Los Angeles |2009

Angie Jean-Marie is the Director of #VoteTogether. #VoteTogether is increasing voter participation and creating a culture of voting rooted in celebration and fun. Together with national, state, and local partners, #VoteTogether hosts community celebrations at or near polling places.

Prior to this role, Angie was Interim Director of LA2050, a program to engage Angelenos in three ways: to challenge the status quo; define a brighter vision for the future of Los Angeles; and generate support for innovative projects improving the region. There she executed three $1M grants challenge to unleash civic activism and shape a better LA.

Angie began her career in the US House of Representative as a legislative assistant for Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards of Maryland. In that role, she served as lead Democratic staffer for the Women’s Caucus and helped launch an economic agenda for women with Leader Pelosi's office and the Obama White House. Angie has also worked as a researcher in the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and as a fellow at RALLY, a social impact communications firm.

Angie holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in Government & Politics from the University of Maryland-College Park.
 

Daniel Johnson is currently a Program Manager for the Public Allies Los Angeles (PALA) program at Community Development Technologies (CDTech). In his role as a Program Manager for PALA he has the opportunity to facilitate the growth and development of emerging leaders. One of the ways he fulfills his role is by facilitating professional training that confronts the conditions of systemic oppression and advances communities of color, LGBTQ, and other protected groups. Prior to working for CDTech Daniel was hired as a Community Organizer for the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT). At the LANLT he organized and trained community members in South Central Los Angeles on how to advocate for environmental justice. He is currently enrolled in Community Planning and Economic Development at Los Angeles Trade Tech College and interested in supporting efforts that will help his peers achieve long-term success.

Daniel is currently the President of the Zapata-King Neighborhood Council.  He is committed to strengthening the community through volunteer efforts and civic engagement. He is also passionate about connecting people, organizations and ideas in ways that increase collective impact.  Daniel is also an alumnus of AmeriCorps, YouthBuild, Front Line Leaders Academy, and Answering The Call.
 

Elizabeth Cabrera, daughter of immigrant parents from Mexico, is a southeast LA native who believes in the power of family engagement to strengthen the academic success of students.  In her current role as Director of Programs at PowerMyLearning, she works toward providing quality support for teachers and families at Title I schools to create an optimal learning environment for students in underserved communities.   

Elizabeth’s work in public education and the non-profit sector began 9 years ago as a Program Coordinator for an education non-profit in Jalisco, Mexico.  She then taught kinder and third grade in Boyle Heights as a Teach for America corps member supporting the school with the founding of their third grade class and the development of Common Core aligned curriculum and family workshops.  As a Science-Spanish teacher in Huntington Park, Elizabeth helped develop third grade Next Generation Science Standards aligned curriculum and had the opportunity to teach at a school where her own niece and nephew attended. In July 2018, she co-presented the session “Beyond the Parent Portal: Engaging All Families in Classroom Learning” at the National Family & Community Engagement Conference to an international audience.

Elizabeth holds a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Spanish Literature from Harvard College and a master’s in Urban Education with a focus on Language and Culture from Loyola Marymount University.  On her days off, you can find Elizabeth organizing fundraisers to support projects in San José de Gracia, Jalisco (the small town in Mexico where her parents are from), watching soccer games (she tried playing, but that didn’t turn out so well) or playing with her cute little niece.  
 

Gabriella Landeros is the Communications Director for City of Los Angeles Councilwoman, Nury Martinez. In this role, she oversees all public and media relations for the Councilwoman. Before joining the City of Los Angeles, Gabriella was the Press Secretary for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. She supported over 300 affiliated labor unions and 800,000 workers with their media needs and managed communications for the Federation and its President, Rusty Hicks.

Gabriella knew she wanted to help her community from a young age. When she was 10 years old, she organized a successful signature gathering campaign with her dad to save the trees in her neighborhood. Gabriella’s dedication to public service has remained constant throughout her career and life. So much, that she is also one of the first two women to have been appointed to the City of South El Monte’s Planning Commission. As a proud native of the San Gabriel Valley, Gabriella’s passion for politics is indebted to her hometown roots.

