Washington Fellows

Djulia Sekariyongo-Koita

Class of 2023
2022 Washington Fellowship - Fall

Celia Serrato

Class of 2024
2023 Washington Fellowship - Fall
Placement: TBD Placement Location: Washington, D.C.

Celia is a bright light for her community and brings a refreshing voice and vision for the future. Her passion for Gender and Women's Studies as it relates to liberatory education, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, undocumented rights, and environmental justice offer a critical perspective for any movement or organization that seeks to address systemic issues and support and uplift marginalized communities. Rooted in her values and beliefs, Celia strives to further educate herself and others on...

Lakhvir Singh

Class of 2021
2021 Washington Fellowship - Fall
Placement: Georgetown Law Criminal Justice Clinic Placement Location: Washington, D.C.

Lakhvir Singh is a student at University of California, Berkeley majoring in Political Science. I am currently in the US Army and a first-generation college student. I was born in Punjab, India, and immigrated to the United States of America at age of 18. I want to pursue a career in Law and work in the Department of Justice.

Michele Talley

Class of 2024
2024 Washington Fellowship - Fall
Placement: U.S. House Committee on Oversight & Accountability (Clerk Internship) Placement Location: Washington, DC Raised in South Central Los Angeles, Talley is dedicated to addressing disproportionate rates of incarceration and criminalization, housing insecurities and lack of adequate healthcare services faced by marginalized communities. Growing up, Talley witnessed friends, neighbors and family experience criminalization and harsh sentencing. More recently, while supporting her mother through her battle with Stage III breast cancer, Talley...

Gwen Tam

Class of 2026
2025 Washington Fellowship - Fall

Gwen Tam is first-generation, Chinese-Vietnamese transfer student at UC Berkeley majoring in political science. A Bay Area native, Gwen’s passion for politics and policy comes from watching their own community, family, and diaspora struggle to survive in a system that did not serve them to the best of its ability. Their love for public service is something that was ultimately shaped by a love for their people. They want to work in the intersection of communications and policy in a position that would allow them to grant their community a voice where they were...

Maggie Tsao

Class of 2022
2022 Washington Fellowship - Spring

Joanna Melory Ugalde

Class of 2026
2025 Washington Fellowship - Spring

Joanna Ugalde is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Sociology. She is a first-generation college student, who was born and raised in Southern California as the daughter of Mexican immigrants, who came to the United States seeking better opportunities for their children.

Joanna’s journey has been shaped by overcoming numerous challenges, including breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. As a student parent of four children, she has navigated the complexities of balancing family life with her academic...

Arely Valencia

Class of 2024
2023 Washington Fellowship - Fall
Placement: Office of Senator Alex Padilla, U.S. Senate Placement Location: Washington, D.C.

Being raised in an immigrant household in Los Angeles, Arely witnessed her parents and community struggle to obtain basic needs, financial stability, and be misrepresented in many aspects of the law. Through these experiences, she grew a great passion for law and advocacy. As a first-generation college student at UC Berkeley, Arely is studying Legal Studies, with a minor in Public Policy. Academically, she is interested in social justice, minority...

Isabella Vieyra

Class of 2025
2025 Washington Fellowship - Spring

Isabella is a first-generation Latine student at UC Berkeley, majoring in Political Science with a focus on International Relations. She was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley by a loving family who immigrated from Mexico in the 1980's. Her academic pursuits and passion for public service inspired her to become an International Lawyer to defend those suffering from the greatest injustices around the world.


During Isabella’s time at UC Berkeley she has been dedicated taking an active role in the campus community, through conducting research as a...

Katrina Villacisneros

Class of 2020
2020 Washington Fellowship - Spring
Placement: U.S. Department of State

Katrina is a fourth-year transfer student at the University of California, Berkeley studying Global Studies with a concentration in Peace and Conflict. While at Berkeley, she served as an open source investigator at the Berkeley Law Human Rights Center, a teaching assistant for Beginning and Intermediate Filipino classes, and a mentor within the Pilipinx community. She received the Summer 2018 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship where she studied Advanced Filipino with a focus on cultural indigenous elements on Northern...