Stanford Pride Fellowship

About the Fellowship

Funding for this fellowship is provided by generous support from Michael Huffington ’70, Bob Major ’73, and by contributions made by members of Stanford Pride.

In early 1994, Stanford Pride felt it would be valuable to provide the financial opportunity for an undergraduate to spend the summer as an intern with an organization providing services to the LGBTQ community. The philosophy behind providing such an opportunity was to allow students to explore a career in public service and engage more deeply with the LGBTQ community at large.

Recent fellows have worked with non-profits from across the nation, such as the OutRight International, New York City Anti Violence Project, and The Trevor Project.

Since 1994, Stanford Pride has funded the work of undergraduate fellows and the fellowship has become a cornerstone of the organization as we strive to develop and enhance the LGBT community at Stanford and beyond. We will continue to fund fellows each summer in the years to come, and we are excited about the opportunity to work so closely with the undergraduate community in such a meaningful and impactful way.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I apply?

Students interested in learning about the fellowship opportunity should visit the Haas Center website for more information.

How can I learn more?

For general inquiries about the fellowship, please contact Hilary Douglas, Program Director, Undergraduate Fellowships at the Haas Center for Public Service.

How can I support the Fellowship?

For snail mail, please send checks made payable to “Stanford Pride” to the following address, with “Pride Fellowship” in the memo line:

PO Box 19312
Stanford, CA 94309-9312

To make a donation to the fellowship fund, you can send a check by mail or donate online, via PayPal.

Current and Past Fellows

Clicking on the images of our Fellows below will tell you more about their accomplishments.

1994 – Sony Devabhaktuni – Community United Against Violence (CUAV)
1995 – Allyson Kay Ford – Community United Against Violence (CUAV)
1996 – Meehan Rasch – Lavender Youth Recreation & Information Center (LYRIC)
Meehan's Story

Meehan Rasch, ’99
Lavender Youth Recreation & Information Center (LYRIC), San Francisco, CA

Meehan Rasch became a Senior Appellate Court Attorney, California Court of Appeal, in 2014. As the third recipient of the Huffington Pride Fellowship, Ms. Rasch worked at the Lavender Youth Recreation & Information Center (LYRIC), where she helped oversee the Summer of Arts program for LGBT youth, served on the steering committee for the first Young, Loud & Proud queer youth conference, and attended the NGLTF Youth Leadership Training Institute. She also helped run the LGBT organization coalition counter-protests at the Republican National Convention in San Diego that year. According to Ms. Rasch, the fellowship was a major influence in her career path.

After the fellowship, she went on to co-found and lead the first Queer Issues Alternative Spring Break at Stanford along with another Pride Fellow, Sarah (Sam) Guy, served on the LGBT Speakers Bureau on campus all four years at Stanford, and followed the Pride Fellowship experience with a Donald Kennedy Public Service Fellowship the following summer of 1997 as a youth leadership program assistant and grant writer at North Carolina Lambda Youth Network in Durham, NC. Later, a year after graduation, she went to Indiana University for grad school in nonprofit management, and founded and facilitated a queer youth activist organization in Indianapolis called CANDY: Community Activist Network Developed by Youth.

After grad school, she ended up in Los Angeles, and eventually became the ED of Bike Out, an organization promoting health and self-esteem for queer, questioning, and allied youth through challenging wilderness mountain biking expeditions and leadership training. She attended law school at UCLA to study both copyright and sexual orientation law.
1997 – Mia Sarah Bruch – AIDS Legal Referral Panel
1997 – Steven Aronowitz – California Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl’s staff
1998 – Nick Chan – Lavender Youth Recreation & Information Center (LYRIC)
1998 – Juan Barajas – AIDS Resources, Information and Services (ARIS) Project, San Jose State
Juan's Story

Juan Barajas, ’99
AIDS Resources, Information and Services (ARIS) Project, San Jose State University

