Meet Our Team
Founder, Chairwoman, and CEO
Maggie Ramirez has had a successful career as an international entrepreneur, business consultant, motivational public speaker, and as an internationally certified personal development trainer and coach by creating and facilitating trainings for individuals on a personal level to business leaders at a corporate level. She has created impact in both corporate and social platforms, and with her sales, marketing, promotions, branding, and print background, she has mastered the blueprint that has made her own businesses successful. In turn, she has transferred this model to make other businesses boom. Designing a clear and concise roadmap to compliment a company’s vision and mission while structuring focus, accountability, professionalism, and ethics, she creates foundations to have a strong team as witnessed by her work with The City Channel, for the city of El Monte, Ca. In 2014, Maggie was honored for her contributions there by receiving the “Woman of the Year Award” by Congresswoman Grace Napolitano and Senator Ed Hernandez. As Founder, Chairwoman and CEO of CFI Affinity Foundation, Maggie is responsible for designing and leading the team in their social and community outreach.
Director of CFI Affinity Foundation
Raquel Hernandez studies in Personal Development began in 1993 and has led her to become a respected Certified Transformational Trainer (2015) and Life Mastery Consultant (2017). Since 2005, she began as a Leadership Coach and has lead hundreds of people and teams to create customized blueprints to generate powerful results in all domains of their lives.
In 2014, Raquel founded her own nonprofit organization "The Integrated Authenticity Heart Project Foundation" where she can showcase her visionary leadership, dynamic business acumen, and social responsibility and pursue her commitment to generate maximum impact, collaboration and contribution. She joins City Farm Industries as the Director of Operations and Research Analyst and to be the Foundation Director of CFI Affinity Foundation.
In 2014, Raquel founded her own nonprofit organization "The Integrated Authenticity Heart Project Foundation" where she can showcase her visionary leadership, dynamic business acumen, and social responsibility and pursue her commitment to generate maximum impact, collaboration and contribution. She joins City Farm Industries as the Director of Operations and Research Analyst and to be the Foundation Director of CFI Affinity Foundation.
Director of Education
Michelle is the Director of Education with the CFI Affinity Foundation. She earned her Master's Degree at Cal. State Fullerton. She is an innovator of high-performance educational programming whose solutions are fostering creative and capable minds as well as contributing to the frontier of the industrial Hemp industry through what is needed most: Stratified Community Education. After 20+ years of teaching in higher education, and as former Assistant Director of International Programs and Global Engagement at the university level, she supervises professional and technical staff in implementing educational programs, targeting objectives, and in reaching their goals. She thrives in this pioneering environment with a strong focus on creating curriculum for a diverse array of communities and celebrates the freedom to make meaningful contributions in a setting that encourages creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Intercultural communications, environmental activism through education, and ‘Hemp History’ and ‘Hemp for Health’ are at the forefront of her recent research and programming. Embracing a work culture that values diversity, social responsibility, open communication, mutual trust, and respect, the Director works as part of a team of talented individuals who together can change the way the world communicates by engaging and empowering people of all ages.
Director of The Weight of the Badge
Cesar Martinez, a retired LA County Sherriff, has always had a passion for health, fitness, and helping others. He earned his Sociology degree from CSU Northridge, and upon graduating, he joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. For fifteen years while serving in the Department, he was assigned to several details, including: the custody division, patrol, and the Elite Gang unit.
When Cesar left the Sheriff’s Department, he followed his passion for fitness and became a certified personal trainer. In 2014, he opened his own gym - Ultimate Athlete Gym - and also became certified in sports nutrition, TRX group training, Kettlebell certification, and he earned a Defensive Tactics Force Instruction certification. He has trained people from all walks of life, including professional athletes. Cesar has several personal achievements, such as: seven Ultra marathons, three triathlons, 19 marathons. He recently ran a 100-mile race in Arizona, taking him 29 hours to complete, and he is currently training for a full Ironman race in Texas. His expertise in running and physical fitness has inspired him to train others for those events as well.
While he was working for the Sherriff’s department, he had noticed the need for a healthier lifestyle for most of his fellow deputies. He also noticed the internal and external stress every officer carried with them, which compelled him to research the causes, utilizing his own personal experiences, and he came to the conclusion that something needed to be done. Cesar lives by the mantra, “Change the way you think, train and live”, and through his contributions, he wants to assist all Law Enforcement officers to live better and be better. These are the inspirations for his return to service through “The Weight of the Badge”.
