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.
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 TedTalk-style plenary for the Los Angeles Federation of Labor's 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 am teaching 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.
Teaching Assistant for Kent Wong in Labor Studies (LBR STD) 10: "Class, Race, & Social Justice" course at University of California, Los Angles, September 2024 through December 2024
Graduate Student Researcher at UCLA Labor Center under Kent Wong and Dr. Colin Greer (New World Foundation), working on research on the current rise of child labor in the U.S., which will be used to instigate cross-sector efforts to strengthen labor protections, October 2023 through September 2024
Graduate Student Researcher at UCLA Labor Center under Kent Wong and Dr. Victor Narro, working on research relating to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass's homelessness initiative for use by the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, June 2023 through October 2023
Co-author of critical race theory-based workforce equity policy brief, "The U-Visa: Trauma & State Violence as Prerequisites for Work," written for Dr. Jasmine Hill (UCLA), June 2023
Teaching Assistant for Dr. Shalom D. Staub in Community Engagement and Social Change (CESC) 50XP: "Engaging Los Angeles" course at University of California, Los Angles, April through June 2023
Speaker at Lesley University Community Leadership Engagement & Action Program, presenting reflections on community organizing and social change, February 21, 2021 (clip from speech below)
Co-organizer and facilitator for "Philippine Society and Revolution" workshops, hosted by Boston Pilipinx Education Advocacy and Resources (PEAR)
Facilitator for Matahari Women Workers Center's "Know Your Rights" trainings for Massachusetts-based workers, "What Domestic Workers Need to Know During a Public Health Crisis", March 19, 2020
Speaker at Philippine United People's State of the Nation Address (SONA), representing Boston Pilipinx Education Advocacy and Resources (PEAR), NYC Philippine Consulate, August 4, 2019
Panel facilitator for Boston Pilipinx Education Advocacy and Resources (PEAR)'s "Call Her Ganda" film screening at Tufts University, November 25, 2018
A clip from my talk on organizing strategies for social justice movements and campaigns (Lesley University, February 2021).
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