Before her involvement with local politics, Gabriella lived in Washington, D.C. and was a Presidential Appointee in the Obama Administration, where she served as Press Assistant at the U.S. Department of Commerce. In this capacity, she created a process to report daily activities to the White House and created bilingual media content for the Secretary's "Open for Business Agenda.”

Gabriella holds a bachelor’s degree in Media and Cultural Studies and minor in Spanish from the University of California, Riverside. She also spent a year abroad studying journalism in Madrid, Spain. In her personal time, you can find Gabriella running, visiting museums, and listening to oldies.

José Trinidad Castañeda III is the ProAgua Coordinator at the William C. Velasquez Institute in Los Angeles, where he engages with Latinx and Indigenous communities to promote civic engagement, social and economic justice, as well as sustainable policies. Due to his extensive knowledge on climate action, José played a significant role in the creation of the Los Angeles County Sustainability Master Plan.

José currently serves as a municipal commissioner on the City of Fullerton Parks and Recreation Commission, as well as on the South Coast Air Quality Management District Youth Leaders Council. As an individual who grew up with asthma and bronchitis, José was the voice behind additional air quality sensors in North Orange County to benefit the health of working class communities of color most impacted by respiratory diseases.

In 2018, José received the Certificate of Leadership Award from State Senator Josh Newman for organizing the March for Science and People’s Climate March in Orange County. José recently ran for Fullerton City Council and plans to run for City Council in the 2020 electoral cycle.

José Trinidad Castañeda earned his Associate’s degrees in Anthropology and Biology from Fullerton College, and his Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from California State University, Los Angeles, and a minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. José identifies as Indigenous, Chicano, and queer. He was a member of the NLC Los Angeles Engaged Fellowship in 2018.

José is a certified Permaculture and Aquaponic Systems Designer, and the founder of Xinampa Farms, LLC. He focuses on caring for the people and the planet by creating native and edible landscapes for local clients.

Before his work in politics, José created after school sustainability leadership programs for middle school students, who have since gone on to lead efforts to build aquaponic farms at their high schools. When he isn’t empowering youth, you can find José tending to his garden.
 

Juan Lopez is the great-grandson of a baker and corn farmer from the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico and is the first in his family to graduate college. Juan most recently served as Director of Technology and Innovation in the Office of Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin. As a forward-thinking public servant, Juan focused on introducing new ideas and technology to City Hall while delivering results that improved the lives of Angelenos by implementing smarter, data-driven public policies.

Juan spearheaded the nation’s leading financial transparency open data portal, ControlPanel.LA and has worked on several award-winning projects that have been lauded by the Wall Street Journal, CurbedLA, GovTech Magazine and the Los Angeles Times. Major projects include ‘Ready for Take Off,’ a dashboard that provides an insider’s look into the operations and performance of LAX; and PropertyPanel LA, a comprehensive map of City-owned real estate assets that served as a call to action for policymakers to undertake a more organized and strategic approach to the more than 9,000 properties owned by the City of Los Angeles.

Juan is a co-founder of Policy Club, an organization focused on using data and technology to advocate for smarter public policy across California. He has served as a Leadership Los Angeles Fellow with the Southern California Leadership Network and as a City Commissioner on the Technology and Innovation Commission for the City of Long Beach.
 

Juan is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Administration at the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy. He attended Long Beach City College and transferred to the University of Oregon where he graduated with a BA in Political Science. Juan loves coffee, hiking, breakfast burritos, and road trips.

K. Chris Terry – Fullington is the current Director of Programs at EV Connect, a leading electric vehicle charging solutions software-as-a-service company. Leading a team of four, Chris is responsible for the acquisition and execution of multi-million dollar government contracts centered around expanding the electric vehicle infrastructure in the United States and Canada. Prior to this role Chris established and oversaw the Customer Experience Department at EV Connect.

Prior to working at EV Connect, Chris worked with Dress for Success to measure the impact of their workforce development partners. Her interest in helping organizations understand their impact has led her to lead projects with Tedx Crenshaw and the Los Angeles Police Department. As a South Central Los Angeles native Chris is most excited about the ways in which her work can help improve quality of life in disadvantaged communities.

Kim Yamasaki is the Executive Director of the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE). In her position, Kim manages and oversees the entire organization, including its staff, programs, and fundraising efforts. Kim is passionate about finding creative and innovative ways to appeal to the younger generation of future community leaders and voters. In her tenure, she has more than tripled the budget, added on three core programs for pipeline building and voter engagement efforts, and more than quadrupled the staff at the organization.

