My family is a restaurant family. My grandparents had restaurants, my parents owned a restaurant. My father’s side is from Zacatecas, Mexico. My mom was a waitress from Sacramento’s Oak Park. The story of my family was not only food but also being a community hub. In our restaurant business, we were doing more than feeding people, we were fostering connection.

Observing my parents provide a living for our family while bringing people together was my training ground. This was my introduction to understanding the meaning of creating space for fellowship and shared purpose. My family’s experience and stories initiated me into community work and philanthropy.

Bringing people together for a purpose is the core of what I do. Throughout the years, this work has taken me around the world, developing a participation-based facilitation process that forges connection, surfaces common understanding, and moves communities and organizations forward. This background carries through in my role at JMBF where I endeavor to cultivate a space for our grantee partners though collaboration, facilitation and engagement of their work in the community.

To me, success is defined by the communities I serve. It is driven by a desire to help people create opportunities for themselves, to be what they desire to be — changemakers who are shifting power dynamics in communities or personal transformations to become the change they hope to see in the world.