POLITICAL WORK BIO,
PERSONAL NARRATIVE,
SELECTED ENGAGEMENTS
& WRITING.
A SHORT BIO
I am a community-informed, mixed-methods researcher and organizer-on-hiatus advocating for social and economic justice. I focus on the intersection of race, immigration, labor, and gender-based violence.
In contributing to the fight for true collective liberation and intergenerational peace, I work to 1) dismantle racial capitalism via abolition, socialism, and anti-imperialism; and 2) replace oppressive systems with care-based, community-led institutions and culture.
I am currently a dual Master in Public Policy and Master in Social Work student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Following my program, I will return to the field in 2025.
A POLITICAL ORIGIN STORY
1996
I Come From Many Mothers
My grandmothers were born on the opposite ends of the Philippines, a semi-feudal/semi-colonial nation consisting of over 7,000 islands. Forced migration patterns rooted in imperialism and fascism pushed my grandmothers off the islands: they left their husbands, their children, and mga barangay to work as nurses at the same hospital in Brooklyn, NY. With their hard-earned remittances, my grandmothers carried their entire families across two whole oceans. In this strange, foreign land, my grandmothers replanted their villages.
Thus, my inheritance: immigrant matriarchy.
In all of my pursuits, I have sought to honor this legacy. The mission: liberate all oppressed people so that we can live with ease and autonomy, without the need to sacrifice.
Photo on the left: Kayla, on her first trip to the Philippines, posing with her aunties and Uncle Paul in Divisoria, a market in Manila. Photos below, left to right: Kayla with Grandma Erly, Kayla with Mama Lily, Kayla with cousins/siblings and Auntie May.
2016
International Solidarity
I attended Pitzer College for my undergraduate education. I spent a semester abroad in Nepal through Pitzer's cultural immersion program. During my time in Nepal, I developed Nepali cultural understanding and language fluency. I was then able to connect with rural community-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that advocate for Nepali women's social and economic independence, dignity, and safety. A shortlist of the NGOs: ABC Nepal; Partnership Nepal; WOREC Nepal; Pourakhi Nepal’s Safer Migration Project (SaMi); and The Forum for Women, Law, and Development. With the support of these organizations, I conducted community-informed primary research on the social ostracization and disempowerment of Nepali women migrant workers upon reintegration with their communities of origin. I also used survivor-centered secondary sources, as well as my academic classes on Nepali history and politics to construct my critical analyses. My final thesis paper was entitled "Disillusioned by Reintegration: Reframing the Narrative of Nepali Women’s International Mobility & Sexuality".
Photo of Kayla and दिदीहरु (older sisters) from Kawasoti, a small city in Nawalparasi, Nepal. These दिदीहरु volunteer for/work with SaMi in an effort to support other Nepali women from their region who are returning from work abroad.
2018-2020
Toward Justice & Liberation
After graduating, I worked as a Community Organizer at Matahari Women Workers Center, a Greater Boston-based non-profit that organizes a multiracial/multilingual base of immigrant women of color employed in low-wage sectors for workers' and immigrants' rights. Matahari's members are predominantly domestic workers. The first domestic workers in the U.S. were enslaved African women. This legacy of systemic racism continues today: only ten states have passed laws that extend labor protections to domestic workers, who are disproportionately immigrant women of color.
My work at Matahari was three-fold: 1) help members develop their own leadership through Matahari's empowerment-based model, 2) enforce the Massachusetts Domestic Workers Law through Matahari's #OurWorkOurWorth Wage Claim Campaign, and 3) organize the community for comprehensive immigration and labor policies. These policies included: the suspension of the expiration of Temporary Protected Status and the creation of a path to citizenship; the expansion of the Domestic Workers Law to include au pairs; and an emergency bill of essential workers' rights during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Photo on the left: staff and member-leader meeting on Zoom. Photos below, left to right: staff and member-leaders at Congress to lobby for TPS Justice (2019), group picture at International Nanny Training Day (2019), Kayla and cohort upon completion of Justice at Work's Summer Institute on immigrant workers' law (2019).
During my time in Boston, I also organized with Boston Pilipinx Education, Advocacy, & Resources (PEAR), a volunteer, grassroots organization that advocates for the human rights of Filipinxs in the U.S. and in the Philippines. We created space for our community through kamayan and other events. We held political education workshops and collectivized our knowledge of our people’s historical struggle. Through lobbying and direct actions, we pushed our government representatives and the public to divest from the policies that contribute to our families’ forced migration. We also took care of our recently immigrated kababayan: as COVID-19 broke out, we coordinated mutual aid efforts for isolated and exploited Filipinx J-1 workers across New England.
