Tell us your story. 

I was born and raised in Southern California. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley in a community primarily comprised of Latinx and Asian families, which explains my obsession for tacos and ramen. I grew up with a fascination for cities and place. I was curious about why some places seemed to have more suffering than others? Why were some places poor and others wealthy? These questions led me to study Community Development and Chicano Studies at UC Berkeley. I later studied poverty in the Inland Empire, earning a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from Cal Poly Pomona. Collectively, I have spent 18 years working in cities in Southern California practicing how to build more inclusive programs and ecosystems for workforce, business and community development.