In February, YI West kicked off the Spring cohort of our Young Advocates Program, a 12-week paid policy and advocacy internship, where young Californians learn how to become leaders in their communities.
We are so excited to introduce you to the amazing group of young adults who are ready to create change within their communities and across the state!
Karen Kam
Karen Kam is a recent graduate from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She received her B.S. in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology and minored in Dance. Karen is currently completing an informal post-bacc with the goal of entering a graduate-level nursing program. Her dream is to serve under-resourced communities and create a more equitable world.
In her free time, Karen enjoys giving back to the youth in her community. She currently volunteers with the Community Youth Center mentoring API high school students, Rotary Youth Leadership Academy leading the alumni program, and Alpha Phi Omega where she has chaired the service and leadership programs for universities in the Northern California and Nevada regions. She has previously been an intern at UCSF’s Kanbar Simulation Center and California Health Professional Student Alliance where she developed her advocacy skills. Karen loves petting dogs, eating good food, and hanging out with friends.
Anjelica Monet Vargas
Anjelica is an impassioned project manager, operations specialist, and events aficionado building cross-industry teams that drive community transformation. She is both a nonprofit executive and a nonprofit founder. She’s worked to support and resource foster and adoptive families, create affordable and accessible high impact art programs for youth and kids, and has developed events to improve community and police relations.
Anjelica reigns from sunny Southern California and is a Long Beach native, where she continues to live and work. She also holds a Masters of Art in Leadership and Leadership Development, and spent her formal academic career studying human-centered approaches to inform solutions for fractured social systems and effective team mobilization.
Mia Fleming
Mia Fleming is a 20 year old Inland Empire native who currently studies Dance at California State University, Long Beach and is expected to graduate in the Spring of 2023. She is a participant in the Spring 2022 Young Invincibles’ Young Advocates Program where she will learn to become a more active member of her community. Mia is passionate about racial justice, mental health, and student debt cancellation. In her free time, she enjoys film photography and spending time with her dog.
Shanairah Thomas
Shanairah Thomas was born in South Central, CA and raised there her whole life. She is currently working on her BS in Public Health at California State University, Northridge and plans to take it very far within her career. After that, she plans to obtain her Masters in Social Work since her main focus in life is to help any individual she can in the best way possible. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading, and trying new vegan spots in Los Angeles!
Nadia Marin
I am a first-generation college graduate and my road to obtaining my bachelor’s from Cal-State Northridge wasn’t easy. Being undocumented didn’t help either. I attended community college to see what were my options and to see what I wanted to do. It was there where I discovered my voice and began advocating for undocumented student rights such as: having a safe space where we can share our struggles, having an academic counselor who not only understands our journey but is also who is empathic towards us and is an ally in which we can trust and confined. I began advocating at the Board of Trustees for these rights and I also managed to help and mobilize the undocumented community throughout the Los Angles Community College district.
My advocacy followed me through my upper education at Cal-State Northridge where I joined the University Student Union where I worked on policy change and help pass legislation that helped out the students at CSUN.
Rosemelly Jimenez Medal
I am the proud daughter of Nicaraguan immigrants and was born and raised in Los Ángeles county. I’m currently a fourth year double majoring in Sociology and Public Health at the University of California Merced. Upon graduating in May from undergrad, I will be enrolled in graduate school with plans to receive my MPH in Epidemiology with a concentration in infectious diseases.
I currently intern with UC Merceds Nicotine and Cannabis policy center where I have been fortunate enough to be apart of a project called Covid Latino. In this project, I worked alongside my colleagues at UC Merced and ASU to combat vaccine hesitancy and vaccine misinformation throughout California’s Central Valley and Arizona.
I am passionate about health equity and working with medically underserved Latino communities because it resonates with a large part of my identity. Being the daughter of immigrants, I grew up seeing family and people in my community struggle to make good decisions regarding their health due to barriers they faced, such as language, education, immigration status, etc. My goal is to continue to mend these barriers through research and policy work
Japjeet Singh Uppal
My name is Japjeet Uppal, and I’m a second year Public Health Major at UC Merced, with a minor in Management and Business Economics. I was born and raised in Livingston,California, which is a small farm town made up of immigrants in Merced County. I love to watch football (am a diehard Raiders fan), exercise, cook, read, watch podcasts, and of course, spend time with friends and family.
