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Helen Mylod Yee ’17

The Mental Health Advocate

As a child, Helen Mylod Yee thought she would be a teacher when she grew up. But in her senior year of high school she faced a sudden challenge: social anxiety. The experience ultimately led her to a career in mental health.

“It was really debilitating and scary at first,” she said. “All my life I had been open and outgoing, and it suddenly hit me. I didn’t know what was going on, and I felt very alone.”

She went to therapy, learning ways to cope and understand her condition, and soon found that she enjoyed telling her story to others.

In her third year at �ٺ���Ƶ, she joined the campus chapter of Active Minds, a national mental health organization that endeavors to raise awareness among college students on a peer level. With the group, she regularly helped hold events designed to bring attention to the stress that can accompany the college experience.

Upon graduation, Mylod Yee decided to pursue a career in mental health advocacy, landing a job at Young Minds Advocacy in San Francisco. She is an outreach and engagement associate, working on improving access to mental health services for young people. Her first project with the organization brought her to the �ٺ���Ƶ Mental Health Conference in January.

“It was a very full circle moment for me because I had just graduated, and we presented on college student mental health and barriers to access [of services],” she said.

Though she is just starting out, Mylod Yee said she foresees herself continuing down this career path.

“I wanted to be a teacher, but this turn isn’t really a surprise to me because I’ve always wanted to do something that allows me to connect with others and make a positive impact in others’ lives and in my community,” she said. “This gives me that chance. I also think it’s super important to be doing something that you’re driven by internally. I couldn’t imagine doing something I wasn’t passionate about.” 

Eddie Carmona ’05

The Community Advocate

For Eddie Carmona, advocacy started at �ٺ���Ƶ.

He grew up in East Los Angeles, living in his grandfather’s house with 17 other members of his family. After high school, he attended Sacramento City College, before transferring to �ٺ���Ƶ, where one of his first classes was an introductory course in Chicana/o studies.

“This big light bulb came on and things started to make sense,” he said. “From there, I started getting involved.”

As a student, he worked with the Cross Cultural Center on campus, empowerment group MeChA de �ٺ���Ƶ and community service organization Hermanos Macehual.

Now, he is the political director at PICO California, a multifaith-based organization that uses civic engagement in communities throughout the state to address racial and economic inequalities that affect marginalized groups.

“I wanted to do something for the people in the communities like where I came from,” he said.

The community focus:

“Growing up, my family was in a bubble of work and school and not understanding how resources are driven, how decisions are being made. For me, specifically, it was so difficult to navigate the community college system when I had come from a low-income community. If I’m having a hard time, how many of our community members don’t understand how these systems work? So my work consists of understanding how the system works, connecting the dots in my own experience and then making sure we do that with community members across the state of California, and the country.” 

A. Tianna Scozzaro ’07

The Women's Advocate

The seeds for A. Tianna Scozzaro’s work as director of the Sierra Club’s Gender, Equity & Environment Program were planted as an international relations major. Scozzaro’s role at the nonprofit was created in 2016. That same year, she was elected to the Washington, D.C., Advisory Neighborhood Commission, a nonpartisan body made up of locally elected representatives, where she represents her Adams Morgan neighborhood.

Why does having women run for office matter from an environmental standpoint?

“Women, globally, are disproportionally impacted by toxic exposure, climate change and other environmental challenges. But research [shows that] women are strong advocates for environmental protection, regardless of political party. Having women run [at all levels] benefits our communities and our country and the next generation. I’ve lived in D.C. almost eight years now, and I really love my neighborhood, so when there was an opening on the commission, I threw my hat in the ring. I hold the lowest level of elected office in Washington, D.C., representing 2,000 of my neighbors, but I will say given the political climate it’s never been more meaningful of an opportunity.”

Jerry Farrell ’81

The War Victims Advocate

As the country representative for Catholic Relief Services in South Sudan, Jerry Farrell has the tough job of helping people in a war zone. 

South Sudan, which gained independence from North Sudan in 2011, has been ravaged by a civil war since 2013. Fortunately, Farrell, who’s been in the country for a little over two years, has a specialization in working conflict zones. 

“I go where I’m needed, and my particular skill set was needed in South Sudan,” Farrell said. 

