Our Team

At the heart of our exceptional care is our exceptional team.

We hire carefully, making sure that each new team member shares our belief that there’s more to life with dementia than simply surviving.

Every Memory Care Professional and administrative expert is dedicated to bringing joy and meaning to our clients’ lives. Our team of MCPs is over 100 people strong, backed by a full-time office staff that provides support around-the-clock:

Karoline Silva

General Manager

Karoline Silva

General Manager

Our General Manager, Karoline Silva has been with Tender Rose for close to ten years and has been instrumental in the growth of the company. She is overseeing day-to-day operations for all of our Bay Area offices. Karoline studied at San Francisco State University, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Child and Adolescent Development, as well as a certificate in Human Resources Management. Karoline describes herself as a very optimistic person who loves to make people laugh, and she spends most of her leisure time with her family, dancing, hiking, or bike riding.

Mike Ballesteros

Senior Director of Training

Mike Ballesteros

Senior Director of Training

After spending more than 25 years in clinical research and a variety of healthcare roles, Mike decided he wanted to provide care in a more hands-on and direct way, and he joined Tender Rose in 2012. Mike quickly demonstrated his keen understanding of the dementia disease process and how to meaningfully connect with clients living with dementia.

As Senior Director of Training and Education, Mike develops the curriculum for Tender Rose Academy, and he provides hands-on training to each of the agency’s Memory Care Professionals and client families who need additional support. Mike is a Teepa Snow PAC certified trainer and applies her Gems model when developing training programs. His goal is to help care providers truly understand the unique challenges their clients face in order to offer a higher quality of life through expert dementia care.

Natalie Jones

Director of Care Coordination

Natalie Jones

Director of Care Coordination

Natalie worked with seniors in facilities for seven years and has been working in the home care industry for more than a decade. She originally joined Tender Rose as a Memory Care Professional (MCP) in 2013 and has been promoted steadily over the years. As a Director of Care Coordination for Tender Rose, Natalie is responsible for monitoring and managing all aspects of her clients’ care needs, as well as supporting a team of Care Coordinators in the field. Natalie is a Certified Medical Assistant and Certified Nursing Assistant. Natalie realized early on that caring for seniors was her calling. She understands how one-on-one care can greatly improve a client’s care and life and has always enjoyed working with clients who have dementia. In her free time, Natalie enjoys swimming, gardening, and spending time outdoors with her children and two dogs.

Debbie C. Lai

Director of Care Operations

Debbie C. Lai

Director of Care Operations

During her teenage years, Debbie’s grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She helped care for her grandfather until he asked to return to the Philippines. At that time, Debbie decided to pursue nursing school at the American College of Nursing where she received her Licensed Vocational Training and then joined Tender Rose as a Memory Care Professional (MCP) in 2014 to work directly with individuals living with dementia. In her current role, as Director of Care Operations for Tender Rose, Debbie is responsible for managing and optimizing operations within the care management department. In her spare time, Debbie enjoys reading Anthropology or Science Fiction-based literature, snowboarding, playing water polo, and playing the guitar or piano.

Lucero Solorio

Lead Staffing Manager

Lucero Solorio

Lead Staffing Manager

At the age of ten, Lucero was called upon to help care for her grandmother who was living with dementia. This formative experience left a profound and lasting impact; Lucero always found joy in knowing she could bring a smile to her grandmother’s face and make her days a little bit brighter. Lucero later pursued caregiving and spent six years working with adults with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and dementia. After earning her CNA and HHA licenses, she worked her way up at a local retirement community, from Caregiver to Medication Manager to Office Manager. Lucero joined Tender Rose in 2019 as a Staffing Manager, excited to bring both her passion for dementia care and administrative acumen to the lives of caregivers, clients, and their families. She has since been promoted to Lead Staffing Manager, providing oversight and support to a team of Staffing Managers. When she’s not working, Lucero enjoys hiking, watching sports, going to concerts, singing karaoke with her family, and spending time with her daughter.

Mila Koinyan

Care Coordinator

Mila Koinyan

Care Coordinator

As a young teenager, Mila helped care for her aunt who was diagnosed with Guillain- Barré syndrome, and later stepped in to support her grandmother who needed a lot of assistance. Those experiences helped shape Mila’s career goals, and she realized that helping make someone’s life easier through skillful care is what she enjoyed doing. She joined Tender Rose as a Memory Care Professional (MCP) in 2016, and now in her role as Care Coordinator, Mila manages the ongoing care needs of her clients, ranging from helping to start new cases to developing comprehensive care plans for caregivers to follow. When she’s not at work, Mila enjoys spending time with her family and traveling.

