"I grew up in South Sacramento, raised by a single mother who worked hard as a social work serving foster youth in EGUSD. I saw my mom hold different positions throughout my childhood ranging from working on obeyance contracts for students who were facing expulsion, to working with foster youth to helping homeless and at risk youth navigate their world. During this time I would volunteer at graduation events, holiday parties, and giveaways for these young students and I saw how much a caring person could sway a life. I took her guidance and compassion and looked into what kind of advocate I wanted to be.

​In 2020, I started working for a nonprofit, Self Awareness and Recovery (SAR), based out of Lemon Hill in South Sacramento, that was founded by a man who served 29 years on a life sentence. His vision was to provide treatment groups and trauma healing to men and women both serving prison and jail time and diversion programs to young men and women who are at risk the most in our community due to the severe inequalities of education and the school to prison pipeline facing BIPOC. It was during my time with SAR that I saw enabling and supporting YMOC to pursue their educational goals and giving them support allows them to thrive unapologetically, and that gives me the drive to continue working so they can succeed."