When Cesar left the Sheriff’s Department, he followed his passion for fitness and became a certified personal trainer. In 2014, he opened his own gym - Ultimate Athlete Gym - and also became certified in sports nutrition, TRX group training, Kettlebell certification, and he earned a Defensive Tactics Force Instruction certification. He has trained people from all walks of life, including professional athletes. Cesar has several personal achievements, such as: seven Ultra marathons, three triathlons, 19 marathons. He recently ran a 100-mile race in Arizona, taking him 29 hours to complete, and he is currently training for a full Ironman race in Texas. His expertise in running and physical fitness has inspired him to train others for those events as well.
While he was working for the Sherriff’s department, he had noticed the need for a healthier lifestyle for most of his fellow deputies. He also noticed the internal and external stress every officer carried with them, which compelled him to research the causes, utilizing his own personal experiences, and he came to the conclusion that something needed to be done. Cesar lives by the mantra, “Change the way you think, train and live”, and through his contributions, he wants to assist all Law Enforcement officers to live better and be better. These are the inspirations for his return to service through “The Weight of the Badge”.
Project Manager of The Weight of the Badge
Rosalina Gomez is a retired LA County sheriff who began her professional experience in the corporate world as a customer service representative for 21st Century insurance and later was promoted to sales. While working, she was the first to obtain an undergraduate degree in her family, earning a BA degree in Communications from CSU Northridge in 2005. After much self-reflection, she found her calling in public service, and she decided to join the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department later that year.
The LASD Academy was an exhilarating experience. While most of her peers felt emotionally overwhelmed, mentally unprepared, and physically unfit in the Academy, Rosie put in extra hours both physically and academically, which supported her in feeling strong and healthy as she followed a nutritious diet. She met her husband while in the academy, and they have built a life of service together.
In 2007, she suffered a life-changing accident when her partner lost control of their patrol car as they sped to an emergency call, and for the next eight years, she suffered agonizing physical and emotional pain. After years of treatment, Rosie began to lose sight of her health, and she felt inundated as physicians only pressured her to medicate more heavily with prescription drugs.
Despite the physical and emotional stress, she yearned to lead a normal life. Being a wife and a mother of two, she couldn’t give up, and rather than take it easy, Rosie volunteered and joined the ranks of an Elite Gang Unit within the Sheriff’s Department. Throughout her career as a deputy sheriff, she observed how many of her colleagues were in similar positions like herself, struggling with environmental pressures and demands and while living with chronic pain. She witnessed how physical pain is a mood changer, causing mental stress. She experienced first-hand the biologic and psychological effects of pain, developing depression and becoming more reactive rather than pro-active in her daily interactions. These behavioral changes impacted her and her family and compelled her to investigate how pain affects our brain chemistry and what we can do to change it for the better.
In 2015, she made a radical decision after being rushed to the ER because of severe pain in her neck. After extensive research, she and her entire family shifted to a whole food, plant-based lifestyle to better serve her husband’s newly diagnosed diabetes as well. She discovered that inflammation is the root of all disease, and that a plant-based diet has been shown to reduce inflammation and better for the body overall. Since then, she has gained clarity and more energy while reducing her pain allowing her to live a more stress-free lifestyle.
The LASD Academy was an exhilarating experience. While most of her peers felt emotionally overwhelmed, mentally unprepared, and physically unfit in the Academy, Rosie put in extra hours both physically and academically, which supported her in feeling strong and healthy as she followed a nutritious diet. She met her husband while in the academy, and they have built a life of service together.
In 2007, she suffered a life-changing accident when her partner lost control of their patrol car as they sped to an emergency call, and for the next eight years, she suffered agonizing physical and emotional pain. After years of treatment, Rosie began to lose sight of her health, and she felt inundated as physicians only pressured her to medicate more heavily with prescription drugs.
Despite the physical and emotional stress, she yearned to lead a normal life. Being a wife and a mother of two, she couldn’t give up, and rather than take it easy, Rosie volunteered and joined the ranks of an Elite Gang Unit within the Sheriff’s Department. Throughout her career as a deputy sheriff, she observed how many of her colleagues were in similar positions like herself, struggling with environmental pressures and demands and while living with chronic pain. She witnessed how physical pain is a mood changer, causing mental stress. She experienced first-hand the biologic and psychological effects of pain, developing depression and becoming more reactive rather than pro-active in her daily interactions. These behavioral changes impacted her and her family and compelled her to investigate how pain affects our brain chemistry and what we can do to change it for the better.
In 2015, she made a radical decision after being rushed to the ER because of severe pain in her neck. After extensive research, she and her entire family shifted to a whole food, plant-based lifestyle to better serve her husband’s newly diagnosed diabetes as well. She discovered that inflammation is the root of all disease, and that a plant-based diet has been shown to reduce inflammation and better for the body overall. Since then, she has gained clarity and more energy while reducing her pain allowing her to live a more stress-free lifestyle.