What do you do?
I'm the youth commercial tobacco prevention coordinator in the Youth Cannabis and Commercial Tobacco Prevention program.
Describe your educational path. What was your area of study?
I have a Bachelor of Arts in sociology: inequalities and diversity from California State University, Los Angeles. I also concurrently began working in public health my sophomore year of college, which provided real time education and experience.
How did you enter your career in public health?
I began my public health career after connecting with my future supervisor while volunteering for a political campaign. I started in the Long Beach (California) Department of Health as a youth leader providing peer-to-peer education to teens and young adults on the subjects of pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention.
From there, I moved into various tobacco prevention roles, both on the city and county levels, before coming to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) in 2022.
What is your typical day on the job?
In my role, I provide planning, budgeting, and programmatic guidance to nine regional youth commercial tobacco and cannabis prevention contractors covering the entire state. This means I am consistently meeting with and responding to requests from these contractors.
My role is to ensure they have the support, resources, and training needed to carry out prevention efforts, while also adhering to contractually agreed upon work plans and budgets.
What previous experiences most helped you with this role?
Having worked in positions that required direct community engagement, policy development, and contract management has provided a well-rounded view on how to be effective in my role. These experiences have really shaped how I view my work and provide the ability to relate to those that my programs funds.
What advice would you give a student pursuing career opportunities in public health? What is something you wish you knew earlier in your career?
Be willing to be flexible. Prevention and public health approaches will look different in every community, so it is best to support communities in ways that work best for them. Also, there are many ways to make an impact in the world of public health, it is all about finding the right fit for you.
What achievements are you most proud of in your work in public health? Or is there anything you find most rewarding about your work?
Two things stand out for me. In my current role, I am proud of the relationships I have built with statewide partners as we have navigated the challenges of bringing on an entirely new team, along with being the only state to have a combined commercial tobacco and cannabis prevention program.
Another one of my proudest moments in public health was working with community residents and city leadership, during the COVID-19 pandemic nonetheless, in the city of West Hollywood, Calif. to pass a smokefree multi-unit housing ordinance that protected residents from unwanted secondhand smoke exposure.