Juan Barajas, an accomplished LGBT community leader and nonprofit executive, is Senior Director of Regional Leadership Development for GLAAD. Before that, he served as the Executive Director of the Pacific Center for Human Growth, an award winning LGBT community center in Berkeley, CA. During his tenure with Pacific Center, he led the organization towards sustainable growth by more than doubling the individual fundraising program, overseeing a major facility renovation, strengthening existing programs, implementing new communications and branding strategies, and developing an expert team of staff and volunteers to deliver high quality services for the local LGBT community.Prior to working with Pacific Center, he led the successful development of the Outlet Program, a LGBT youth organization in Mountain View, CA. Under his leadership, the Outlet Program grew from a weekly youth group into a multi-service youth organization reaching thousands of people each year through direct service and advocacy. The Outlet Program continues to serve as a powerful support, training, and leadership resource for LGBT youth and their allies in achieving LGBT youth inclusion and visibility in the local community.
1999 – Emilie Eagan – Gay & Lesbian Community Center (GLCC) of Utah
1999 – Sarah Guy – Núcleo de Estudos para a Prevenção da AIDS (NEPAIDS), Brazil
2000 – Melissa Gonzalez – Project Outlet
2000 – Matthew Wenger – San Francisco Arts Commission (design of Harvey Milk Plaza)
2001 – Caitlin Delohery – Stanford University (Queer Theory)
2001 – Jennifer Lindsay – Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center (The Center), New York
2002 – Miguel Prieto-Valle – Grupo CD4, Cuernavaca, Mexico
2002 – Elizabeth Trujillo – Grupo CD4, Cuernavaca, Mexico
2003 – Adam Forest – San Francisco State University (SFSU) Family Acceptance
2004 – Ryan Schwartz – AIDS Research Fellow, Institute for Democracy, six African nations
2004 – Vincent Intersimone – ForGayMarriage.org
2004 – Sam Altman – ForGayMarriage.org
2005 – Brian Eggleston – Lambda Legal
2006 – Lasse Thorenfeldt – LBL (Landsforeningen for Bøsser og Lesbiske), Copenhagen
Lasse's Story

Lasse Thorenfeldt, ’08
Danish National Association of Gays and Lesbians, Copenhagen, Denmark

“My most memorable moment would definitely be the protest that we organization against the reggae artist ‘Buju Banton.’ He was coming to play at a venue in Copenhagen, and we wanted them to boycott him because of his violently homophobic lyrics. We met with the management of the venue, and actually had plenty of supporters amongst the heavy-metal clientele. When we couldn’t reach an agreement, LBL decided to organize a protest outside of the venue which drew quite a crowd. That was one very hectic day – I think I was on my feet for 15 hours or so, barely eating, but it was also very exciting to feel the community organizing around us.”

Lasse Thorenfeldt worked at the Danish National Association of Gays and Lesbians (LBL) at their headquarters in Copenhagen. His fellowship experience covered a broad range of activities: from organizing a protest and participating in the Copenhagen Pride Week events to developing study questionnaires and editing educational website content.

Although Lasse is not necessarily going to go work at a non-profit any time soon, he thinks this was one of the experiences that helped start his interest in public health because a lot of the work he did was related to health and sexual health awareness. The following summer he worked writing articles for a gay men’s health clinic in the Castro in San Francisco, which he saw kind of as an extension of the line of work he had done at LBL. While he doesn’t currently work in a health related field, it’s something he would like to see myself getting back into soon, if possible.

Lasse has worked at Google in Mountain View since graduating. He joined as part of a rotational program in HR (PeopleOps at Google), and is now working in his permanent placement in People Analytics, working with a lot of staffing data. He currently lives in San Francisco.
2007 – Conner Peretti – Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Washington State
2008 – Chrysanthe Tan – National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)
2008 – Patrick Cordova – Bronx Pride Center, Bronx, NY
Patrick's Story

Patrick Cordova, ’09
Bronx Pride Center, Bronx, NY

“The Fellowship gave me an opportunity to observe, learn about, and serve folks whose needs have fallen under the gay community’s radar. The Center’s LGBT clients were far more concerned with death threats from homophobic neighbors than with the progress of litigation or legislation to secure equal marriage rights. From this exposure, I have become passionate about and driven to serve underrepresented communities and causes. Since the Fellowship, I’ve been heavily involved in improving college student access to mental health resources, to empowering young people to become involved in the political process, and to electing LGBT folks to public office.”

