Bruin Success

Stephanie Moran Reed is a native Angeleno and proud Mexican-American Mompreneur. In 2020 she co-founded with her husband MiJa Books, a multicultural children's bookstore and online resource for diverse and inclusive books. Inspired by their biracial daughter, they created MiJa Books to amplify stories by and about people of color. Her store has received acclaim from the Los Angeles Times as on...

Marques is a cyborg anthropologist, working at the nexus of Ancestral Wisdom, Modern Technology and Future Society. Seeking to be globally impactful, he created the World Education Foundation in 2009 traveling to over 83 countries, while earning his Master’s through the Adult Learning and Global Change program at Linkoøping University in Sweden. In 2017, Marques was selected to participate in the...

Currently serving as Chief Tea Officer, Tina was inspired by Taiwanese bubble tea concept and British tea drinking culture to develop a delicious, well-balanced tea latte beverage. With her love for a quality cuppa and her desire to make a positive impact on society, Tina made a career switch from IT to just tea, and HumaniTea was born! A proud social enterprise, HumaniTea supports wellbeing and s...

Tiffany Duong '06 is an ocean explorer and storyteller. Inspired by an epic dive trip to the Galapagos, she left corporate law to campaign for our planet. Now she writes, speaks and hosts expeditions from dense jungles to remote oceans to the changing Arctic. Listen to learn how she gives voice to what's happening in the natural world in order to inspire meaningful action and lasting change. She h...

Los Angeles-based composer Jeff Kryka has been awarded by Turner Classic Movies, ASCAP, the RMALA, and the Henry Mancini Foundation. As both a composer and orchestrator, his work has been featured in major motion pictures, TV-shows, video games, and heard in concert halls across the globe. Jeff studied music composition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.M. 2006) and at the University of Ca...

About Chelsea Moore:  Born and raised in Los Angeles, Chelsea is the CEO and co-founder of BOXFOX. After graduating from UCLA, she and Jenni moved to Venice Beach where the idea for BOXFOX was born after spotting a gap in the lifestyle and service space for elevated and effortless gifting. She is the driving force behind BOXFOX’s creative and aesthetic vision, ensuring we stay true to our cus...

Rod A. Ponce ’06 is Senior Account Executive with First Republic Bank. After graduating in 2006 with a B.A. in History from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he started his career in financial services as a financial advisor with John Hancock. In 2009, he left the financial advising business to become a Licensed Personal Financial Representative for Washington Mutual Bank, where he...

Nikhil Gupta is Associate General Counsel for the Golden State Warriors. In this role, he advises the organization on a wide range of commercial, litigation, regulatory and compliance matters. He previously served as Associate Counsel for the San Francisco 49ers for two years. Prior to that, he practiced corporate and transactional law at Latham & Watkins LLP in Los Angeles. Nikhil received hi...

Emily Baxt, career coach and principal at Baxt Consulting, specializes in professional growth and development for teams and individuals in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. She has supported students and alumni at the University of San Diego (USD) Career Development Center for over 20 years. She particularly enjoys helping people find purpose and meaning in the workplace, and facilitatin...

Ruben Garcia is Co-Head of the Cultural Business Strategy Group at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). In addition, Garcia works within the CAA Foundation to advise and consult clients on their prosocial and philanthropic initiatives. Garcia collaborates with company leadership to execute company-wide strategies and implement inclusive business practices that max...

Jenn received her B.A. from UCLA in 2007 in American Literature and Culture and a minor in Education studies. While at UCLA, Jenn was an Orientation Leader, Resident Assistant, and a student leader in the Student Alumni Association. Jenn went on to receive her M.A. degree in Higher Education Administration from New York University and her Doctorate of Education in Organizational Change & Leade...

  Mr. Wiener is a Partner, Managing Director and Head of Consulting & Business Development at Innovative Partnerships Group (IPG360), joining the firm less than one year into the company formation. Mr. Wiener oversees growth for the company, serving as a member of the Advisory Board and Executive Team with leadership duties across overall revenue, operations, strategic growth as well...

