Matsui Center Cal-in-Sacramento Fellows

Michelle Yiu

Class of 2022
2022 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
Placement: Placement Location: Sacramento, California

Michelle Yiu is a second-generation Chinese-American studying Public Health and Integrative Biology with minors in Public Policy and Asian American Studies. Instilled with values of whole-person health and preventive care by her mother, a Yijin Chinese exercise practitioner, she has wanted to work in the health care field from a young age. After being introduced to public health at UC Berkeley, her interests primarily lie in health policy, community health, health advocacy, and...

Lesly Castro

Class of 2023
2022 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
Placement: Placement Location: Sacramento, California

Lesly Castro is currently a student at UC Berkeley hoping to receive a degree in Legal Studies with a minor in Public Policy. She is a first-generation college student from Salinas, CA. As someone who is the daughter of immigrant parents, and as a person who has first-hand witnessed the hardships of her family and community, she feels it is important to address and bring awareness to the necessities of underrepresented communities. Lesly is most passionate about immigration, education...

Jose Gonzalez Ramirez

Class of 2022
2022 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
Placement: Placement Location: Sacramento, California

Jennifer A Serrano

Class of 2022
2022 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
Placement: Placement Location: Sacramento, California

Jennifer Serrano is a first-generation Latina student majoring in Political Science. She was raised by her immigrant parents in Elm Vista, a low-income primarily Mexican immigrant neighborhood. With the surge in hate crimes and violence against Latinos and other people of color, Jennifer hopes to use her degree to fight injustices for all people who face discrimination and inequalities, as well as to provide a fighting chance to higher education. Her love for her community has given...

Jackson Smith

Class of 2023
2022 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
Placement: Placement Location: Sacramento, California

Jackson Smith is a rising 5th year studying Political Economy and Business Administration. Born and raised in the Bay Area with strong family ties to California, he is excited to explore serving the state and its residents through a public service internship. He was inspired to enter a career in public service after witnessing the failures and limitations of governments to address critical social issues amidst the pandemic. His main interests lie in issues related to small businesses,...

Cindy Nguyen

Class of 2022
2022 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
Placement: Placement Location: Sacramento, California

Cindy Nguyen is a first-generation Vietnamese-American studying Social Welfare and double minoring in Public Policy and Global Poverty & Practice (GPP). Her career interests include strengthening the social safety net to ensure that families and individuals have access to their basic needs. She plans to earn a Master’s degree in Social Work or Public Policy, with ambitions of working in the public sector to advocate for underrepresented and marginalized communities.

Cindy is involved...

Ayline Ruelas

Class of 2022
2022 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
Placement: Placement Location: Sacramento, California

Ayline Ruelas is a 22-year-old first generation college student. She grew up watching both her parents having multiple jobs to make ends meet. It wasn’t until she decided to take advantage of her education at community college despite feeling uncertain and lost whether education was the right path for her. She realized a common denominator with first generation-low-income students like herself, not having the ability to succeed at the same rate as other students. In effort to challenge these...

Vivian Vu

Class of 2024
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
2023 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow

Vivian Vu is a junior-level student hoping to receive her degree in economics at UC Berkeley. As the child of two Vietnamese immigrants, Vivian was born and raised in Orange County where she developed her interests in both public policy and economics. This was fostered through her education where she obtained her associates degree in both social and behavioral sciences and liberal arts at Irvine Valley College, in which she earned simultaneously with her diploma.

In addition, her passion for politics originate from witnessing the discrimination and the extra obstacles that her...

Tristan Muir Keene

Class of 2024
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
2023 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow

Born and raised in the East Bay Area, Tristan Keene is the result of numerous public sector efforts to better her community, state, and country. AB 19 allowed her to attend community college for two years tuition-free, providing an inclusive and accessible educational setting that prepared her for the rigorous academic environment of UC Berkeley. The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 lightened the financial burden of being an independent college student by providing her and other students with grocery money every month. The Middle Income Student Assistance Act of 1978, which created the...

Sofia Marie Greenwald

Class of 2024
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
2023 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
2023 Schaeffer Fellowship

As the daughter of an immigrant mother and growing up 15 minutes away from the Southern border, Sofia’s upbringing included two very different languages and cultures. It is because of those unique experiences and interactions that she has always had a deep interest and understanding in the uplifting of her Latine community through policy and the field of law. Her personal experiences with challenges accessing professional opportunities and facing workplace discrimination, due to her background, further inform and inspire her undergraduate efforts. She works to increase access to...