Patrick recently finished work as Finance Director for Steve Pougnet for Congress, the campaign to elect Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pounget the first gay parent to Congress. He is currently in the process of studying for the LSAT, while simultaneously searching for the next employed capacity to support the LGBT community.

While at the Bronx Pride Center, Patrick created and implemented a Community Advisory Board of leaders to help shape the organization’s future, re-started and upgraded the Center’s HIV testing and counseling program, managed a case management load, facilitated youth group sessions, and helped to identify and cultivate donor prospects.

One of his case management clients was a 65-year-old lesbian and recovering alcoholic living in a residential treatment program. Through their case management relationship, Patrick and his colleagues developed the tools for her to properly explain her sexuality to some of her homophobic neighbors in the treatment program, rather than the physical altercations that she was accustomed to. She graduated from the program at the end of the summer and was thrilled to witness so many of her previously homophobic living mates embrace her as a friend, and potentially the only LGBT person they knew.
2009 – Peter Grace – SF LGBT Community Center – Economic Development Program
2010 – Kenzie Seal – National Marriage Boycott
Kenzie's Story

Kenzie Seal, ’12
National Marriage Boycott, Stanford, CA

“The thing that motivates me, despite recent setbacks, is the knowledge that LGBTQ have a suicide rate that is four-times higher than that of their heterosexual peers, due largely to social devaluation. This fight is about more than just marriage rights—it’s about life and death.”

Kenzie spent the summer working with the National Marriage Boycott (NMB), a grassroots coalition of allies and LGBT people that stand in solidarity against the legal discrimination faced by LGBTQ individuals. Boycott participants sign a pledge not to marry until all Americans have the right to do so, and in the process raise awareness of equality issues in their communities.

Kenzie is a founding member and active participant in NMB, and the Stanford Pride Fellowship has allowed him to focus on leadership of the organization and expanding its reach, increasing NMB’s presence on campuses across the state.
2011 – Christopher Lee – Taiwan Tongzhi Association, Taipei
Christopher's Story

Christopher Lee ’13
Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline, Taipei, Taiwan

“Many people in the queer community do not realize what other queers in various locations around the globe go through just to be themselves. I feel so fortunate to be able to openly embrace my queer identity here at Stanford University. I would like to utilize my opportunities as a Stanford student to better the lives of those less privileged than myself.”

Hometown: New York City, NY
Service interest: helping LGBTQ youth and families, providing a safe and open community for LGBTQ youth
Significant Stanford experience: Stanford LGBT Community Resource Center Frosh Intern; Haas Center Community Service Work Study: New York LGBT Center Pride Intern; core member of Stanford Queer and Asian
Other service experience: leader/active member of Rateen, a Korean youth queer rights group
Post-graduation plans: attend graduate school and do sociology research about the gay rights movement
Fellowship goal: to help the queer community in Taiwan through my previous experiences of being involved in queer communities of other countries. Moreover, I hope to learn many things from Taiwan that can help other gay communities around the world.
2011 – Marcus Busby – GSA Network (Gay-Straight Alliance Network)
Marcus's Story

Marcus Busby ’13
Gay-Straight Alliance Network, San Francisco, CA

“I hope that my experiences in high school won’t go to waste and that I can use these experiences to increase awareness and help support the LGBTQA communities in high schools across the nation.”