Prior to CAUSE, Kim gained valuable work experience through internships and work with CAUSE, U.S. Congress Member Judy Chu, the US House of Representatives Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Imprenta Communications Group, and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. She is a proud CAUSE Leadership Academy alumnus.

She has been featured in news articles and stories on NBC, KCRW, the Rafu Shimpo, World Journal, and was named one of the top sixty California Influencers to comment on important issues affecting the state by the Sacramento Bee and other McClatchy newspapers.

Kim was born and raised in Los Angeles. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and a minor in Asian Languages (Korean) from UCLA. She serves on the Board of Directors for Kizuna, a local nonprofit organization for Japanese American youth empowerment, and the Community Advisory Council for SoCalGas.

She’s a big fan of the Dodgers, hikes, cooking, and a good read. Her dog, Harper, is the love of her life.
 

Marcus Benigno is humbled and fortunate to align his activism and creativity with his work. He currently serves as the director of communications and media advocacy at the ACLU of Southern California, where he leads strategic communications and narrative change campaigns on critical issues like voting rights, economic justice, LGBTQ rights, immigrants' rights, police accountability, criminal justice, education, and First Amendment protections.

Before joining the ACLU, Marcus roamed the globe and worked as a freelance reporter in Kathmandu and Cairo, where he covered arts, culture, and sustainable development for numerous outlets including the Nepali Times, Egypt Independent, Public Radio International's America Abroad Media, and the United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network News.

Marcus was named the 2017 Mellon Professor of Practice in the Media Arts & Culture Department at Occidental College. His semester theory and practice course explored the influence of media arts in movements for radical social change.

Marcus was born in Chicago, grew up in Los Angeles, and earned his degree on the snowy slopes of McGill University in Montréal. He majored in International Development Studies and focused his research on post-colonial theory and LGBTQ movements in the Middle East. In his spare time, he climbs rocks, throws clay, and roots for the Cubs.

Matt Wagner, a San Diego native, has served since mid-2018 as Associate Director for Law Enforcement Initiatives and Community Security at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)’s San Diego Regional Office. In this role, Matt is responsible for engaging with and training law enforcement on issues of bias, as well as providing regional expertise on bias-motivated crime. He works with institutions around San Diego on issues of public safety, counterterrorism, diversity, and inclusivity.

Prior to ADL, Matt had a career in federal law enforcement and diplomacy. He served as a Special Agent with the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, with tours of duty in New York, NY; Algiers, Algeria; Paris, France; and on the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Francisco. Matt’s experience includes responding to the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, participating in the December 2015 COP21 Paris Climate Summit, and coordinating aspects of the 2017-2018 closures of the Russian Federation’s consulates on the West Coast.

Matt has received the U.S. Department of State’s Superior Honor Award and Meritorious Honor Award, each twice. He is a 2009 alumnus of the David L. Boren Scholar program, which named him its annual Howard S. Baker Award recipient in 2013. He has also received various other awards from the U.S. Departments of Defense, State, Justice, and Homeland Security.

Matt holds a BSFS with Honors from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. He majored in International Politics, concentrated in International Security Studies, and completed a Certificate in Arab Studies. He has also graduated from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and the Foreign Service Institute, both with honors. His languages include French and Arabic.
 

Megan Laird serves as the Youth and Garden Programs Manager for the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, a non-profit organization that addresses social, racial and health equity through building parks and gardens within communities that lack green space across Greater Los Angeles.
Within the organization, Megan oversees the South Los Angeles Fremont Wellness Center and Community Garden, where she manages and identifies strategic partnerships for various programs such as a member-led community garden, a bi-weekly free produce distribution and wellness fair, seasonal gardening-based events, and the Gardening Apprenticeship Program, an afterschool youth leadership program that engages high school students around food and environmental justice.
Megan previously served as one of two California Regional Organizers for the national non-profit Real Food Challenge, in which she mentored and organized college and university students to advocate for more sustainably, equitably-produced food within their campus dining halls. Specifically, Megan organized within the Real Food for CSUs Campaign, where students from California State Universities across the state mobilized to add an ethical food-sourcing policy to the university system’s 23-campus-wide Sustainability Plan.

