MEET THE
TEAM
Our concept is simpleโfrom 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 Andrewโs 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. โIf we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.โ - Thomas Edison
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TATIANA NEWSOME
COACH / EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Tatiana is a San Francisco native whoโs 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 EMAโs 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 Franciscoโs 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. โthe best way to make an impact is through your passion, through doing something that you really loveโ -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.
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Learn, grow, and grab first dibs on what we offer. Get our Empowering News (E-NEWS) โ written by Coach Gumbs and the EMA Team โ every month.
Our Holiday Clinic is next week! ๐๐ ๐
Join us for a week of hoops, leadership, and community as we close out the year and head into the new one together!
๐ Sign up with the link in bio!
โ
#basketballclinics #empowermeacademy #holidayclinics #ema #basketballcamps #youthbasketball #sportscamps #bayarea
After a day of reflection, we want to give a big โจTHANK YOUโจto the sport of basketball ๐
It has provided a platform for us to build a community that extends beyond anything we could have imagined, and we are forever grateful ๐
#WorldBasketballDay
#EmpowerMeAcademy
#Grateful
What a way to close out #EmpowerFEST ๐๐
This week was filled with learning, effort, and moments our young leaders will carry with them beyond the court.
Deep gratitude to our participants, families, coaches, volunteers, sponsors, and community for making this experience possible. Thank you for investing in children and believing in what weโre building together.
Our Holiday Clinic is next week! ๐๐ ๐
Join us for a week of hoops, leadership, and community as we close out the year and head into the new one together!
๐ Sign up with the link in bio!
โ
#basketballclinics #empowermeacademy #holidayclinics #ema #basketballcamps #youthbasketball #sportscamps #bayarea
After a day of reflection, we want to give a big โจTHANK YOUโจto the sport of basketball ๐
It has provided a platform for us to build a community that extends beyond anything we could have imagined, and we are forever grateful ๐
#WorldBasketballDay
#EmpowerMeAcademy
#Grateful
What a way to close out #EmpowerFEST ๐๐
This week was filled with learning, effort, and moments our young leaders will carry with them beyond the court.
Deep gratitude to our participants, families, coaches, volunteers, sponsors, and community for making this experience possible. Thank you for investing in children and believing in what weโre building together.
Day 3 was special ๐๐ฅ
The growth, the grit, and the love for the game were on full display. Now it all comes together โ today is CHAMPIONSHIP DAY. ๐
Celebrating our young athletes, our community, and everything EmpowerFEST stands for. Stay tuned for more highlights! โก๏ธ
Day 2 did NOT disappoint ๐๐ฅ
Fresh faces, same electric energy. Weโre loving every moment and weโre not done yet. Back at it TONIGHT! You wonโt want to miss it.
Tap the link in our bio and join us for #EmpowerFEST โก๏ธ
Culture isnโt a slogan.
Itโs how you show up when it matters most.
Join us for an intimate, moderated leadership panel led by Coach Gumbs as we bring together leaders from professional sports, college athletics, investing, and parenting to talk about what actually builds resilient children, strong teams, and lasting success.
๐ USF Sobrato Center (Film Room) | ๐๏ธ Friday, December 19th
โฐ 6:00 PM with light refreshments starting at 5:30 PM
This isnโt about performance. Itโs about character, standards, and culture, because culture eats everything for breakfast.
Weโre honored to learn alongside this incredible group of leaders.
โ
#EmpowerFest
#CultureEatsEverything
#Leadership
#RaisingLeaders
#EMA
#ResilientChildren
Day 1 of EmpowerFEST = PURE ENERGY โก๏ธ
The gym was buzzing, the competition was real, and the community showed up BIG. From the first tip-off to the final dunk, yesterday was everything we hoped for and more โจ
And weโre just getting startedโฆ
Thereโs still time to register and be part of the action!
Hit the link in our bio and join us for the rest of #EmpowerFEST!
Our Holiday Clinic is next week! ๐๐ ๐
Join us for a week of hoops, leadership, and community as we close out the year and head into the new one together!
๐ Sign up with the link in bio!
โ
#basketballclinics #empowermeacademy #holidayclinics #ema #basketballcamps #youthbasketball #sportscamps #bayarea
After a day of reflection, we want to give a big โจTHANK YOUโจto the sport of basketball ๐
It has provided a platform for us to build a community that extends beyond anything we could have imagined, and we are forever grateful ๐
#WorldBasketballDay
#EmpowerMeAcademy
#Grateful
What a way to close out #EmpowerFEST ๐๐
This week was filled with learning, effort, and moments our young leaders will carry with them beyond the court.
Deep gratitude to our participants, families, coaches, volunteers, sponsors, and community for making this experience possible. Thank you for investing in children and believing in what weโre building together.
Day 3 was special ๐๐ฅ
The growth, the grit, and the love for the game were on full display. Now it all comes together โ today is CHAMPIONSHIP DAY. ๐
Celebrating our young athletes, our community, and everything EmpowerFEST stands for. Stay tuned for more highlights! โก๏ธ
Day 2 did NOT disappoint ๐๐ฅ
Fresh faces, same electric energy. Weโre loving every moment and weโre not done yet. Back at it TONIGHT! You wonโt want to miss it.
Tap the link in our bio and join us for #EmpowerFEST โก๏ธ
Culture isnโt a slogan.
Itโs how you show up when it matters most.
Join us for an intimate, moderated leadership panel led by Coach Gumbs as we bring together leaders from professional sports, college athletics, investing, and parenting to talk about what actually builds resilient children, strong teams, and lasting success.
๐ USF Sobrato Center (Film Room) | ๐๏ธ Friday, December 19th
โฐ 6:00 PM with light refreshments starting at 5:30 PM
This isnโt about performance. Itโs about character, standards, and culture, because culture eats everything for breakfast.
Weโre honored to learn alongside this incredible group of leaders.
โ
#EmpowerFest
#CultureEatsEverything
#Leadership
#RaisingLeaders
#EMA
#ResilientChildren
Day 1 of EmpowerFEST = PURE ENERGY โก๏ธ
The gym was buzzing, the competition was real, and the community showed up BIG. From the first tip-off to the final dunk, yesterday was everything we hoped for and more โจ
And weโre just getting startedโฆ
Thereโs still time to register and be part of the action!
Hit the link in our bio and join us for the rest of #EmpowerFEST!
We`d love to see you this week at #EmpowerFEST โก๏ธ
This year, we`re holding it in the beautiful facilities at @usfca ๐
๐๐ฝ Swipe to the end to see the 4 day schedule, and head to our stories for a ๐ to grab your spot!
Questions, comments?! Drop them below โฌ๏ธ
โ
#EmpowerFEST2025
EmpowerFEST isnโt just about basketball. Itโs about building confidence, fostering connection, and most of all, ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ณ๐๐ป ๐
Join us this year for a 3V3 tournament, 3-point shootout, skills challenge, and the much anticipated dunk contest ๐
๐ Head to our stories for more info. Registration link in bio too!
Itโs almost that timeโฆ #EmpowerFEST is BACK! โจ
๐ USF War Memorial Gym | December 17thโ20th!
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐
๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐:
โก๏ธ 3v3 tournaments (Thunder & Lightning divisions)
โก๏ธ Dunk Contest, 3PT Shootout & Skills Challenge
โก๏ธ Panel featuring leaders who uplift our community
โก๏ธ Food, music, games & a community-driven panel
โก๏ธ A whole lot of joy + purpose
Sign up with the link in bio! See you there ๐๐ฝ
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