Hometown: Gloucester, MA
Service interest: LGBT youth; LGBT education
Significant Stanford experience: working on the Stanford campus in the summer
Other service experience: Rotary Club president in high school
Fellowship goal: to learn about differences in LGBT acceptance in high schools across the country and see how particular programs can be improved or expanded to promote LGBT acceptance in high schools.
2012 – Laura Potter – The Fenway Institute, Boston, MA
Laura's Story

Laura Potter ’14 (Human Biology)
The Fenway Institute, Boston, MA

“I will immerse myself in two clinical research projects on and with the transgender communities of Boston. For the multicenter study MOBICOHORT3, I will conduct an exhaustive chart review of Fenway’s trans patients to investigate the side effects of hormone treatment and organize these data for submission to the first international database of its kind. For more direct engagement with the Boston LGBTQI community, I will also join LifeSkills, a NIH-funded study both run by and for young trans women. By screening potential participants, spearheading outreach and recruitment efforts, securing sponsorship for community-building events, running quality control checks on study files, and working closely with the study team, I hope to humanize my chart review experience and support these very brave and beautiful young women through this empowerment and sexual risk reduction study.”
2012 – Andres Gutierrez – Immigration Equality, New York, NY
Andres's Story

Andres Gutierrez ’13
Immigration Equality, New York, NY

“By working with the legal team at Immigration Equality, I hope to learn more about the obstacles that LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants and bi-national couples face. I also hope to help individuals who are seeking asylum. I am excited to learn about how the organization works to help individuals who are vulnerable and find themselves in difficult situations. I look forward to helping with various projects such as creating documents for asylees, reaching out to individuals who may be eligible for deferred action based on the recent policy changes, and participating in meetings with the legal team and clients. I have worked in the past with the LGBT community, both on campus and in the larger community: as pride intern at the BT Center in NYC, as a volunteer for the Ali Forney Center, as officer of La Familia de Stanford, and as CASA Mentor at Stanford’s LGBT CRC. I’ve also worked with MEChA de Stanford as an officer, Dance Marathon as a Community Center Outreach Executive, Las Hermanas de Stanford as a member and El Centro Chicano as a student staff member.”
2013 – Carolina Ornelas – Project HEALTH, San Francisco, CA
Carolina's Story

Carolina Ornelas ’15 (Human Biology)
Project HEALTH, San Francisco, CA

Carolina Ornelas hopes to become a physician who serves the LGBT community, and plans on being an advocate for increasing access and quality of medical care for the LGBT individuals. Her ultimate goal is to reduce LGBT health disparities. On a sunny day, you can find her lying on the grass, playing her guitar and reading poetry.

Her fellowship consisted of interning with the Transgender Law Center and Lyon Martin Health Clinic on Project HEALTH, or Harnessing Education Advocacy and Leadership in Transgender Health. The goal of this project is to increase the quality and access of medical care for transgender individuals through policy change and through the training and education of medical professionals. To help reach this goal, she was involved in investigating the progress of transgender health legislation, reaching out to clinics and health care professionals for transgender health training, and updating and restructuring the training materials for medical students and physicians.

“I am very excited to work with Project HEALTH, because the LGBT, especially transgender, community is suffering from severe health disparities that are reducing the health and vitality of this community. In working with Project HEALTH, I hope to help reduce these health disparities and create a medical system where anyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, can receive the basic human right of excellent and adequate medical care.”
2013 – Jason Galisatus – Equality California, San Francisco, CA
Jason's Story

Jason Galisatus ’15 (Political Science)
Equality California, San Francisco, CA

Jason is the Executive Director of the Bay Area Youth Summit, the first completely youth-led LGBT organization in the world. The BAYS Board consists of around 7 Stanford students and 7 high school students. For more information, visit their website at www.bayareayouthsummit.org.

