Personal

Hometown: Chicago, Illinois

Year Started at the Center: 2021

​​The most rewarding part of working at the Center is seeing the impact that we are having on our community. Whether it is when I walk around the Anita May Rosenstein Campus or visit one of our community sites like Trans Wellness Center, I see the joy and resiliency of our clients. Truthfully, there is not a single day that I don’t get to witness a young person or senior accessing our services light up because they can be their authentic selves in a space that is designed to care for their unique needs. It’s a regular reminder to me of what an honor and privilege it is to be leading the Center.

And while it pains me to know that the demand for services regularly outpaces our capacity, I have every confidence that the Center will continue to evolve to meet the changing and ever-growing needs of our community. The board and staff are committed to building upon the legacy of the last 50 years and continuing to do as much good for as many people as possible.

Hometown: Seabrook, Texas

Year Started at the Center: 2006

I love my job. It’s an incredible privilege to look at a systemic challenge facing our community and have the ability and access to advocate for change. Sometimes it’s as simple as shifting a box on one document, and sometimes it’s changing a whole federal law. At the Center, we have the ability to make those things happen.

One of the things I’m really passionate about is making sure our organization is at the vanguard of social justice efforts. It’s so important that we look at how the needs of the LGBTQ community overlap with other issues like reproductive justice or racial justice. Are we standing firm in our commitments on these issues? We have a duty to every single member of our community and we have to work together to protect the rights of future generations.

Hometown: Kalamazoo, Michigan

Year Started at the Center: 2023

I chose the Center because I love us. I am passionate about gender-inclusive care and am committed to infusing anti-racism practices into organizational ecosystems. One of my mentors said that “Hope is a discipline.” For me, every day at the Center is an opportunity to practice hope—to define that practice through harm reduction, restorative practices, community care, and joy. I think a great metaphor for my approach at the Center is a great community meal, where hospitality, ambiance, substance, and intentionality align into something more inclusive and impactful. For me, this is the heart of the work and what I hope to accomplish when I set the table for any project or initiative that I’m working on.

Hometown: Guatemala City & South Los Angeles

Year Started at the Center: 2023

In my role as Chief People Officer, I aim to modernize and optimize people-centered experiences for employees and volunteers across the organization, working with staff to establish a culture that reflects the Center’s values and equity principles. I joined this organization because I was inspired by the Center’s mission—not only as an employer but as a movement. The services I’ve received from the Center have allowed me to live a life beyond my wildest dreams. I want to pay it forward by leading the organization and taking care of the workforce that once took care of me.

Hometown: Los Angeles, California

Year Started at the Center: 2023

I am, first and foremost, an educator. But I’m also a Black, queer woman from Los Angeles, and after spending years learning and building my career, I wanted to bring my work home. In my role as Chief Equity Officer, I’m looking forward to applying a lens of teaching and learning to design equitable systems and experiences. 

I hope to cultivate a culture at the Center where everyone—staff, as well as the community at large—feel their own presence and power, feel safe in their intersectional identities, and feel empowered to bring those identities into their work. That is how a broader cultural shift happens in our city and beyond, and I want to be a part of it.

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Year Started at the Center: 1998

I began my tenure at the Center 25 years ago working in the Youth Services department with unhoused and systems-impacted youth. Every young person deserves supportive adults in their life who love and nurture them and my career focus has been working with young people who need this care the most. The services we provide at the Center are critical to the wellbeing of our community and I am devoted to working alongside young people to build a world where their life outcomes are not determined by racial and gender disparities that disproportionately impact LGBTQ+ individuals. In my role as the Center’s Chief Social Services Officer, my goal is to leverage my on-the-ground experience to de-silo programs across the agency to ensure that all of our social service efforts are aligned with a cohesive model of care. I am deeply committed to working with and for my community and the Center affords me an opportunity to do both.

Hometown: Northridge, California

Year Started at the Center: 2024

I came to the Center to have a role that allows me to use my skills in financial management, knowledge of community health centers, and explore entrepreneurial opportunities to broaden services and ensure our community is taken care of at all life stages is a dream come true. What the Center staff do every day changes lives, and I am endlessly energized to be a small part of allowing that to happen.

My mission as Chief Financial Officer is to make sure that the Center finds and uses every available resource as efficiently as possible, to allow it to continue to provide phenomenal, life-saving services to the LGBTQ community, long after I’m gone.

Year Started at the Center: 2020

I originally joined the Center as medical director of the Audre Lorde Health Program with the goal of lowering barriers to care for queer women and nonbinary people who are so often overlooked and disregarded by the medical establishment, and I carry those same aspirations in my current role as Chief Medical Officer.

The Center’s clinics are critical for our patients who often have nowhere else to go, and it is my mission to ensure that they receive the highest quality care when they walk through our doors. That includes primary care needs, robust mental health care, and knowledgeable staff who provide culturally competent, trauma-informed services.

Year Started at the Center: 2024

Early in life, I learned that community is at the heart of who I am. When I experienced a traumatic accident, my family rallied around me, instilling in me the importance of showing up when someone around you needs help. This incident also taught me the value of healthcare access and equity, a vital necessity for the LGBTQ+ community.

My passion for this community—a community that has supported me throughout my life—has led me on a path I am called to serve. Los Angeles became my home over ten years ago, and, like so many others, I sought the Center’s services when I needed them. I am passionate about the Center’s impact locally in the Los Angeles region, but also as an advocacy megaphone nationally and internationally. I could not be more humbled and prouder to be a part of this mission.

Hometown: Los Angeles (Echo Park born, South LA raised)

Year Started at the Center: 2022

My entire career as a bilingual comms, marketing and crisis management strategist has been dedicated to the public service of Angelenos. From LAUSD, the City of Los Angeles, and nonprofits on Skid Row and MacArthur Park, I’ve focused on the ability to serve our city’s most vulnerable with the utmost integrity and due respect. However, my work with the Center has been the most affirming both personally and professionally, where my intersectional identities are not only celebrated but invited to inform the ways we execute multi-audience outreach and engagement.

My mission is to play a vital role in shaping the narrative of the Center, ensuring its voice remains a powerful force for progress, inclusion, and equity for LGBTQ+ communities locally and globally. I approach my work with honor and humility–recognizing the impact of amplifying the organization’s programs and services while fostering strong connections with the community, donors, partners, and the broader public.