Selena was born and raised in the Eastern Coachella Valley. She attended Coachella Valley High School, where she was first introduced to the world of community organizations that focused on bringing awareness to mental health and social justice such as Pueblo Unido CDC, Active Minds, and yli’s ¡Que Madre!.
Selena graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a double major in Global Studies and Spanish. She is passionate about global affairs and the long-term social phenomena that emerge from the cultural and linguistic exchange between migrant groups and the receiving country. Selena was an Undergraduate Mentor and Research Assistant for School Kids Investigating Language in Life and Society (SKILLS), a social justice-oriented academic partnership program that aimed to introduce high school students to topics of language, race, identity and power. Selena was highly involved in helping English-learning students develop their own research projects on the effect that language has on their identity and self-esteem.
Selena believes in the power of using your degree to help serve others. Upon graduating, she returned to the Coachella Valley, seeking opportunities that would allow her to get involved in the community. She interned in the Office of Congressman Raul Ruiz where she learned the importance of the federal government in the efforts to progress local projects and in assisting individual constituents through case work and advocacy.
At yli, Selena is one of our Community Health Navigators. She curates community engagement activities that bring awareness to critical public health messaging on mental health, heat safety, save our water, and the benefits of an ITIN. She also takes lead on social media marketing, which includes advertising events, programs and resources to partners, youth participants and community members.