Jason has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Gay Straight Alliance Network, and is a current Board member for the Pye-Harris documentary project in which he interviews a number of historical LGBT figures includes Phyllis Lyon, the founder of the Daughters of Bilitis. He also worked with San Francisco Mayors Ed Lee and Gavin Newsom as the LGBT Community Liaison. Jason was named Best LGBT youth activist for the Bay Area Reporter’s 2013 Readers Choice Awards, and both he and BAYS were nominated to be Grand Marshals of the San Francisco Pride Parade. Outside of activism and political advocacy, Jason loves music, and is a former member of the Stanford Fleet Street Singers and the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

As a Huffington Pride Fellow, Jason was working with Equality California. Jason’s main goal is to bring more visibility to youth within the LGBT community and create strategic cross-generational partnerships.
2014 – Toni Kokenis – National Center for Lesbian Rights, San Francisco, CA
Toni's Story

Toni Kokenis, ’14, MA ’15 (Sociology)
National Center for Lesbian Rights, San Francisco, CA

A three year varsity women’s basketball letter winner, Toni is majoring in human biology and sociology, with an honors thesis in feminist, gender, and sexuality studies. She is president and co-founder of Stanford Athletes and Allies Together and received the 2014 Campus Pride Voice & Action National Athlete Award. She will return to Stanford next fall to pursue a co-terminal master’s degree in sociology.

Toni’s fellowship project is at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), specifically with Sports Project working to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in sports through advocacy, outreach, and litigation.

Her main project will be working with a think tank called “Seeking Common Ground: Creating Respectful Athletic Climates for Athletes and Coaches of All Religious Perspectives, Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities or Expressions.” In addition, she will work with NCLR to create more inclusive policies state-by-state for transgender high school student-athletes, as well as expand her honors thesis.
2015 – Nadia Stoufflet – San Francisco LGBT Community Center, San Francisco, CA
Nadia's Story

Nadia Stoufflet ’16
San Francisco LGBT Community Center, San Francisco, CA

At the San Francisco LGBT Community Center’s Economic Development Team, I have been working with the Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative to plan its annual Economic Justice Month, which will span all of October and will integrate the unique services that the Center offers with a larger unified vision of organizing around economic self-determination for LGBT peoples.

I am coordinating outreach to local organizations to help them become community partners, serve on an advisory board, or host workshops on topics such as tenant rights, starting a small business, finding transgender-friendly employment and more. I will then work on the social media campaign for the month itself.

Finally, I am researching measures on the San Francisco November 2015 ballot that will impact the LGBT community. A forum will be held during the month to prepare community members to make informed voting decisions and increase LGBT voter turnout. Through this fellowship, I am deepening my analysis of issues impacting communities I care about while living in one of the most vibrant and exciting cities in the world.
2015 – Alex Rezai – Gender Spectrum, Oakland, CA
Alex's Story

Alex Rezai ’17
Gender Spectrum, Oakland

For the first four weeks of my internship with Gender Spectrum (www.genderspectru,org), I assisted in the preparation for the 2015 Gender Spectrum Professionals’ Symposium and the 9th annual Gender Spectrum Conference. My roles in preparing for these events were to keep presenters informed about event logistics, grant scholarships to attendees and families who could not afford the full price of conference attendance, and organize support clinics during the conference where attendees would be able to meet with legal, medical, spiritual and mental health professionals for one on one consultations.

Moving forward with my internship, I have been tasked to perform research on the experiences of transgender and gender-expansive youth for publications that Gender Spectrum is working on.
2015 – Alli Martin – Advocates for Youth, Washington, DC
Alli's Story

Alli Martin ’17
Advocates for Youth, Washington, DC

I am a policy intern at Advocates for Youth, a DC-based non-profit that helps young people make responsible and informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.

I split my time between domestic and international policy work. On the domestic front, I helped organize a lobby day for youth activists to speak to their Congresspersons about the EACH Woman Act, which would expand Medicaid to cover abortion costs, and the Equality Act, which would open the Civil Rights Act to include sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. I’m also writing policy briefs and fact sheets (e.g., about access to sexual and reproductive services in juvenile detention facilities). So far, my favorite project has been creating online maps of America’s congressional districts that auto-update each time elected officials sign on to bills such as the EACH Woman Act, the Equality Act, and the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act.

