About Us

Jelani Bertoni, Founding Director

jelani@thebicycleworks.org • 415.370.9315

I grew up in Marin County and I am an avid bicyclist. I currently live in Fairfax and I commute on my bike to The Bicycle Works in San Anselmo where I teach bike repair to all willing to learn. In 2007 I graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) with a degree in sociology. Before that I attended the College of Marin and studied liberal arts and behavioral science.

Growing up in Marin I attended the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin during my childhood and adolescence. There I learned to respect the inherent worth and dignity of every being and to respect the interdependent web-of-life. The congregation has served as a platform for my civic engagement, community advocacy, and spiritual growth. I have also been involved with the Marin Peace and Justice Coalition, Marin Grassroots Leadership Network, and The Conflict Resolution Center of Santa Cruz; and I worked for a year as an instructor at Trips for Kids in the Canal District of San Rafael. I have been trained in leadership development, intercultural communication, grassroots organizing, conflict resolution, community mediation, psychology, social psychology, and media studies.

When I was in school at UC Santa Cruz I biked to school every day and would frequently work on my bike at the bicycle co-op on campus and at The Bike Church, a non-profit community bike shop in downtown Santa Cruz. These bicycle workshops provided me with the opportunity to learn to use tools and to work on my bike which was my only means of transportation. I want to make this kind of opportunity available to the people of Marin County. I want to help make it easier for people to get around and to make the world a better place, one bike at a time.