Category: Diversity Digest

Daisy Carrasco Beltran ’26, Paying It Forward Through Education Daisy Carrasco Beltran ’26 has wanted to be an educator since she was a little girl. Although her mother never attended college, she instilled in Daisy and her sisters a deep appreciation for education and the teachers who make it possible. “Look at the teachers that…

Building Community: UCLA Disability Alumni Network Focuses on Belonging and Visibility For Leah Falcon ’17, finding her community took longer than she expected. Diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade, Falcon had spent most of her life identifying as a person with a disability but rarely encountered others who shared that identity. It wasn’t until she…

How DemocraShe Builds Civic Engagement for All Sarah Jakle, M.P.P. ’04 (she/her) has always believed that leadership must support the whole human being. Her commitment to women’s civic empowerment began long before she founded her organization DemocraShe, but the seeds were planted in the classrooms and mentorship circles she experienced as a graduate student at…

From UCLA to CEO: Shirley Torres ’03 on Healing, Kinship and Leading Homeboy Industries In August 2025, the UCLA Alumni Affairs Diversity Programs and Initiatives team interviewed Shirley Torres ’03 for the Diversity Digest in connection with the sold-out event Changemakers 2025: Radical Kinship in Action – A Day at Homeboy Industries. Additionally, a Bruin story…

Mary Nguyen M.P.P.’23, M.S.W. ’23: Championing Social Justice and Policy Reform Mary Nguyen (she/her) has always been driven by a passion for community advocacy. Growing up in Garden Grove and later Stanton, she was surrounded by a diverse cultural community that shaped her awareness of social and economic disparities. As a first-generation college graduate, Nguyen…

Navigating Identity and Difference: A Journey Through Education and Activism with Daedra Staten, J.D. ’13 In our current moment marked by political polarization and a deep sense of division, we find it critical to listen to those individuals who are building connections across lines of difference and advocating for change in their communities. One such…

Exceeding Expectations: Volunteering as a Recent Grad with Giovanny Machado ’19 Denise Pacheco, M.A. ’04, Ph.D. ’11, Senior Director for UCLA Alumni Diversity Programs & Initiatives connected with UCLA Latino Alumni Association University Relations Co-Chair, Giovanny Machado ’19 to learn about what motivates him to volunteer with the UCLA Latino Alumni Association and be a…

UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center: Research for Community with Veronica Terriquez, M.A. ’04, Ph.D. ’09 Denise Pacheco, M.A. ’04, Ph.D. ’11, Senior Director for UCLA Alumni Diversity Programs & Initiatives connected with professor and Director for the Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA, Veronica Terriquez, M.A. ’04, Ph.D. ’09 to learn about her work with…

Bruins in Sustainability: The Intersectional Environmentalism of Nisha Bansal ’20 Cory Rosas ’16, Director for UCLA Alumni Diversity Programs & Initiatives (DPI) connected with recent graduate and featured speaker for DPI’s upcoming program Mixin’ It Up: Empowering Communities for a Sustainable Tomorrow, a program that will bring alumni and students together to engage in conversation…