MEET THE
TEAM
Our concept is simple—from purpose to Impact. Our principle of working together is the foundation of how EMPOWER ME ACADEMY operates to make a positive impact in the life of each Student-Athlete. Together, we share the same vision: to help change the culture of sports in the Bay Area and beyond.
Each member of EMA has a creative and critical role that ensures that we are all able to succeed together. All views are valued and respected which stimulates growth from top to bottom. We work together with our families to establish further the growth of not just the business but our community.
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Bennett Steifman
COACH / ENERGY GIVER
Bennett Steifman, a native of San Francisco, California, is the epitome of connection between sports and identity. He co-hosts Stormcast, the EMA podcast, and believes that through that medium, he will be able to showcase the crucial implications of the lessons taught through sports, specifically EMA. Bennett currently attends The Branson School in Marin County, California, and has played basketball for three years.
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Jaydon Aquino
COACH / ENERGY GIVER
Jaydon Aquino-Gumbs, Born in Kentucky, lived most of his life in Southern Illinois before moving to San Francisco in 2018. Jay attended The Urban School of San Francisco, where he became a varsity starter his sophomore year. In his junior year, he was named Captain and placed on the 1st team all-league. Jay later Transferred to Asheville Boarding School, where he started and was also a captain. Now, Jay is attending and playing at Riverside City College while coaching for EMA when he is in the Bay Area.
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ANDREW RODRIGUEZ
Assistant Director / Energy Giver
Andrew Rodriguez is passionate about sports and believes it can be used to develop a strong foundation for the success of our youth. A transplant from Chicago, Illinois, Andrew graduated from DePaul University with a BA in Communications and Journalism. Coach Andrew has been around the game of basketball most of his life due to his father having played in college. He attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and played in the highly competitive Chicago Public League, which has produced current NBA players such as Anthony Davis, Derrick Rose and Jabari Parker. One of Coach Andrew’s greatest accomplishments as a basketball player was winning the CPL championship his sophomore year. Despite having worked at numerous basketball camps and clinics back in Chicago, Andrew recently began his coaching career as an assistant coach for the 5th and 6th grade level at the Cathedral School for Boys. “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.” - Thomas Edison
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TATIANA NEWSOME
COACH / EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Tatiana is a San Francisco native who’s been playing basketball since the 3rd grade. A four year Varsity Basketball player and Track runner at St. Ignatius College Prep High School and two-time First Team All-Conference player at Skyline College. She now plays at William Jessup University while earning her BA in Psychology. Tati loves fitness, food, travel, doing hair, and spending time with family.
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HENRY LITTLE
COACH / ENERGY GIVER
Henry, a San Francisco native, has been around the game of basketball his entire life. He first connected with Coach Gumbs in 2013 as an eighth grader, becoming one of EMA’s first students. Henry attended Saint Ignatius College Prep where he was a varsity athlete in both baseball and basketball. After high school, Henry attended Syracuse University where he received a B.S. in Sport Management while starting for one of the top ranked club basketball teams. Henry has over six years of professional experience working in business intelligence and sales with the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Chargers.
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Annette Margolis
Director of People, Culture & Administration
Annette joins EMA with extensive hospitality and customer experience management experience. She began her career at Virgin America Airlines before pivoting to the tech industry. Annette worked at Airbnb for 5 years where she lead regional and global customer service teams. Annette is born and raised in San Francisco’s Richmond district and still resides here in the Bayview neighborhood with her rescue Boxer/Pitt mix, Tyson. Annette loves giving back to the City that raised her. Most recently, she served a four-year term on the Lowell Alumni Board of Directors.
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Christina Leung
Photographer
Christina was introduced to photography at an early age by her Dad. It really became a special part of her life after she realized she loved photographing her oldest son playing sports. In 2016, she got the opportunity to photograph collegiate baseball and was then approached by the University of San Francisco Athletics Department to photograph all their sports. As the Staff Photographer since 2017, she really enjoys telling the personal stories of the student athletes and being able to capture their special moments in time engaging in the sports they love. Christina also started with EMA in 2017 and is very passionate about telling the visual story of EMA through photographs. She is a married mother of 2 sons and 3 dogs and enjoys photographing sports, kids, dogs and food. “the best way to make an impact is through your passion, through doing something that you really love” -Steve Kerr
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Coach Gumbs
Founder / CEO / Executive Director
As the Founder and CEO of Empower ME Academy, my goal is to inspire and empower individuals through sports and coaching. With the help of a team of coaches and marketers, we have positively impacted the lives of over 2,500 students across the Bay Area. My personal experience as a professional basketball player has taught me valuable lessons about resilience, grit, and leadership, which I now use to help young people achieve their dreams and potential. Combining basketball and leadership skill development, social networking, social media marketing, and sports coaching, our platform is designed to improve physical, mental, and emotional well-being and prepare young humans for life.
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.- Maya Angelou
Read my Story
USF Legacy Game Video
USF Featured Article
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Coach Vittorio
Marketing Squad / Energy-giver
Vittorio Antunes, known in our family as 'Coach V,' has been a part of EMA since 2018. The EMA culture engulfed a driven and young individual with love for the game. It's now become a passion and goal to ignite EMA's social presence into the stratosphere. He graduated with a Bachelors's in Advertising from the University of San Francisco, which led him to assist the team with social media and marketing, alongside his coaching duties. Now based in Florida, he's receiving his Masters in Sports Admin at the University of Miami. His aspirations remain within EMA as he is preparing to bring us to the east coast, and from there, all over then the world.
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ABIGAIL COOPER
Energy Giver / Mentor
Abigail was raised in Portland, OR where she has played basketball ever since she could remember. Her goal all throughout her childhood was to earn a scholarship to play college basketball. She achieved that goal and is playing at California State University East Bay. She is studying Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing Management. At Empower Me Academy she is extremely excited to help with administration work as well as assisting in coaching.
