Born and raised in the Bay Area and a resident of District 1 for the last 11 years, I’ve devoted my life to helping others, especially those furthest from opportunity, and a big part of providing opportunity to all is to create equitable, quality public schools in Oakland. I'm proud that I grew up the child of an immigrant family, raised in a union household.

I’m a nurse midwife at a community clinic, where my focus is providing the best possible health care to help immigrant parents begin their journey as caregivers. This work has helped me understand how people approach difficult challenges, and I’d like to think I'm a little more humble and wise for it.

When not working as a nurse midwife or keeping up with my three incredible children, I’m an enthusiastic parent volunteer and advocate who believes public schools serving all children well are not just places where children learn, but also community centers that strengthen and revitalize neighborhoods. Our public schools are a critical cornerstone of our democracy. 

My advocacy within OUSD began as soon as my daughter was applying for kindergarten, and I attended a meeting hosted by OUSD regarding internal segregation by race and class within Oakland Tech. Although my daughter was only 4 years old and not yet in school, I joined a parent group called “Equity Allies for OUSD” which was committed to working to address systemic inequities in our schools and how individuals can help create change.

This work led me to work with communities across Oakland to eliminate these inequities. Through campaigns to restore the Supper program for vulnerable students, to feed students who depended on OUSD meals during the 2019 Teachers’ strike, to create an “Equity Fund” to provide additional funding for the most stressed OUSD schools, or to support expanded restorative justice programs in Oakland schools, I have worked to make all of our OUSD schools stronger and more equitable. 

I also volunteered for statewide campaigns to increase education funding, including acting as a school liaison for the Prop 15 “Schools and Communities First” campaign which would have brought billions in additional funding to California’s public schools.

I was also a member of the OUSD Superintendent’s Equitable Enrollment Committee tasked with redesigning OUSD’s enrollment policies, which unfortunately never completed its work but which gave me a deep understanding of how our district works and the factors that sometimes get in the way of the changes we want to see.