Endorsement Committee

For Ayanna, being able to give back to her community matters because it strengthens the connections that hold us together. Growing up feeling alone, feeling like no one understood her, is what drives her to be the difference today. When she contributes her time, skills, and resources, it helps to address real needs, create opportunities, and build a more supportive and equitable environment for us all. What she has learned over the years is that even small acts of service can spark meaningful change and inspire others to get involved. Plus, God has given her the ability, so she feels it is her responsibility and her privilege to be the change she wants to see in this world.

Diana “Sunshine” Greer is from South Los Angeles. She is passionate about education because it is what liberated her family. Both of her parents were incarcerated just a few months after she was born. She dedicated herself to advocating for policies and laws that helped free them and return to higher education. Now her parents are college graduates, and she wants to continue fighting to end the school-to-prison pipeline and create a prison-to-university pipeline. She earned her Master’s in Educational Counseling from USC, and she will begin her Doctoral degree at UCLA School of Education, where she will focus her research on the children of formerly incarcerated and K-12 systems. In her free time, she loves writing and performing poetry with her daughter, Ariel.

Maria Romero is an educator, activist, founder of Braiding Roots LLC, and co-founder of the Sacred Seasons Project, with over 30 years of experience in education, justice, and community organizing. Like her parents, who were organizers for the United Farm Workers movement, Maria has dedicated her life to empowering marginalized communities. She previously served as Youth Program Director at the Dolores Huerta Foundation, where, with youth, she co-developed the Liberated Youth for Empowerment (LYFE) program — a leadership initiative that promoted civic engagement and transformative art as pathways to systemic change. As an Education Specialist for over 15 years, she supported students with diverse needs, particularly those impacted by the education and carceral systems. Currently, through Braiding Roots LLC and Sacred Seasons Project, Maria works to build community resilience by reclaiming ancestral knowledge and creating spaces for healing, cultural sustainability, and empowerment in communities most affected by systemic injustice.