I’m originally from Los Molinos, a town of about 1,200 people located in rural, northern California. I grew up on a small, organic family farm which my mom managed while my dad ran his landscape design and consultation business. They taught me that if I worked hard, anything would be possible.

I attended UC Berkeley. I studied political science and public policy. I became a writer, an organizer, and an activist.

Upon graduating, I packed up my 1999 Honda Civic and drove across the country to start a new life in Washington, DC.

In 2014, I interned at the Obama White House, organized on a U.S. Senate race in Iowa, and served as an Obama White House advance associate.

I spent the next two years working at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a large, progressive think tank, where I oversaw Generation Progress's gun violence prevention and criminal justice reform advocacy program.

When Donald Trump became the GOP nominee for president, I decided to leave CAP to try to stop him. I moved to Ohio and ran Hillary for America's statewide youth digital outreach program. We ran a great campaign for an incredible candidate, but alas Trump won.

I returned to DC after the election and began working at an upstart nonprofit called the Hub Project. It’s been really exciting to build the plane while we’re flying it. We’ve grown from a startup to somewhat of an institution in this town, making notable impact in the fights to defend the Affordable Care Act and build an economy and a democracy that work for everyone.

I was so excited when Joe Biden finally won. I jumped on the opportunity to take time off from the Hub to help with the Inauguration. We’ve made a great deal of progress since then, but there’s so much more work to do. It’s going to take a whole lot of optimism to tackle the enormity of the challenges that lie ahead. That’s why I plan to work like hell to help build a future where we can all thrive.