POWER TO THE PEOPLE! Careers in Social Justice & Advocacy

Stephanie Castellanos
UCLA ’10, Sociology (major) / Urban Planning & Regional Studies (minor)
Coalition for Diverse Educators (C4DE)

Stephanie Castellanos is a Diversity & Inclusion Strategist, Coalition-Builder, Equity Trainer and Community Organizer. Her experience as the first in her family to graduate from high school and college, as the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and as a product of Inglewood, CA, has fueled her commitment to creating access and opportunities for communities of color.

Stephanie has innovated the recruitment strategies of national education and political organizations, working across more than 30 states including California, Illinois, New York, Texas, and in South Florida for President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.

She is the Creator of equity “WOKEshop” trainings, which have trained over 20,000 youth, young professionals, community and school leaders across the country. She is also the Co-Founder of The Coalition for Diverse Educators (C4DE.ORG), a national grassroots movement to increase teacher diversity in urban public schools. Simultaneously, Stephanie manages a +$1M Community-Based Crime Reduction Initiative in MacArthur Park, CA, as the Public Safety & Community Justice Manager at the Youth Policy Institute.

Mindy Chen

UCLA ’17, Social Welfare (PhD)
Dolores Huerta Labor Institute / Los Angeles Trade Tech College

Mindy Chen holds an AB cum laude from Harvard University and an MS.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania. As part of her Ph.D. dissertation research at UCLA, Mindy has studied how organizational dynamics of unions and community-based organizations shape coalition strategies aimed at improving conditions for immigrant workers. Concurrently, Mindy teaches at the Labor Center in Los Angeles Trade-Tech College. Prior to returning to higher education, she worked as a lead union organizer for over six years in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sandra Kang
UCLA ’16, Human Biology & Society (major) / Philosophy (minor)
ACLU of Southern California

Sandra graduated summa cum laude from UCLA, Class of 2016, with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology and Society and a minor in Philosophy. For most of her college career, Sandra worked as a Clerk at UCLA Student Legal Services where students had access to affordable legal counsel for a wide range of issues. During the spring of 2016, Sandra was a Housing Litigation Intern at the Inner City Law Center—a local nonprofit on Skid Row dedicated to fighting against slumlords and unlawful evictions. In the summer of 2014, Sandra interned with JusticeCorps at the Pasadena Superior Courthouse, providing legal information to self-represented litigants, most of whom could not afford private legal counsel.

After graduating, Sandra moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a contractor paralegal at the U.S. Department of Justice. During that time she assisted in investigating and litigating complex white-collar crimes. Currently, Sandra works as a paralegal at the ACLU of Southern California. She works on advocating for Immigrants’ Rights, Education Equity, and LGBTQ/Gender/Reproductive Rights.

Kristin Schlick

HomeAid Orange County

Bio forthcoming.

Diego Sepulveda

UCLA ’12, Chicana/o Studies (major) / Education (minor)
Dream Resource Center (DRC), UCLA Labor Relations

Diego Sepulveda is a fearless and relentless advocate for justice. Through his lifelong work, Diego has marched through the streets of this country and through the halls of the Capitol to advocate for LGBTQ justice, immigrant rights, worker justice, environmental justice, and college affordability and accessibility.

Diego has been featured on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, National Public Radio, KCET, Honor 41, Equality California’s #Health4All efforts, and by the California Museum through their “We Are All Californian” exhibit in Sacramento, CA.

In 2014, the City of Huntington Park awarded Diego as Community Leader of the Year; In 2016, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors presented Diego with a Scroll to recognize and celebrate his courageous leadership; and, most recently, Diego was honored as one of 40 under 40 leaders by the Empowerment Congress, Assemblymember Sebastian Ridley-Thomas and LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Diego currently directs the Dream Resource Center at the UCLA Labor Center. He holds a bachelor’s degree from UCLA and is currently an MBA Candidate at the Graduate School of Nonprofit Management in Bel Air, CA.

Rosina Becerra
Professor Emerita of Social Welfare at UCLA

Professor Becerra’s research focuses on policy issues in health and mental health over the life span, with particular emphasis in social gerontology and child welfare. She is the principal investigator for a State of California Department of Social Services five-year study of welfare reform in California. She also is working on an National Institute of Health/National Institute on Aging four-year panel study of the Mexican American elderly entitled, “Health Care Use and Social Support.” She served as the keynote speaker at a symposium on the urban elderly sponsored by the 1995 White House Conference on Aging.

In her latest book, Social Services and the Ethnic Community, Dr. Becerra documents the relationship between the social work profession and ethnic communities, showing why and how ethnic minority agencies have played a pivotal role in their communities by filling the gaps left by mainstream social service agencies.

In addition to her research and publications, Dr. Becerra has worked as a child therapist, a drug counselor,a psychiatric social worker and a probation officer. Professor Becerra also holds an MBA from Pepperdine and has served on the boards of several social service groups, most recently acting as chair of strategic planning for the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles. She also has advised a wide variety of government agencies and non-profit organizations, including the NIH, the U.S. General Accounting Office, the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights, the American Association of Retired People and the American Cancer Society.