He’s in charge of 700 people who work for Catholic Relief Services in the country. Forty-three are expatriates like himself. He runs large programs aimed at helping those on the margins of starvation. Usually, he said, the communities choose a project — often a road, but potentially a school, dike or waterway. The residents receive food rations in exchange for work. Farrell also is in charge of micro-finance programs and helps local farmers and livestock herders become more productive. 

The biggest challenge, he said, is maintaining security amid violence. On a personal level, he said he tries not to get overwhelmed by bad news. “There is a lot of violence in South Sudan, but at a local and regional level our teams make an incredible difference,” Farrell said. 

Farrell was a diplomat with the U.S. foreign service from 1981 to 1987. He then worked in the private sector until 2004. He credited UC Davis with making his career possible. 

“My five years at UC Davis opened my mind,” Farrell said. “The opportunities to meet people, explore new ideas and see what evidence-based programs looked like was really unmatched. There was nothing like it. It could’ve only happened at UC Davis.”

Steven Tingus ’85, M.S. ’90

The Inclusion Advocate

Steven Tingus was born with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. But it hasn’t stopped him from leading a successful career in government and, since 2011, running a consulting firm. Steven J. Tingus Consulting advocates for a greater presence in the entertainment industry for those with disabilities.

How far along has Hollywood come in employing a more diverse workforce over the past few years?

“It’s been a very slow process. In my view, the industry has made good strides in making sure there are more opportunities for people of color. However, for people with disabilities, it’s still disproportionate. Only 0.9 percent of those with disabilities are a part of the industry, whether they’re in front of the camera or behind the camera, and it’s sad because 20 percent of the U.S. population has a disability. So it’s very, very unrepresentative. I think progress in front of the camera will come first. It’s a lot easier to change, based on the outcry of the public, who want to see themselves represented.”

Mark Loranger ’83

The Homeless Advocate

Mark Loranger is doing his part to fight the homelessness crisis. 

For years, he worked for IBM in its sales and marketing department. He then launched his own business, which he sold after 13 years at the helm. For the last 10 years, he’s been the CEO of Chrysalis, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to helping homeless and low-income people become self-sufficient and find work. 

“I really felt that I wanted to do something more meaningful and help people in a deeper way,” he said. 

His clients give Loranger’s work meaning. “We’re working on issues that go to the core of someone’s being,” Loranger said. “The dignity and the respect that comes from a job is really important. A large segment of our population has been disconnected from that for so long.”

The typical client:

Omara left home at an early age, fleeing an abusive household. She became a mother while still in her teens, got into trouble with the law and became addicted to drugs. Soon, she landed in prison and lost custody of her kids. When she left prison, she needed a job to reunite with her three children. She went through Chrysalis’s program, and then got placed in a job through Chrysalis’s temporary services program. She soon was hired permanently and has been promoted twice. She’s also started a side business cleaning houses. She’s gotten custody of her oldest daughter and is working on getting custody of her two other children.

Areeba Siddiqui ’16

The Muslim Youth Advocate

Areeba Siddiqui was still in college when she noticed an issue in the Muslim American community that wasn’t being sufficiently addressed: mental health. 

In addition to feeling concern over a series of suicides in the Muslim American community in California, Siddiqui, along with some of her friends, was dealing with personal issues such as increased anxiety. And it seemed they had few places to turn. 

In January 2015, Siddiqui and friends launched a crisis hotline geared toward Muslim-American young adults. They call it Amala, Arabic for hope. 

“People face a lot of barriers in accessing services,” Siddiqui said. “[We felt] a hotline that caters to Muslim youth with cultural competency would be really helpful.” 

The hotline is staffed by 10 volunteers at a time who’ve undergone 40 hours of peer counseling training. People call with issues large and small and are encouraged to talk. According to Siddiqui, Muslim-American youth may not seek help due to a lack of mental health professionals who understand the issues that impact their community. Also, mental health treatment carries a stigma in her community, she added. 

Then there’s the problem of access. Many young people lack transportation options to get to and from appointments with a counselor, especially if they want to keep the appointments private. 

“But everyone has access to a phone,” she said. 

Going forward, Siddiqui would like Amala to add chat and texting-based counseling. Her organization is also involved in campaigns that raise awareness of and remove stigma from mental health issues.