Matsui Center Cal-in-Sacramento Fellows

Jade Jaimes Chavez (She/Her/Ella) is a first-generation UC Berkeley student double-majoring in ethnic studies and data science and proudly represents her Mexican-American heritage. Raised in an immigrant, farm-working family from Orange Cove, California, Jade has witnessed firsthand the challenges of violence, poverty, and oppression that affect her family and the broader rural community in their struggle for equitable access to education, healthcare, and essential quality-of-life resources. As the first in her family to attend a 4-year university, Jade actively engages in public service...

Irene Kou (she/they) is a sophomore intending to major in legal studies at UC Berkeley. Growing up as a first-generation, Asian American student living in a low-income community, she wants to further her understanding of the challenges she and others have faced first-hand. This past summer, she served as Co-Student Director for Cal-in-Sacramento and interned at the Federal Defender’s Office. She also researched the generational differences in Asian communities using Holistic versus Western medicine. For the 2023-2024 cohort, Irene will serve again as Student Director and aims to...

Swasti Johri is passionate about tackling housing insecurity and houselessness in the Bay Area and beyond. Having worked with Hamilton Families and Small House Inc., she is an ardent supporter of combining the housing first approach with multi-faceted, research-based solutions to the symptoms and causes underlying poverty. She centers her work around sustainability and environmental justice; she is a firm believer in indigenous remediation techniques and carries an appreciation for time and human-tested practices into her work.

Born and raised in Spain, Samuel was interested in politics since he was a student in high school. He went on to pursue a double degree in law and international studies at Carlos III University in Madrid. At his university, he had the chance to meet public servants that regularly came to give conferences at the university. It was through meeting and talking to them that Samuel deepened his interest in national politics, law-making and public service.

In 2023, he was given the chance to study at Berkeley for 1 year in an exchange program. In Berkeley, he learned...