Cynthia Luvlee-Austin

Board Member 

Cynthia Luvlee-Austin has over twenty years of experience in the non-profit and youth development fields, making it her mission to help create and launch innovative social change organizations. Cynthia began her career as a foster youth employment training
specialist and mentor to youth in the system. After successfully designing foster youth employment programs for several nonprofits including ECS Wrap Around Youth Services, Access Inc. Youth Employment Services, and Foster Youth Incentive. She went on to become a Manager at YMCA Turning Point transitional living program before spending three years as the initial Director of YMCA Mary’s House. At Mary’s House, she designed and implemented an entirely new holistic-based 18-month transitional living program for former foster youth.

Cynthia began to operate her own consulting company in 2006, providing an array of development services to non-profit executives and their startup organizations. Her company became the initial Director of Just In Time for Foster Youth, a program that has since received the Governor’s Award. Her passion for innovation took her to assist launching many more non-profit organizations including, Healing Waves Aquatic Center (formerly Wave Academy), providing Aquatic Bodywork Therapy to veterans struggling with Post Traumatic Stress. At the beginning of 2018, she discovered the harsh realities of sex trafficking in San Diego affecting so many people without access to trauma-informed employment or career options being offered by service providers. With a passion for human rights, coupled with her vast experience, she launched a new social change organization, Shyne™, with a mission to support the financial dependence of survivors of exploitation and trafficking through small business development. Shyne™ is the first nationally recognized agency solely dedicated to survivor entrepreneurship fostering a brighter
future through grassroots community building and economic advancement initiatives. Cynthia’s POV on survivors’ leadership & entrepreneurship has been featured in Restore NYC’s “Path to Freedom” Report 2022 and the National Economic Justice Report 2023.

Cynthia Luvlee-Austin currently sits on the Board of Directors with San Diego Youth Services Foundation, where she is passionate about connecting resources to the organization’s mission. Previously, she completed two full terms as a Board Member with the Neighborhood House Association (2015-2021), one of the largest non-profit organizations in San Diego. Mrs. Luvlee-Austin was accepted into the Goldin Institute of Chicago’s Global Fellowship in 2018 and has since become an Advisor for The Global Guiding Light Initiative (GLLI) in South Africa. Cynthia earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from San Diego State University and received her Massage Therapy license through Body Mind College. She has also received numerous awards for her social impact work including Making a Difference for Women from the Soroptimist International.