Photo on right: group picture from PEAR retreat (2018). Photos below, left to right: Kayla and kasamas at TAMA NA SOBRA NA protest in front of NYC Philippine Consulate (2019), banner from protest, kamayan table.
2022-2025
Visions
I am currently on a hiatus from organizing in order to complete a Master in Public Policy and a Master in Social Welfare (Social Work) through Luskin School of Public Affairs at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Through this education, I hope to deepen my insights as an advocate and my competence as an organizer.
For my MSW capstone project, I am co-conducting research on the impacts of California Senate Bill 357: The Safer Streets for All Act on law enforcement's policing of non-sex worker community members involved in the sex trade in the South Figueroa Corridor of Los Angeles. My research team and I are collaborating with Sex Workers Outreach Project Los Angeles (SWOP LA) on this community-based participatory research. We will complete our 9-month project in May 2025.
Alongside my studies, I have also worked as a Graduate Student Researcher at the UCLA Labor Center on two projects: research on labor, poverty, and homelessness that my co-researcher and I synthesized into a 60-minute plenary presented by the Los Angeles Federation of Labor's President, Yvonne Wheeler, at their 2023 Summit; and research on the rise of child labor across the U.S., which is being used to coalesce cross-sector stakeholders to advocate for stronger and more critical labor protections.
I am also a Teaching Assistant with the UCLA Labor Studies Department. In Fall 2024, I taught an undergraduate course titled "Class, Race, and Social Justice" under Professor Kent Wong. In Spring 2025, I will teach an undergraduate course titled "Introduction to Labor and Social Movements in Los Angeles" under Professor Victor Narro.
My direction: may I stay grounded in radical vision, and my work guided by the people.
Two photos, left to right: Kayla and her UCLA Labor Center co-researcher, Jack Kearns, at the LA Federation of Labor's 2023 Summit; Kayla, Jack, and UCLA Labor Center Project Director Kent Wong presenting research on the rise of child labor to stakeholders.
SELECTED ENGAGEMENTS & WRITING
If you are looking for a training/workshop facilitator, or if you would like to view my CV, contact me here.
Zine Co-Author with Naomi Eden, Camille Grundy, and Cecilia Nunez
"Reclaiming Our Stories: Unpacking Student Activism through the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment"
Produced for Dr. Jené Moio (University of California, Los Angles)
12/5/2024
Teaching Assistant for Kent Wong
Labor Studies (LBR STD) 10: "Class, Race, & Social Justice" course
University of California, Los Angles
9/2024 - 12/2024
Graduate Student Researcher with Jack Kearns, MPP
research on the current rise of child labor in the U.S.
UCLA Labor Center under Kent Wong and Dr. Colin Greer (New World Foundation)
10/2023 - 10/2024
Graduate Student Researcher with Jack Kearns, MPP
research on poverty and homelessness used for the Los Angeles Federation of Labor's 2023 Summit on Poverty & Homelessness
UCLA Labor Center under Kent Wong, Dr. Victor Narro, and Gary Blasi
6/2023 - 10/2023
Co-Author with Karely Amaya Rios, MPP
"The U-Visa: Trauma & State Violence as Prerequisites for Work" (critical race theory-based workforce equity policy brief)
Written for Dr. Jasmine Hill (University of California, Los Angeles)
6/9/2023
Teaching Assistant for Dr. Shalom D. Staub
Community Engagement and Social Change (CESC) 50XP: "Engaging Los Angeles" course
University of California, Los Angles
4/2023 - 6/2023
Speaker
reflections on community organizing and social change
Lesley University Community Leadership Engagement & Action Program
2/21/2021
(clip from speech below)
Co-Organizer, Facilitator
"Philippine Society and Revolution" workshops
Boston Pilipinx Education Advocacy and Resources (PEAR)
Recurrent
Facilitator
"What Domestic Workers Need to Know During a Public Health Crisis" (Know Your Rights training)
Matahari Women Workers Center'
3/19/2020
Speaker
Philippine United People's State of the Nation Address (SONA)
Boston Pilipinx Education Advocacy and Resources (PEAR)
NYC Philippine Consulate, 8/4/2019
Panel Facilitator
"Call Her Ganda" film screening
Boston Pilipinx Education Advocacy and Resources (PEAR)
Tufts University, 11/25/2018
A clip from my talk on organizing strategies for social justice movements and campaigns (Lesley University, February 2021).
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