Megan received her B.A. in Environmental Studies/Biology with an emphasis in Agroecology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. During her undergraduate years, Megan was a core member of the Campus Food Systems Working Group, and was the sole Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship recipient for the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS); the university’s 23-acre organic farm. While in this position, Megan served to promote food justice-based programming and events to the student body and surrounding community. Megan currently attends the University of California, Los Angeles, in pursuit of a Certificate in Horticulture.

Megan currently lives in South Los Angeles. In her spare time, she likes to identify plant varieties in the community, play soccer, and discover new cuisines prepared by resident-owned businesses.
 

Miguel Segura currently works at Los Angeles Unified School District as the Director of Community Engagement, Southeast for Board District 5. Miguel personally acts as the liaison between the Board office and schools in the Southeast cities of Los Angeles. He manages constituent casework; supports schools throughout the Southeast; and builds and maintains relationships with political, advocacy, and local community groups. To fulfill the Board District 5 vision, Miguel mobilizes parents and community members to help them develop the organizing skills they need to be self-advocates to create real systems change. In his own words, “change comes when people stand up, speak up, and no longer want to stick to the status quo.”

Miguel started his career is education in 2010, as an Early Child Education teacher in Pico Union and South Los Angeles through Teach for America.

Upon completion of his degree in 2009, Miguel served as an Intern on the Business Team for former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, with aims to continue developing his engagement in the field of public service. In 2012, Miguel began volunteering for the Finance Team on Eric Garcetti’s campaign for Mayor of Los Angeles. As a native Angeleno, Miguel hoped to remain a relentless advocate for his community and in 2014, was elected to the Westlake North Neighborhood Council. Among his contributions to his own community, Miguel served as an Advance Staffer all over the United States and Grassroots Organizer in Nevada, Louisiana, Pennsylvania for Hillary for America, a Staffer to 49th District Assemblymember Ed Chau, a Consultant and Organizer for a New York City Field Program, and a Press Aide. A strong champion of advocacy, education and social justice.

Miguel has a B.A. in Political Science and Chicano/a Studies from California State University, Northridge and a Masters in Education from Loyola Marymount University. He finds pleasure in hiking, playing sports, drinking coffee, cooking, going out to dinners, spending time with family/ friends and watching many movies and different shows on Netflix.
 

Paul Jung currently works in the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office. He formerly worked at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles where he raised awareness about the impact of mass incarceration in California, educated individuals and families in Southern California directly impacted by the system, and advocated for juvenile and criminal justice policy reforms. In 2014, Paul helped form a non-profit organization, API Reentry and Inclusion through Support and Empowerment (“API RISE”), which seeks to empower formerly incarcerated Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders through cultural awareness, peer support, advocacy, and job readiness.

Paul graduated from UCLA School of Law’s Public Interest Law and Policy Program. He has a dual B.A. in Sociology and Governmental and Legal Studies with a concentration in International Relations from Bowdoin College. Paul grew up in Los Angeles, is rooting hard for the Lebron-led Lakers, and enjoys watching Netflix and spending time with his family, including his brother who was a former juvenile “lifer” and returned home this year.

Ms.Queenie Johnson, M.A., is an award-winning entrepreneurial visionary, educator, leadership trainer and founder of the acclaimed program: Mama Be Brilliant,™ a national network of entrepreneurial and executive moms on a mission to build their child, career, and civic engagement. The organization has reached nearly 5000 parents across Southern California with powerful programming, and free digital content since 2015. Ms.Queenie is most proud of their “Online Voter Education Campaign” where parent-leaders were trained to use Facebook’s LIVE STREAMING function to inform their sphere of influence on best practices to show up at the polls educated. In 2019 they will also launch their “Civic Engagement Council,” a 90-day program dedicated to equipping parents on the strategies and tools needed to advocate for policies and programs that positively impact children & families at the local and state level.

With over 15 years of experience in private, public, home, and charter school education, Ms.Queenie now serves as a consultant specializing in education and business with her company, The Curriculum Creators- the go-to digital learning agency for non-profits and mission-driven businesses for brand training and custom curriculum/instructional design. Between her work with Mama Be Brilliant™ & The Curriculum Creators, Inc, she sits on three nonprofit boards: The Gouche Foundation, Hustle Mommies, Inc., and serves as a governing council member for the United Parent Leaders Action Network (UPLAN).