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Too much talent gets wasted on cruise control. That’s why we challenge our students to go all in, all the time.
Because if you don’t fall in love with hard work, you have no shot at the next level and even less at thriving if you get there.
At Empower ME Academy, we believe this: When you raise the bar, you lose the ones who aren’t built for it. But when you lower the bar, you lose the ones who are.
The Culture Combine wasn’t just a tryout. It was a bar-raiser ⚡️
—
🎬 @fxlukas_
#CultureCombine #EMAleaders #RaiseTheBar #WorkWins #NextLevelMindset #MoreThanBasketball #teamLEADERS
What an incredible week. The Culture Combine was ELECTRIC! ⚡️🏀
Huge thank you to everyone who made it happen – the players who left it all on the floor, the parents who showed endless support, and the crew that brought the energy all weekend 🔥
This is what culture looks like. This is what family feels like. This is more than basketball. Let’s keep building something special!
—
#CultureCombine #Thankyou #MoreThanBasketball
Day 2 was 🔥
5th–7th grade brought focus, fire, and real passion. If you missed it… yeah, you missed out!
—
🎬 @fxlukas_
#CultureCombine #EMAleaders #MoreThanBasketball #builtDifferent
Too much talent gets wasted on cruise control. That’s why we challenge our students to go all in, all the time.
Because if you don’t fall in love with hard work, you have no shot at the next level and even less at thriving if you get there.
At Empower ME Academy, we believe this: When you raise the bar, you lose the ones who aren’t built for it. But when you lower the bar, you lose the ones who are.
The Culture Combine wasn’t just a tryout. It was a bar-raiser ⚡️
—
🎬 @fxlukas_
#CultureCombine #EMAleaders #RaiseTheBar #WorkWins #NextLevelMindset #MoreThanBasketball #teamLEADERS
What an incredible week. The Culture Combine was ELECTRIC! ⚡️🏀
Huge thank you to everyone who made it happen – the players who left it all on the floor, the parents who showed endless support, and the crew that brought the energy all weekend 🔥
This is what culture looks like. This is what family feels like. This is more than basketball. Let’s keep building something special!
—
#CultureCombine #Thankyou #MoreThanBasketball
Day 2 was 🔥
5th–7th grade brought focus, fire, and real passion. If you missed it… yeah, you missed out!
—
🎬 @fxlukas_
#CultureCombine #EMAleaders #MoreThanBasketball #builtDifferent
We’re just getting started ⚡️
—
🎬 @fxlukas_
#ema #teamLEADERS #builtDifferent
If you don’t believe something magical is happening, you haven’t been paying attention ⚡️
—
🎬 @fxlukas_
#teamLEADERS #ema #builtDifferent
@sherylsandberg reminds us of the lasting impact leaders make.
Tag a leader who has made a difference in your life in the comments below.
We got after it last night and it started with @coach_gumbs and the rest of our coaching staff bringing that EMA energy.
Who’s ready for day 2? ⚡️
Too much talent gets wasted on cruise control. That’s why we challenge our students to go all in, all the time.
Because if you don’t fall in love with hard work, you have no shot at the next level and even less at thriving if you get there.
At Empower ME Academy, we believe this: When you raise the bar, you lose the ones who aren’t built for it. But when you lower the bar, you lose the ones who are.
The Culture Combine wasn’t just a tryout. It was a bar-raiser ⚡️
—
🎬 @fxlukas_
#CultureCombine #EMAleaders #RaiseTheBar #WorkWins #NextLevelMindset #MoreThanBasketball #teamLEADERS
What an incredible week. The Culture Combine was ELECTRIC! ⚡️🏀
Huge thank you to everyone who made it happen – the players who left it all on the floor, the parents who showed endless support, and the crew that brought the energy all weekend 🔥
This is what culture looks like. This is what family feels like. This is more than basketball. Let’s keep building something special!
—
#CultureCombine #Thankyou #MoreThanBasketball
Day 2 was 🔥
5th–7th grade brought focus, fire, and real passion. If you missed it… yeah, you missed out!
—
🎬 @fxlukas_
#CultureCombine #EMAleaders #MoreThanBasketball #builtDifferent
We’re just getting started ⚡️
—
🎬 @fxlukas_
#ema #teamLEADERS #builtDifferent
If you don’t believe something magical is happening, you haven’t been paying attention ⚡️
—
🎬 @fxlukas_
#teamLEADERS #ema #builtDifferent
@sherylsandberg reminds us of the lasting impact leaders make.
Tag a leader who has made a difference in your life in the comments below.
We got after it last night and it started with @coach_gumbs and the rest of our coaching staff bringing that EMA energy.
Who’s ready for day 2? ⚡️
The Culture Combine is here!
We have our first group coming in tonight and we couldn’t be more energized to meet our future LEADERS.
Check out the schedule below to know what group you’re in:
• Tuesday & Thursday = Rising 5th*, 6th & 7th Grade Boys
• Wednesday & Friday = Rising 8th Grade & HS 16U Boys
See you there!⚡️
*5th Graders may attend to be considered as practice players
Today’s the day! Our first-ever All-Girls’ Clinic at The Hamlin School is kicking off.
We’re ready to work hard, grow, and have a blast on the court. Let’s make this one to remember! ⚡️
Still want in? There’s time to sign up. Prorated options and tuition assistance are available. Reach out and join the fun!
Calling female athletes in the Bay Area! 🌟
Are you ready to take your game to the next level?
Join us for our inaugural All-Girls Clinic at The Hamlin School starting tomorrow. Don’t miss your chance to be part of something special! 🏀✨
Sign up now and let’s get to work! Link in bio.
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