Schollo Whitaker
Schollo Whitaker is a senior at California State University, Northridge. She is a Public Health major and she intends on pursuing nursing as her career. She has previously done social work at the Service Employees International Union (SEUI) for teacher’s unions in Los Angeles in 2015. During her time there, she participated in meetings and events that advocated for K-12 teacher’s working rights for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). She is a native from Los Angeles and has a passion for advocating for communities in her hometown.
Landren Gipson
My name is Landren Gipson I grew up in and out of foster care and I grew up feeling like I wasn’t enough. I have two beautiful children ages six and ten months and having a child completely changed my life, and it gave me a new meaning to my life. I got pregnant at sixteen with my daughter Nylah and I knew I wanted to give her everything I didn’t have growing up so I stayed in school and went on to pursue a higher education. I started my college journey coming into college through the Educational Opportunity Program because I didn’t qualify through regular admission at Cal State Northridge. I made it through the six week summer phase and I’m extremely blessed to be a part of the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) at Northridge. This experience taught me so many valuable lessons that I will carry with me through everyday life. The EOP gave me a chance to show the world who I am. They are dedicated to my success on various levels. They were there for me when I was at my lowest and celebrated with me at my highest. I’ve created so many bonds throughout this liberating experience and most importantly learned the importance of self-love. When I first started off in the program, I just wanted to get good grades and leave and wasn’t worried about having friends or interacting with my peers but I soon realized they were just like me: Wanting to make a difference in life and beat all odds stacked against us being minorities. When other colleges said no, EOP said yes. I’m truly grateful to be a part of a community that has the same mindset as me. I did have my ups and downs, but they only made me stronger as a growing young lady. I knew it was only the beginning of a life changing experience, and I’m so excited to continue my journey and advocate for others. I’m currently a Senior at Cal State University Northridge majoring in Public Health with a double minor in Africana Studies and Human Lactation. I’m a first-generation college student passionate about public health and prolonging the lives of people with the help of preventive measures which keeps the body healthy and fit to live longer by protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. I’m passionate about being a part of something that helps create a better system for individuals who want to obtain a higher education. Education provides stability in life, and it’s something that no one can ever take away from you. I’m going to use my knowledge and experience I gain to educate young adults on the importance of education, mental health, equity, and community change. In my free time, I just like spending time with my children and getting closer to them because I didn’t have that growing up as a child and I want to be able to give them that.
Jonathan Herrera
Jonathan Herrera is part of the 2021 Young Advocates Program, for Young Invincibles, based in Los Angeles, California. He is a proud first-generation Mexican and college student, and a Gates Millennium Scholar. Additionally, he is a working-class progressive and activist passionate about fighting for an equitable education system, born and raised in South Los Angeles.
Jonathan currently serves as an Education Commissioner for the City of Bell Gardens, advocating, implementing, and recommending traditional and nontraditional educational opportunities for the residents of Bell Gardens. Previously, he worked as a Client Services Coordinator at Sunday Friends Foundation, a non-profit that serves the historically displaced and undocumented community of East Side, San Jose, CA by breaking the generational cycle of poverty by helping families achieve economic mobility and quality educational programming.
During his time in Washington, D.C, he served as a staff intern for the U.S. Department of Education with the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics. This experience has equipped him to work at a local, state, and executive-level, communicating with stakeholders, researching and developing broad strategy skills in public policy, and analyzing social, political, and economic findings.
In his spare time, Jonathan enjoys hiking, working out at the gym, playing soccer and volleyball. You can regularly find him at coffee shops, exploring different restaurants or your local park hanging out with friends.
He is an alumnus from Verbum Dei High School (‘16) and Santa Clara University (‘20) majoring in Political Science and a Professional Writing minor.
Shannon Elizabeth McKenzie
Shannon McKenzie is a Senior at CSU Dominguez Hills double majoring in Political Science and Africana Studies. While attending CSUDH, Shannon is the presiding president of the Black Student Union and her sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
Shannon will continue her education into Law school and will choose a path of Family Law as her career. Young Invincibles gives Shannon an opportunity to advocate for issues such as the accessibility of college for all people, mental health issues in our community, and accessible health care. These issues are pressing issues for Shannon due to living through a global pandemic and juggling her studies and falling ill with Covid.
