I am a mixed Latina nonprofit leader, educator, and entrepreneur focused on youth development and public learning. I believe in the power of creative expression, and over the course of my career, my work has resulted in a nearly $22 million portfolio of multicultural murals, film festivals, theater and dance productions, mission-driven journalism, PSA campaigns, internships and fellowships, and national art competitions for K–12 students.

I currently run Girasol Consulting, a Los Angeles-based advisory through which I partner with mid to large sized arts and education institutions to design and fund initiatives that expand opportunity for young people, elevate student voice, and strengthen how the public engages with complex social issues. In this capacity, I lead strategy, storytelling, and program design for organizations working at the intersection of culture, education, and civic life. Select clients include the University of Virginia, Environmental Charter Schools, the Hispanic Access Foundation, and Self Help Graphics & Art. 

Prior to this, I served as Executive Director of Amplifier, an award-winning nonprofit media lab that builds storytelling campaigns with artists, journalists, and social movements. Our work translates complex political and economic issues into visual experiences designed for public spaces, classrooms, and everyday life—by any medium necessary. Through the Education Amplifier network, we worked directly with more than 20,000 K–12 educators nationwide to bring rigorously reported, open-source storytelling tools into classrooms, helping students understand how power, policy, and public spending shape their lives. I led national partnerships with institutions including the J. Paul Getty Museum, National Geographic, Meta, Levi’s, Discovery Education, and Stanford d.school, and co-developed campaigns that inspired thousands of youth art submissions. In parallel, I oversaw the production of more than 30 global public service campaigns—on environmental stewardship, public health, civic participation, and more—designed to reach both youth and adult audiences on five continents, creating shared entry points for intergenerational learning. This work reached more than one million K–12 students nationwide, earned a 2023 IDEA Award from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, and led to my recruitment into Education Leaders of Color’s inaugural Social Studies Accelerator.

Prior to Amplifier, I held in-house roles across arts, media, and public service organizations, where I continued to center youth as creators, leaders, and storytellers. At GALA Hispanic Theatre, I supported the Paso Nuevo youth theater program, which received the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award—the nation’s highest honor for after-school arts and humanities programs, presented by Michelle Obama—and developed an educational theater work on financial literacy for young audiences. At Voto Latino, I co-led national, pop culture–driven PSA campaigns with artists like Eva Longoria and Rosario Dawson, producing and distributing Census and get-out-the-vote campaigns across major bilingual television networks. I also secured federal support for youth-centered public safety initiatives, including developing a national award-winning proposal for Project Safe Childhood at the United States Department of Justice.

Across my career, I have brought an educator’s lens to leadership, informed by experience as a classroom teacher and mentor, as well as earlier work as a dancer and community-based educator. I have taught writing at both the K–12 and college levels, including at Occidental College, and I continue to center curiosity, lifelong learning, creativity, and human development in all aspects of my work.

As a writer, I publish the ethical parenting-focused Substack newsletter Mama Wonders and maintain a multidisciplinary creative practice spanning educational plays, radio, news stories, and essays. I am also a poet, advocate, and an unapologetic hype girl for social innovation.

I hold an M.A. in Journalism from Georgetown University and a B.A. in Modern Literature from UC Santa Cruz, with a minor in Latin American and Latino Studies. I live in the hills of northeast Los Angeles with my husband and two sons.