Researcher, advocate, community builder.

I have lived in Manhattan Beach my entire life and have spent the past several years building initiatives that connect research, policy, and youth advocacy. My work brings together the researchers studying how policy shapes health outcomes, the policymakers responsible for those decisions, and the young people most affected by them. Through these efforts, I have helped drive meaningful change for youth across Los Angeles.

At UCLA’s Center for LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Research & Health (C-LARAH), I have co-authoring presentations, authored a commentary in The Lancet, and helping lead a grassroots fundraising effort that raised nearly $150,000 for the Center after federal funding cuts threatened its work.

Locally, I founded the South Bay Social Advocacy Coalition, which organized the first-ever South Bay Queer Prom in May 2026 at allcove Beach Cities. The event provided LGBTQ+ high school students from across the South Bay with an inclusive space to express themselves without judgment. Through the coalition, I also organized and led a peaceful walkout involving approximately 900 Mira Costa students to protest unlawful ICE detentions. Additionally, I have served on the Beach Cities Health District Youth Advisory Council for four years and was selected as co-chair of its 40+ member cohort this past year. In this role, I have led advocacy efforts focused on youth mental health and substance use prevention, including helping lead the South Bay Leadership and Wellness Conference and the Council's May Coalition Meeting.

The through-line is the same in every project: youth-led work that bridges data, policy, and community while treating young people as collaborators, not an audience.