I’ve spent most of my career trying to understand a simple question: How do people and communities build enough power to change the conditions around them?

I come to this work as a Queer Filipina American, shaped by San José, Ethnic Studies, and the civil rights and organizing traditions that taught me that representation matters, but representation alone isn’t enough.

My career took me from San José City Hall to the California State Legislature, Los Angeles and eventually into senior executive leadership. I worked on immigrant rights, voting protections, racial justice and public policy before becoming the inaugural Vice President for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at California’s largest mental and behavioral health nonprofit, where I built its statewide racial equity office.

But alongside that career, I was building something else.

In 2015, while working for a state legislator, I set up a voter registration table outside Seafood City and started what would eventually become LEAD Filipino.

For years, I built LEAD Filipino while maintaining my full-time career. We organized cultural workshops, leadership programs and voter engagement efforts. We launched our first Fly Pinays Leadership Summit at Mission College and brought young Filipinos together for our first summer leadership cohort in East San José.

Over time, that work grew.

LEAD Filipino went on to spearhead and co-create initiatives that had never existed before: the first Filipino cancer study with Stanford Health Care, the naming of Delano Manongs Park in East San José, and the first Filipino Advocacy Day at the California State Capitol.

After a decade of building LEAD Filipino alongside my professional career, I stepped away from my senior executive role to begin a new chapter: leading the organization I founded—full-time.

Today, I serve full-time as Founder and CEO of LEAD Filipino, which has grown from that voter registration table into a national nonprofit advancing civic engagement, leadership development, health equity, and community-based advocacy across California, Texas and Nevada.

Throughout my career, I’ve served in board and governance roles alongside my professional work and community organizing. Today, that includes serving as the Vice President of Accountability & Compliance for the Filipino American National Historical Society and on the boards of Sacred Heart Community Service and the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund Campaign Finance Board. I was also appointed as a delegate to the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

My work has brought me to the White House and into conversations with Fortune 500 companies, public agencies and healthcare organizations, colleges and universities, policymakers and community leaders across the country. I’ve spoken about Filipino and AAPI representation, voting rights, grassroots organizing, and cross-racial solidarity building.

Along the way, my leadership and contributions have been recognized by organizations including NBC Bay Area, ABC 7 News, the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Stanford Health Care, and the Golden State Warriors.

However, some of the conversations I enjoy most are about what happens before any of those things. The folding tables, volunteer meetings, ideas that aren’t fully formed—and messy, and the programs you try, change and try again. The years when you’re building something without knowing exactly what it will become (like, LEAD Filipino’s original name being, LEED).

My own journey has shown me that movements and institutions aren’t built in a straight line, within a defined time. They’re built iteratively, organically, and by people wiling to stay curious, committed, and convicted enough to keep going!

I’m a community organizer at heart. I believe communities become powerful when people understand their own ability to lead, organize and act together. These ideas have shaped how I’ve approached everything from policy advocacy and nonprofit leadership to board service, public speaking and movement building across the country.

And, that’s the work I’ve chosen to spend my life doing.