Blade
Blade’s journey to strengthen foster youth systems started about 14 years ago as a member of California Youth Connection advocating on child welfare issues. At the same time, Blade also helped move legislative issues forward and strengthen policies in the welfare system. While a member of California youth connection, Blade was able to help write legislation with his peers that had passed into law, like California bill SB 1060, which maintains relationships for adopted siblings. Blade is driven to push forward on his career path and achieve new accomplishments nationwide.
Byanca Zavaleta
My name is Byanca Zavaleta and I’m from East Los Angeles, CA. I am currently in my gap year and will resume to my studies as a biology major this fall. During my gap year, I had the opportunity work as an intern at AltaMed Institute for Health Equity and volunteer my free-time at Mi Mentor by Alliance in Mentorship. Mi Mentor by Alliance in Mentorship is a non-profit organization that supports innovative and inclusive mentorship opportunities that will inspire the next generation of diverse health care leaders for underserved communities. My interests involve advocacy, education, health, and wellness. I am passionate about helping out underserved/underrepresented communities on health equity because during the pandemic I realized my community struggled to get through day by day due to long standing inequalities in social determinants of health. This includes poverty, lack of healthcare access, lack of health/mental health education and other helpful resources. My community and other low-come/minority communities deserve the right to a healthy life and we can only do that by making our voices heard in public policy. During my free time I like to cook, go the gym, visit different parts of California, and hang out with my dog Luna.
Jacqueline Iniguez
Jacqueline Iniguez is a second-year transfer who attends the University of California, Los Angeles majoring in Political Science with a minor in Public Affairs. Jacqueline is interested in working for a nonprofit organization with a focus on advancing equity-driven, education policies.
Jacqueline has interned with the Inner City Law Center to garner support and awareness for the Weekend to End Homelessness event that seeks to combat the rise in eviction cases in Los Angeles County. As a student, Jacqueline has worked at the President’s office in the Undergraduate Students Association Council to plan the 2020-2021 Future Student Leaders of Color Conference geared at providing K-12 students with information about safe spaces on college campuses. Jacqueline has continued to support community efforts in diminishing barriers for students of color as a Program Assistant for UCLA Jumpstart and as an Executive Intern for the President of the Lomita Chamber of Commerce.
Jacqueline is an aspiring attorney who is interested in pursuing a Law and a Masters in Public Policy to increase access and retention for students of color in attaining higher education. As a native from Los Angeles, Jacqueline enjoys spending time at the beach and visiting local coffee shops in her hometown. Jacqueline hopes to one day start her own Foundation to support first-generation college students and break the stigma for community college transfer students.
Salma Pacheco
Salma Pacheco recently joined the Young Invincibles team as a young advocate. She is currently a junior at Sacramento state receiving her bachelors degree in political science with a concentration in law and is expected to graduate in spring 2023. Salma has always had a passion for advocacy and community equity.
Salma is involved on her campus participating in many clubs and student organizations. She is currently the treasurer of the Ethnic Studies Student Association and the Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies Joint Council. She is an active member in Phi Alpha Delta, Mujeres Ayudando La Raza, and the Student Outreach and Marketing committee. Within her organizations she advocates for transparency, student involvement, and collaboration. In her free time she enjoys going on trips, backpacking, and spending time with family and friends!
Jay Franco
Jay is a creative producer & community advocate from Sacramento, CA.He has spent the last few years advocating to change systems that hurt community into resources that build community, including stable youth funding, reentry services, and preventive programs. His advocacy has been featured in the EMMY nominated, PBS/KCET documentary, “City Rising: Youth & Democracy.” The work presented in the documentary is about the fight to establish a fund for youth services in Sacramento, while also establishing youth voice & representation.
Today, he has been focused on uplifting youth experience and empowering community leaders by co-producing a podcast for the Sac Kids First Coalition (largest youth serving coalition in the region).
Jessica Nardiello
I’m currently finishing my last quarter at UC Santa Barbara as a feminist studies major. I’m incredibly passionate about community organizing and civic engagement. I was born and raised in the Central Valley, watching the conditions our communities live in is what pushed me into advocacy work because everyone deserves basic needs.