Recently, she spent three days on Capitol Hill with UPLAN legislating and speaking with Senators and members of Congress to co-sponsor the Child Care for Working Families Act and other proposed bills that adversely affect DACA DREAMers and immigrant families. She also met with the United States Department of Education to propose a Federal Parent & Family Advisory Council to bring parent voice and engagement to the national level. Ms.Queenie holds a Master’s degree from Pacific Oaks College in Human Development and Social Change and a Bachelor's degree as well as a California Clear Teaching Credential from Occidental College in Eagle Rock, California.
 

Richard currently serves as a Coordinator at Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE), a non-profit leadership development organization that empowers current and former educators to make lasting civic change through public leadership.

Richard directly manages a budget of over $350,000 to plan and execute high-quality programming. His responsibilities includes conducting targeted public outreach campaigns, managing vendor relationships, analyzing program data for strategy and growth, etc.

Richard’s passion for driving social impact stem from his childhood experiences growing up marginalized as an Asian American and the son of immigrants. Passionate about education as a vehicle for social justice, he began his career as a 5th grade teacher in St. Paul, MN through Teach for America. His experiences working directly with students and families in the classroom ground his deep commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Prior to joining LEE, Richard also served as a Student Data Coordinator for Bright Star Schools, a charter network serving students in the Greater Los Angeles area. At Bright Star, Richard honed his problem-solving skills by building tools and systems to allow for the consistent use of data to drive both instructional and administrative decision-making.

Outside of work, Richard serves on the Board of Directors of Act To Change, a nonprofit organization originally launched under the Obama Administration as a public awareness campaign to empower students, families, and educators with the knowledge and tools needed to stop and prevent bullying.
 

Richard also enjoys exploring the Los Angeles food scene, listening to podcasts, and practicing martial arts. He has a BA in Sociology from Columbia University and an M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.

Santano Rosario is currently completing his final year of medical school at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Applying to Emergency Medicine residency programs, he is passionate about identifying social issues as they present to the hospital and using that knowledge to implement policy changes.
 

While in medical school, he co-founded the Keck School of Medicine Protect our Patients student interest group, providing medical students with an outlet to engage in the local and federal conversations about our changing healthcare system. He was the co-president of the annual Minority Health Conference, directed and hosted by USC and UCLA with the goal of addressing local, statewide, and national minority health disparities. Additionally, he served as a Health Policy Fellow for Congressman Raul Ruiz, helping his team research and draft health care legislation on federal health care funding, telehealth, and insurance coverage.

He is currently a member of Southern California Providers for Health Equity, or SCoPHE, a group of health care providers who engage with local, state, and federal politicians to facilitate changes that directly improve the lives of our documented and undocumented patient population and their respective communities.

Santano grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota and received his B.A in Sports Medicine from Rice University where he was a sprinter for their varsity Track & Field Team.

Sarah is an advocate of environmental stewardship and has dedicated her career to proving there doesn’t have to be a trade-off between economic, social, and environmental welfare. She currently works as a senior management consultant for state and local government agencies, where she helps public governments and nonprofits solve pressing challenges related to managing risk, operating efficiency, and strategic planning. Previously, Sarah co-led energy and climate initiatives for the County of San Luis Obispo where she helped bring resources and funding to start new clean energy and sustainability to serve the residents, public agencies, and business owners of the County. She has spent her career in both the private and public sector, in rural and urban areas across the United States, and firmly believes a healthy and viable future depends on a nationwide green economy revolution.

Sarah is also passionate about ensuring universal access to a quality education. She is a Director on the Santa Maria Public Library Foundation Board, which serves the educational needs of northern Santa Barbara county resident’s underserved communities. She is also actively serving on the advisory committee to launch a new K-12 school in the San Luis Obispo area which emphasizes global citizenship, self-awareness, and hands-on learning. A first generation Arab-American, she is passionate about seeing and supporting more minorities represented in politics and especially in bridging the east-west cultural divide that continues to shape public views on immigration and foreign policy.  Sarah has a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan and Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland. She lives and works between Los Angeles and the central coast California where she lives with her husband and her cat. In her free time, she enjoys anything that involves the outdoors, working with and volunteering with passionate doers, and writing short stories.