On the international front, I have worked to arrange meetings between youth activists from around the world and UN Officials to discuss how the Post-2015 Development Goals can advance the sexual and reproductive health of young people.
2015 – Ali Gali – San Francisco AIDS Foundation, San Francisco, CA
Ali's Story

Ali Gali ’17
San Francisco AIDS Foundation, San Francisco, CA

At San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) and the organization’s queer men’s health clinic, Magnet, I help analyze and improve past and current PrEP trials, in order to better understand the effectiveness and increase the accessibility of the treatment. At SFAF, I work with Dr. Robert Grant and his international PrEP team, linked to the World Health Organization (WHO). I organize the monitoring and evaluation data from the rapidly expanding PrEP service at SFAF, while performing a systematic literature review of HIV incidence counterfactuals and indicators of substantial HIV risk observed in the global HIV prevention trials. These activities aim to assist the development of PrEP implementation guidance that will be used by Dr. Grant’s team.

At Magnet, my main task is to produce and clarify the growing PrEP data gathered from the clinic’s trials that started in March. This includes going over patient profiles, analyzing their medical history and sexual behaviors, and understanding how this information relates to high HIV transmission risk.

Finally, working and living close to the Castro foster my experience through integration of my work with the community, as I had many dialogues outside work with distinct queer people on PrEP and their experiences with the treatment.
2016 – Brian Kaplun – Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, Oakland, CA
Brian's Story

Brian Kaplun ’18
Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, Oakland, CA

I worked on various topics within HIV policy, mostly focused on Zimbabwe’s LGBTQ population. My first main project was to write up a comprehensive situational analysis of the HIV prevention landscape for men who have sex with men and transgender/gender-nonconforming populations in Zimbabwe, specifically focused on the sociopolitical and legal context. My second main project was to coordinate the publication of a post-conference report for the OPTIONS Consortium, a group of HIV/AIDS nonprofits working to elevate the voices of end users (specifically young women and girls) of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for HIV in future prevention policy.

I was also lucky enough to attend the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, with Pangaea, where I provided programming support and also got to learn from world experts about the state of the epidemic and how best to continue my advocacy. This internship has given me incredible insight into global public health and how I can make the biggest impact with my career in the future.
2016 – Sydney Osifeso – Mental Health Association of New York City, New York, NY
Sydney's Story

Sydney Osifeso ’17
Mental Health Association of New York City, New York, NY

I worked in Harlem as an intern at one of MHA’s personalized recovery oriented services programs. I’ve really appreciated the many capacities that I have been able to work in as an intern. My roles have included designing and leading a group on Queer and Trans Resilience, developing a community resource list that intentionally incorporates queer and trans affirming services, and making physical contributions in an effort to create a more inclusive space for all participants.

Through putting up artwork that celebrates queer and trans identity, initiating conversations about safety and diversity at our program, and advocating for the creation of an all-gender bathroom, I am happy to have been able to make a tangible difference in the experiences of queer and trans participants who are often forced to navigate violent systems of healthcare that police or erase their identities.

I am beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to explore my passion for mental and emotional wellness and invest my energy and resources in a low-income community of color and learn about its rich history of queer and trans resistance, activism, and power.
2017 – Cheng-Hau Kee – OutRight Action International, New York, NY
Cheng-Hau's Story
Cheng-Hau Kee (they/them/their)
OutRight International, New York, NY
This summer I primarily worked on two projects with the Asia Program at OutRight Action International. The first was providing organizational and logistical support for a US based study tour involving LGBTI activists and domestic service providers from across Asia. I was responsible for creating documents outlining the history of and current domestic violence policies across Asia, LGBTI rights across Asia, and the intersection of LGBTI communities and domestic violence in the United States. I also assisted with logistics, helping to plan out the study tour schedule, reaching out to organizations in the Bay Area, and physically organizing and compiling documents for the tour.

My other large project involved the analysis of the results of sensitivity workshops for local police in the Philippines. I was responsible for organizing, analyzing, and interpreting the data to find correlations and patterns relating to the effectiveness of the workshops. This included statistical analyses based on age, education, gender, occupation, and other factors in order to create a more directed and effective push with the limited resources available to conducted workshops. The final product was delivered in a report form, with continuing communication to further develop and improve the current sensitivity training.