Rachel Salvo, MBA ’15, is a Director of Strategy and Business Planning at Warner Bros. Consumer Products. She currently leads the planning and strategic initiatives across the North America Products team, which includes overseeing and supporting the licensed category business and the owned and operated eCommerce platform. She works collaboratively with the international teams to ensure goals are a...

Rafi Sands '18 is an MBA candidate at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he's exploring innovative ways to help communities better adapt to the challenges of the 21st-century, including climate change and economic insecurity. While not in class, Rafi works in Business Development with Pano AI, a wildfire technology company using cameras and AI to help communities better prepare for an...

Kelsey Balance, SVP, Scripted for NBCU International Studios, oversees the Studio’s Scripted division in LA. She has been with International Studios for two years and has been the key executive in packaging and selling a number of shows, including Clickbait for Netflix, Lady Parts for Peacock, The Capture for Peacock, and Stateless for Netflix, as well as major development deals and creative on pr...

Lucy Tseng is a Life & Resilience Coach working with folks who are experiencing major changes, particularly athletes of all levels who are transitioning to life after sports. Additionally, she is part of the development team that raised $5.49 billion during The UCLA Centennial Campaign and focuses on raising funds for scholarships and student support. With clients internationally, Lucy current...

Hannah Gordon is the Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of the San Francisco 49ers. Gordon is a Bay Area native who grew up in Oakland and attended Stanford for law school. She is a former board member of Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation, among other nonprofits. Named by NFL.com as one of the most influential women in football, Gordon advises on all legal issues involv...

Dr. Kristen Choi is a psychiatric nurse and Assistant Professor of Nursing and Public Health at UCLA. Dr. Choi studies health services and policy approaches to promoting mental health among children and adolescents. Her current research projects include studies on adverse childhood experiences, developmental disabilities, and the intersection of homelessness and mental illness. As both a clinician...

Kal Penn is an actor, writer, producer, and former Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. He is known for his starring roles in Designated Survivor , House , Mira Nair’s The Namesake , the Harold & Kumar franchise, and the patriotic immigration sit-com Sunnyside which he co-created for NBC.  From 2009 to 2011, Kal took a sabbatical from acting to serve in the O...

Matt Kaczmarek, Director, is head of sustainable investing and macro policy research for the global credit investment team at BlackRock. He also serves as a senior member of the firm's external affairs team and is co-chair of BlackRock's Los Angeles leadership team. He is a member of the firm's geopolitical risk and inclusion and diversity committees. Matt teaches public policy analysis as adjunct...

Izzah Khan is a UCLA alumna who is currently working as a Program Manager at Amazon's Last Mile business where she supports the expansion of Amazon's delivery network in the US and Canada. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and with the right experience, has been able to pivot into the data-heavy field of Supply Chain and Capacity/Topology Planning. Prior to joining Last Mile, she su...

Dr. Jasmine Talei is a California licensed Naturopathic Doctor. She completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Film Studies at UCLA and received her Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University, California. Dr. Talei focused her clinical training on the skin-gut connection, autoimmune conditions, and mold-related illness. She has furthered her training in homeopathy,...

Tim Gallati '10, MLIS '13 is a Cybrarian on the Virtual Library team at Oracle with responsibilities in data, user experience research, research services, and learning curation. Following his UCLA BA (’10) and MLIS (’13), Tim served in corporate, academic, and non-profit libraries. He also explored a career in Theological Librarianship and received a Master of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School (...

Nicole Starr '01 is Vice President of Social Impact for Participant , the leading media company dedicated to entertainment that inspires audiences to engage in positive social change. In her role, Nicole oversees the development and execution of impact campaigns that bring together art and activism to accelerate progress around the world’s most pressing issues. Her passion for leveraging the power...

Jamal Madni, M.S. '08, '12 is Co-Founder & CEO of Ingage, a company intersecting artificial intelligence and human connection by developing a behavioral signal analytics videoconferencing platform to help individuals better read and react to the virtual boardroom, exam room and classroom. Before technology entrepreneurship, Jamal was Managing Director of Enterprise Technology Strategy for Boei...