2022 PRACTITIONER MENTORS
Jess Nestelroad (She/her/hers)
Social Worker
I am passionate about creating change and ensuring that rights are given to all. I love advocating and as a social worker engaging with individuals with special needs and disabilities has always been my calling. I love working with various cultures and communities, while always learning along my journey.
Wanda Pathomrit (She/Her)
Psychiatric Social Worker
Wanda Pathomrit (she/her/hers) is a Thai American community activist, psychiatric social worker, and has ten years of experience serving immigrant populations in Los Angeles to gain access to social, legal, mental health services. She has built long-standing relationships with API community organizations in Los Angeles such as Thai Community Development Center, Center Pacific Asian Family, and Little Tokyo Service Center. She also serves as an advisory board of the Healing Out Lao’d Podcast, a virtual practice space exploring the intersections of Lao diaspora storytelling, resiliency, and tools for sustainability.
Arturo Molina (He/Him)
High School Teacher
I have been teaching in Pomona, Ca for 12 years. I teach a Chicana/o Latina/o Studies class and an Ethnic and Women's Studies dual enrollment class with PUSD and Cal Poly Pomona
Guadalupe Y Carrasco Cardona (She/her/ella)
High School Educator
Guadalupe Cardona has been an Ethnic Studies, History, and Theatre educator for 22 years. She is dedicated to developing critical curriculum and facilitating a student-centered classroom environment based on mutual respect, critical thinking, and collaboration. She accomplishes this by fusing her classroom instruction with community cultural knowledge and a focus on auto-biographical counter-narrative.
Angelica Posadas (She/Her)
Director of Counseling, Gateway High School, SF; Adjunct Faculty, School of Education, Counseling Psychology, University of San Francisco
San Francisco born and bred, true and through! Loyal to her soil and the roots that raised her. Angelica is committed to providing a safe space for all San Francisco youth to engage in critical dialogue to become their true authentic self. Her work supports BIPOC students, educators, and school counselors, to highlight the importance of mental health and anti-racist practices. She is a Mama-scholar to Ava & Ayson whom she credits to being the best version of herself!
Rubén Mendoza
Assistant Professor of English, CSUN
Originally from East San José, California, I am a Chicano who has lived in Los Angeles more than thirty years after moving here to do my undergraduate work in English at USC. I earned my MA in Chicana/o Studies at CSUN in 2008, after working nearly ten years as a community activist/organizer and as an artist/writer with many local Chicana/o/x artists in Los Angeles. In 2009, I began teaching Chicana/o Studies part-time at East Los Angeles College. In 2015, I started on at LA Valley College full-time in Chicana/o Studies, and then a year later, full-time at ELAC, eventually becoming a tenured Associate Professor in Chicana/o Studies while earning my Ph.D. in English (Rhetoric Studies; Critical Pedagogy) at UC Riverside in 2017.
Kris Liwanag (She/They)
Secondary Teacher
Kris Liwanag is currently a 6th Grade English and Critical Media Literacy teacher in LAUSD. They are originally from San Francisco, CA, where they took their first Ethnic Studies classes at CCSF and started their teaching journey with Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP).
Melina Melgoza (She/her/hers)
High School Teacher
Melina Melgoza is a public school teacher, activist, and writer. As a teacher, she works to develop students' critical consciousness through Ethnic Studies and Critical Media Literacy. As an activist, she fights for a more just world. As a writer, she brings her words to life to tell her stories.
Inés Mendoza (She/her/ella)
Kindergarten Teacher
As an educator, I strive to advocate on behalf of my students' needs. I aim to show my students how valuable their culture is and to validate their experiences and their feelings. I am in my 4th year teaching Kindergarten in the community of Watts. I am an educator of social justice and I work hard at ensuring my classroom is a safe and loving space for my students. My role as a Chicana teacher is immensely important to me. I am deeply grateful for the role I play in my students' educational experience. They have taught me about resilience, true humility, and pure joy.
Lauren Arzaga Daus (She/her)
Ethnic Studies Teacher
As a transplant from Cerritos, CA, Lauren learned the significance of Ethnic Studies and her identity as a Pinay when she attended SFSU as an Asian American Studies major. Staying rooted in Ethnic Studies values, she is currently an Ethnic Studies teacher at June Jordan School for Equity, the Alumni Coordinator for Pin@y Educational Partnerships, and a Library Trustee for Daly City, CA.
Álvaro D. Márquez (they/them/theirs)
Working Artist and Museum Professional
Álvaro is committed to making art that speaks to the experiences of marginalized communities. Recently, their work has centered around questions of historical and contemporary forms of displacement, connecting Indigenous dispossession with issues around migration, gentrification, and questions around unhoused populations, through a study of the privatization of land as a private commodity. In their work as a museum professional, they are committed to making art institutions accessible to communities who have historically been neglected and ignored. They hold a BA in US History from Brown University, an MA in American Studies and Ethnicity from USC, and an MFA in Printmaking from CSU Long Beach.