Diana Herrera

Care Coordinator

Diana Herrera

Care Coordinator

Diana grew up in Fairfield, and her introduction to caregiving began when she enrolled in a program to obtain her CNA license. She realized that providing care directly to seniors was her passion, and shortly thereafter she started working at an assisted living facility as a Resident Assistant. She returned to school for LVN training, worked for several home health agencies, and then decided to put her full attention on seniors living with dementia and joined Tender Rose as a Memory Care Professional (MCP) in 2016. In her current role as a Care Coordinator, Diana manages the ongoing care needs of her clients, ranging from helping to start new cases to developing comprehensive care plans for caregivers to follow. When she’s not working with clients, Diana enjoys hiking, biking, spending time with family and exploring the Bay Area.

Claudia San Juan Alzaga

Care Coordinator

Claudia San Juan Alzaga

Care Coordinator

In Claudia's native hometown of Mexico City, Mexico, she spent her days teaching English and Spanish to students from all walks of life. When she moved to Reno in 2011, Claudia started caring for a quadriplegic client and realized she had found her calling in caregiving. She later settled in Northern California with her husband, where she continued to care for senior clients in their homes while completing coursework toward her nursing degree. Claudia found her way to Tender Rose in 2017 and worked as a Memory Care Professional for two years before being promoted to the role of Care Coordinator. In her free time, Claudia enjoys going for long drives, nature walks and spending time with her husband, cat, and dog.

Caroline Chege

Care Coordinator

Caroline Chege

Care Coordinator

Nancy Alvarez

Senior Recruiter

Nancy Alvarez

Senior Recruiter

A California native, Nancy was born and raised in Sonoma County. Her grandfather passed away from Alzheimer’s disease, so dementia has been near and dear to Nancy’s heart for a long time. She joined Tender Rose in 2020 as a Senior Recruiter, focused on finding top caregiving talent to support the agency’s clients.
 
Nancy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Certificate in HR Management, both from Sonoma State University. When she’s not working, Nancy enjoys reading, watching documentaries, riding bikes and cooking with her family.

Chasity Chambers

Staffing Manager

Chasity Chambers

Staffing Manager

Chasity came to Tender Rose with over five years of Customer Service Experience to work as one of our Overnight Staffing Assistants and now works as a Staffing Manager.  Chasity has excellent attention to detail, works well in teams and her documentation is flawless. 

Jennifer Hodupp

Staffing Manager

Jennifer Hodupp

Staffing Manager

Jennifer is originally from Northern Indiana where she grew up on a small farm with her parents and younger sister. When her grandmother needed help to remain at home independently, Jennifer and her family stepped up to offer hands-on support. This experience profoundly impacted Jennifer, and she knew then that her mission was to impact others’ lives through her work. 

Jennifer earned her associate’s degree in human services and relocated to Southern Illinois to pursue a career in healthcare, working in the medical records department of a hospital, and as a caregiver with clients in their homes. Through her work with seniors, Jennifer has learned and embraced the Alzheimer’s GEMS approach by dementia expert Teepa Snow, the foundation of Tender Rose’s training program. The core values of Tender Rose inspired and resonated with Jennifer, and she joined the company as a Staffing Manager in 2021. In her free time, Jennifer enjoys spending time outdoors, painting, drawing, and going hiking and camping with her partner. 

Deannie Trench

Overnight Staffing Assistant

Deannie Trench

Overnight Staffing Assistant

Deannie grew up in the small coastal town of Lucea, on the island of Jamaica. Her career has spanned work in the hospitality industry, as housekeeping supervisor at a beach resort in Florida, and scheduling for a home care company based in Tampa. She is currently taking courses toward her bachelor’s degree in health administration and earned her CNA license several years ago. Deannie joined Tender Rose in 2021 as a staffing manager after educating herself on the realities of how difficult daily life is for people living with dementia. She knew she wanted to be a part of the solution, and now she works with clients and caregivers to create balanced schedules based on preferences and fit. Deannie has dreams of owning a farm one day…after she gets over her fear of chickens.
 

As Staffing Manager, Deannie is responsible for every aspect of Tender Rose’s scheduling needs, including creating, managing, and maintaining monthly caregiving schedules as well as covering time-off requests and call-outs.

Cristhian Ayala

Staffing Manager

Cristhian Ayala

Staffing Manager

Courtney Grover

Care Success Manager

Courtney Grover

Care Success Manager

Courtney is a Bay Area native and moved to San Francisco in 2002. After working in finance for thirteen years as an event planner and bookkeeper, Courtney was thrilled to bring her organizational prowess and big heart to the field of healthcare. She is responsible for managing the onboarding of new clients and making sure their experience with Tender Rose is nothing but excellent. In her free time, Courtney likes to read, travel, hike, and hang out with her husband and two nutty cats.

Caroline Mziray

Employee Experience Manager

Caroline Mziray

Employee Experience Manager

Caroline comes to Tender Rose with over seven years of Home Care experience and performance management experience.

Caroline earned a Bachelor's Degree in Health Care Management from Southern New Hampshire University.