My work this summer was spread out across multiple projects, people, and countries, each contributing to the various projects OutRight runs across the world. The most immediately visible contribution made is through the Philippines, where my report will have an immediate impact on how workshops are run, and the audience they are directed towards. However, in many cases it will take longer for concrete change to materialize, for example the future efforts of those who participated in the US based study tour. It’s difficult to see immediate progress when working in a nonprofit fighting for human rights, and especially human rights for LGBTI people. The most critical work goes into grassroots projects like the ones described above, but the efforts put in there take months and years to manifest into more visible improvements in policy and infrastructure.
2017 – Gabriela Nagle-Alverio – New York City Anti Violence Project, New York, NY
Gabriela's Story

Gabriela Nagle-Alverio ’18 (she/they)
New York City Anti Violence Project, New York, NY

One of my main projects this summer involved collecting the resources and syllabus for the sexual violence support group. The project that I took initiative on was a video of interviews of survivors of intimate partner violence that will be used in the annual report and website. Finally I spent a lot of time training and working on the hotline where my fluency in Spanish provided the most assistance.

The most tangible significant contribution that I made to AVP was the video that I made interviewing survivors of intimate partner violence that can be used in the annual report that goes out nationwide. My coworkers told me they really appreciated my assistance with Spanish speaking clients, as well as my translations of the intake forms and marketing materials that are now in use. Furthermore I created a detailed list of resources for LGBTQ people affected by sexual violence that will be used by the members of the sexual violence support group.
2017 – Adrian Vega – The Trevor Project, West Hollywood, CA
Adrian's Story

Adrian Vega ’17 (he/him/his)
The Trevor Project, West Hollywood, CA

While I was working with The Trevor Project, I worked with the Digital Media Specialist to originate and pilot regular live video content via Instagram Live and Instagram Stories. Additionally, I worked with the marketing team to produce a video in which I walk viewers through the process of making a vision board which the marketing team plans on expanding into a video series about creating self-care projects. Through my position, I also worked to help prepare the marketing for this financial year by doing outreach to LGBTQ+ youth organizations across the country, creating a database of celebrity supporters and collaborators, and organizing a calendar of LGBTQ+ related holidays and awareness days.

My most meaningful project during my time at The Trevor Project was spearheading and organizing the social media strategy for National Hispanic Heritage Month, which included overseeing the creation of the portraits of LGBTQ+ Hispanic figures. The last few years I’ve been struggling to reconcile my Hispanic heritage with my LGBTQ+ identity and this project allowed me to explore that intersection of identities in an easy and approachable way. I worked with the resident graphic designer on making digital portraits of 6 LGBTQ+ Hispanic people and then collaborated with the digital media specialist on writing concise, but educational captions for the pictures. During National Hispanic Heritage Month, these pictures will be posted on The Trevor Project social media. All I can think is how happy and validated I would’ve felt a few years ago if I saw openly LGBTQ+ Hispanic people on my social media timelines.
2018 – Jason Lin – Stanford Archives Oral History Project
2019 – Caleb Martin – US Department of State
2019 – Ashley Huang – Transgender Law Center
2020 – Ashley Phord-Toy – OASIS Legal Services
2020 – Kiara Dunbar – Equality California
2021 – Ava Snow – The PRIDE Study
2021 – Hana/Connor Yankowitz – Peacock Rebellion
2022 – Isa Calero Forero – OutRigh Action International
2022 – Helen Tian – OUTWORDS
2022 – Zoe Tweedle – OUTWORDS
2023 – Adelaide Barrett – OUTWORDS
2023 – Zoey Hu – The OUTWORDS Archive
2024 – Ruhee Nemawarkar – Ali Forney Center
2024 – Sarae Sinville – Transgender Law Center
2025 – Jenny Ballutay – Transgender Law Center
2025 – Kennedy Hetts – Ibis Reproductive Health