Matsui Center Cal-in-Sacramento Fellows

Vivian Vu

Class of 2024
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento

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...

Devyn Aridny Lopez

Class of 2023
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento

Devyn Lopez is a third-year student at UC Berkeley pursuing a Social Welfare major and a Spanish minor. Devyn was raised in the Bay Area most of her life and discovered how crucial it is to give back to her community when she moved to East San Jose. Devyn is committed to assisting communities of color and under-served populations through direct legal, educational, or social services aimed to help individuals build a sense of agency. She is genuinely passionate about ending gender-based violence and one of her ultimate aspirations is to advocate on...

Molly Jordan Jacoby

Class of 2023
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento

Molly is a fourth-year student majoring in Sociology with a concentration in research methods and minoring in Journalism. Throughout her adolescent years, Molly felt confined by the close-mindedness of those in power in her hometown, and she created a goal to institute substantial societal change so that future generations would have the opportunity to feel heard and to express themselves freely. In her time at UC Berkeley, Molly has participated in two research apprenticeships with the Sociology and Political Science departments, in which she has studied the impacts of COVID-19 on...

Katie DaQuino

Class of 2023
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Democracy Camp in Berkeley

Katie DaQuino is a fourth year student studying Political Science, with minors in Public Policy and Interdisciplinary Human Rights Studies. She is the president of Cal Habitat for Humanity, a community service club that aims to give students opportunities to volunteer in the local community. The club is focused on affordable housing and during her time as president she has worked to expand the advocacy branch of the club. Katie is also an editor for the Undergraduate Public Policy Review Journal, where she published an article about housing policies in California.

She also is...

Marisol Medina

Class of 2025
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Democracy Camp in Berkeley

Marisol Medina, a child of Mexican immigrants, is a first-generation college student. She is a second-year majoring in Political Science with a minor in Public Policy. She grew up in Inglewood, California, neighboring the city of Los Angeles, which inspired her to advocate for more equitable education opportunities in low-income areas as she saw how educational disparities impacted youth in her city. Inspired to bring change to her community, she spent her high school years heavily involved in civic engagement and social justice activism as an intern for the Invest In Youth Coalition...

Fatima Martinez Jara

Class of 2024
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Schaeffer Fellowship

Fatima Martinez Jara is a senior studying Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She immigrated to the United States at five and grew up in a low-income immigrant community. As a result, she experienced firsthand the injustices immigrants of color encountered, making her interested in legal and policy-making. She became her community’s translator at a young age, enabling her to find her passion for public service.

This past summer, she was selected as a Leonard D. Schaeffer Local Government Fellow, where she interned for the California Research Bureau and...

Sofia Marie Greenwald

Class of 2024
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
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...

Diversity & Entrepreneurship Research Products

The Diversity and Entrepreneurship Fellowship Program includes hands-on research and summer internship experiences for Cal undergraduates focused on diverse entrepreneurship and small businesses, along with academic instruction in diversity, entrepreneurship, and California policy. Students receive training and mentorship from Berkeley graduate students and other experts in the field, and an opportunity to present their findings at a research symposia in the fall. The goal of the program is to build a diverse cohort of future civic and political leaders who understand the challenges and...

Rosie Echeverria

Class of 2023
2023 Democracy Camp in Berkeley
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Schaeffer Fellowship
2022 Washington Fellowship
Placement: Rep. Adam Schiff - Burbank District Office Mentor: Colleen Oinuma

Rosie Echeverria was born and raised in East Hollywood, Los Angeles in a Central American immigrant household and she is a first-generation, low-income, EOP, DSP, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ student at UC Berkeley. She went to Santa Monica College (SMC) for about two and a half years then transferred and moved to UC Berkeley in Fall 2020, toward the beginning of the covid pandemic. She is a Political Science major with a minor in Public Policy and Education.

Her...

Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellows