Some of the other non-profits I have volunteered for are Meals on Wheels, The Ronald McDonald House, Special Olympics of Canada, Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach Friends of the Library, Los Angeles County Superior Court Child Advocates Office and Proliteracy America. Volunteering has enhanced my life in so many ways and I am so happy and honored to be sharing this part of your son’s journey. Thank you so much for your interest in our organization and we are so very happy to have you join us.