I am a Public Health Advocate because I believe that health and social equity are fundamental human rights. As a Queer, Andean-Indigenous, Peruvian resident of Los Angeles County, I am advertently aware of systemic infrastructure that marginalizes our most diverse communities. We deserve to celebrate our diversity and intersectionality rather than ostracize it. I believe the most effective (radical) way to celebrate our ethnic diversity, cultural wealth, and communities is by embracing and prioritizing our health. As a Public Health Advocate, I will make every effort to ensure that everyone, in Los Angeles County and elsewhere, has the right to a healthy life. Just as my sweet, hard-working, immigrant mother likes to say: “Yo no estoy bien hasta que todos lo estén” (I’m not okay until everyone else is). Those are the catalytic words that drive my passion for public service in a battle for equitable public health as well as social, racial, and environmental justice.
