I have cultivated a passion for helping to empower underserved populations throughout much of my life, with a long-standing intellectual interest in social problems and change. I have pursued this passion through numerous community organizing and activist projects on a volunteer basis, such as attending and helping plan protests as well as organizing Food Not Bombs in two different cities. While pursuing my bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology, I prioritized coursework that focused on social justice, which allowed me to develop a deep appreciation for how social theory helps us understand and address systemic problems. Additionally, participant observation, a key method of anthropological research, has fostered my ability to engage with others from many different backgrounds.My work experience since 2019 has afforded me the opportunity to pursue some of this passion as well. From 2019 to 2020, I was an AmeriCorps VISTA member in the Community-AID Lab, which conducts program evaluation and implementation science with youth-serving community organizations. Through this position, I was able to gain experience in working with a range of qualitative and quantitative program evaluation methods in an applied research setting. A passion project pursued during my year in AmeriCorps lead to my current position as Program Coordinator of a community center that provides peer recovery support for people with Substance Use Disorders. This position has given me excellent experience establishing and managing programming under a state-funded grant, including supervising a staff of peers, creating policies and procedures such as data tracking and confidentiality protocols, extensive community partner engagement and managing grant reporting requirements.In addition to my professional experience, I spent a lot of my 20s traveling the United States while street performing for income. These experiences shaped me in many ways, including providing deep insight into the challenging realities of overlapping homelessness, mental health and substance use disorders that so many in our country face on a daily basis.