I believe that being the first person in my family to graduate from a 4-year university is important, especially as a woman and a Latina from a low-income background. I am happy to be able to set an example for my younger family and community members and hopefully can inspire them to find something they are passionate about and choose a career path in that field. I also believe that one of the biggest challenges we face today is global climate change – it is an issue that affects us on a local level, but also on a global scale, and that tends to disproportionately affect underserved and underfunded communities. For this reason, I am excited to be working at Sonoma Clean Power, where I am able to help fight climate change on a daily basis and support our community directly. Most recently, I am proud to have worked on a scholarship fund of $15,000 in partnership with 10,000 Degrees for students majoring in Energy Management and Design or other related environmental fields at Sonoma State University. Additionally, my role as Assistant Store Manager provides me with a unique opportunity to be a mentor to our incoming interns at SCP, who are college students completing their education – they are our future leaders in our workforce and community.