Selina Vazquez is an activist and non-profit professional who believes that we must be the change we wish to see in the world. She is a Donor Development Officer for the American Red Cross, working with individual donors across the Los Angeles Region. In addition to her fundraising work locally, Selina has also deployed as part of Disaster Response Teams to communities in Texas and Northern California following Hurricane Harvey and the Carr Fire respectively.  

She is a Past-President of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles’ Young Professionals, and has worked closely with the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project since 2014, supporting Planned Parenthood and advocating for reproductive justice. Selina has been part of the Executive Committee for Reading to Kids since 2014, chairing various committees over the years. She just recently became a Co-Chair of National Council of Jewish Women Los Angeles’ Advocacy Working Group, which she has been a member of since 2017.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Selina worked in Development for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She is a graduate of Fisher College, and lives in Palms with her boyfriend, comedian Flobo Boyce.

Steven Almazan is currently the Managing Director of External Affairs at Educators for Excellence-Los Angeles, Community Seat Member with the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council, and Giving Circle Member with the Latino Community Foundation. With his current leadership roles, Steven hopes to empower Angelenos to develop effective, efficient, and equitable policies that lift working-class families out of poverty and into prosperity.

Steven was born and raised in Boyle Heights, a working-class neighborhood on the Eastside of Los Angeles. His mother and father immigrated from México to Boyle Heights in the late 1960's and attended Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools in the 1970's as English Language Learners and kids in poverty. Their personal experience in the LA education system informed his decision and commitment to address the educational inequities that exist in Los Angeles, and specifically Boyle Heights.

After college, Steven moved back home to Boyle Heights and taught as a special education teacher with LAUSD in Koreatown and then with KIPP L.A. Schools in East Los Angeles. Beyond the classroom, he was elected as a Community Seat Member for the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council at the age of 23, where he served as a liaison between the community and City Hall of Los Angeles. He also held various leadership and fellowship roles through his work with Leadership for Educational Equity, Educators for Excellence, Teach Plus, Education Pioneers, and The Education Trust—West.

His experience as a local community organizer, special education teacher, education policy expert, and public servant has helped cement his purpose in life to break down the systemic injustices, barriers, and policies that prevent students of color from succeeding and thriving in working-class neighborhoods. Steven's work experiences, thoughts, and opinions have been featured on The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, VICE News, Curbed LA, LA School Report, La Opinión, Univision, & The Boyle Heights Beat.

Steven holds a dual bachelor’s degree in communication and psychology from the University of Southern California, a master’s degree in special education from Loyola Marymount University, and a Master of Public Policy degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. During his free time, he enjoys running the streets and bridges of Los Angeles with the Boyle Heights Bridge Runners and recording Instagram videos of his parents’ dog, Pablo.

 

Vivian Wong is an education attorney and Skadden Law Fellow at Learning Rights Law Center.  Her fellowship allows her to provide trauma-informed special education legal services to young people who are involved in the juvenile justice system.  She works to ensure students access to the services to which they are entitled, particularly mental health services. As a woman of color with a disability, she hopes also to empower her clients to draw strength from their own disability experiences.

Vivian’s passion for education equity, as well as disability and racial justice, stems from her experiences working with marginalized young people.  Her passion for disability activism began in college, where she founded an organization to create safe spaces for students with hidden and visible disabilities.  Before pursuing her law degree, she received a Stanford Public Interest Network Fellowship to help first-generation, low-income students to apply and prepare for college.  She worked closely with students who grappled with abusive families, unstable homes, gang violence, and anxiety over poverty and legal status.

During law school, she sought every opportunity to serve students with disabilities through direct legal services and impact litigation addressing school force-out issues that disproportionately affect students of color with disabilities.  She has interned at various legal organizations, including National Center for Youth Law, East Bay Community Law Center, Public Counsel, and the Alliance for Children’s Rights. Through a career in holistic advocacy, she works towards dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline and ensuring that all youth of color with disabilities receive a quality education.

Vivian received a B.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where she specialized in the Critical Race Studies and David J. Epstein Public Interest Program in Law and Policy programs.