Our small but mighty team is dedicated to youth empowerment.

  • diana@changeist.org

    Diana has been with Changeist for a couple of years now, she started off as a youth her senior year of high school in 2020. Right after high school she became a Changeist Fellow leading the immigration team, then most recently a Senior Fellow, and now the Community Engagement Manager. After two years of attending San Joaquin Delta College, she just recently transferred to the University of the Pacific where she will be majoring in health and exercise sciences. Before Changeist Diana was part of a mentoring program where she was a mentor to youth for two years. In her free time, Diana enjoys spending time with family.

  • mario@changeist.org

    Mario spent over a decade in the national service movement with City Year. There he developed and oversaw civic leadership programs for youth in three different cities (San Jose, Philadelphia & LA). In 2014 he conceived of, designed, and launched Changeist.

    Mario is currently a Board Member and Advisor to multiple community organizations in Los Angeles, a graduate of SCLN’s Leadership LA, recognized by the LA Empowerment Congress as a top 40 under 40 Civic Leaders, and a Senior Fellow for USC Marshal School of Business, Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab. In 2019, he was chosen out of 40 thousand applicants from over 160 countries to be an Obama Foundation Fellow. The Obama Fellowship supports outstanding civic innovators from around the world to amplify the impact of their work and inspire a wave of civic innovation.

    Mario lives with his partner and daughter in Signal Hill, and spends his free time organizing parents in his community around education issues and enjoys a good Disneyland outing with the family.

  • beth@changeist.org

    In her role as Chief Operating Officer, Beth oversees the fundraising, operations, systems, and strategic planning for the organization. Prior to her work with Changeist, Beth received a MBA from Boston University with a focus on social impact. She then moved to Los Angeles to take on Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) at Los Angeles Unified School District, helping to create new ways for teachers, staff, and stakeholders to better understand the complicated financial policies affecting LAUSD students and communities. Beth is committed to strengthening communities and empowering young people. She is a proud AmeriCorps alumna of City Year Chicago and in July 2017 was honored with City Year’s highest alumni recognition, the Comcast NBCUniversal Leadership Award.

  • dulce@changeist.org

    Dulce Lopez is a proud daughter of Mexican immigrants and South Central native. She graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2018 where she earned a B.A. in Chicana/o Studies and a minor in Women’s Studies and in 2021, she earned her M.A. in Education from California State University, Long Beach. Prior to joining Changeist, Dulce was a student and community organizer. For four years, Dulce mobilized students and community members around issues like tuition increase, immigration reform, lack of access to resources for BIPOC, womxn, LGBTQIA+ folks and undocumented students/community. Dulce has been a part of the Changeist community since 2019 and hopes to continue to drive Changeist’s mission forward and empower young people across California. In her free time, Dulce enjoys rewatching The Office and cuddling with her pugs, Coqui and Galaxy.

  • niah@changeist.org

    Niah has proudly been with Changeist for over five years, where she currently serves as the Operations Manager. In this role, she handles essential functions such as volunteer recruitment, communications, budget management, and overseeing office operations, among other things.

    A devoted mother to the coolest little boy, Niah finds joy in balancing the adventures of motherhood with a fulfilling career. She is also a caffeine enthusiast, with a particular love for coffee and boba milk tea.

    Originally from Stockton, Niah now resides in Los Angeles, where she is passionate about contributing to a team that is dedicated to creating a fun and safe space for young people to grow and thrive.

  • megan@changeist.org

    Megan Mayekawa is originally from the Bay Area, San Jose, where she was born and raised. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2020 where she earned a B.A. in Sociology and started her work with City Year San Jose as a peer mentor, serving students of the highest need during the online pandemic year. After an inspiring year, she moved out to Los Angeles to continue serving with City Year Los Angeles as a Second-Year Americorps member at Santee Education Complex in South Central, and then Program Manager for the next 2 years working with schools, teachers, and Americorps members. Megan is deeply committed to youth development and advocacy, believing that with the right opportunities, every young person can achieve anything they set their mind to. In her free time, she loves to spend time with friends, cooking a delicious meal, or snuggled up to watch some of her favorite shows on the multiple streaming sites available.

  • davina@changeist.org

    Davina grew up in South LA and loves being part of spaces that center young people who want to make change in their communities and the world. She received a B.A. in Anthropology and a minor in Ethnic Studies from Saint Mary’s College of California in 2018. During undergrad Davina was a Peer Mentor for First Gen College Students, an Orientation Leader, a Weekend of Welcome Leader, and was part of a student-led team that put together Cultural Nights which gave underrepresented and marginalized students space to express themselves through spoken word, music, food, dance, and other creative media. After graduation, she joined the Lasallian Volunteer Program and moved to Philadelphia, PA where she was an Assistant Art Teacher, Tutor, and Girls Basketball Coach for two years before joining Changeist. In her free time, you can definitely catch Davina eating, planning her next food adventure or running. She also loves creating music playlists and taking herself out on self-care dates.

  • stephanie@changeist.org

Meet our Advisory Board +

Fred Grinstein
In 2018 Fred Grinstein joined Anonymous Content to spearhead the Non Fiction programming division working with the company’s extensive talent management roster to establish a prestige unscripted content brand. Previously in 2015, Grinstein joined Vice Media as Vice President of TV Development, collaborating with Filmmaker and Creative Director Spike Jonze to start up and launch Viceland, playing a key role in navigating the media company’s transition into television; and serving as a development exec for series including Weediquette, Flophouse, Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, and Randomizer. After the network launch in 2016, Grinstein stepped up for a new role within the Vice Media organization, heading up newly formed LA-based Unscripted TV division of recently acquired Pulse Films, co-developing with the company’s award-winning music video/ digital/ branded/ commercial/ and feature film divisions. While at Pulse, he served as Executive Producer on The New Age of Terror (History) and Twiz and Tuck (Viceland) meanwhile developing for clients at A&E, CNN, E!, Esquire, Vice, and Nat Geo. Prior to his time at Vice, Grinstein spent time with A&E, Tiger Aspect Productions, Travel Channel, MTV, and PBS. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Josh Holt, Chair
Josh is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins and a member of the Finance Department. Mr. Holt’s practice focuses on the representation of banks, commercial finance companies, business development companies, and other financial institutions, as well as equity sponsors and other borrowers, in a wide range of transactional matters. Josh has been recognized as an “Associate to Watch” by Chambers USA 2016 and 2017, and selected as a Southern California Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2017. He holds a J.D./M.B.A. from the University of Washington and anM.A. from the University of Chicago. Josh is an avid outdoor enthusiast with his wife and two sons.

Morgan Keller
Morgan is a co-owner of Indie Brewing Company. Sporting an MBA from Loyola Marymount University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California, Morgan is an advertising industry veteran, having worked his way up the ranks of Los Angeles’ top agencies (Chiat Day and Saatchi & Saatchi). As a producer and technical lead for clients such as Gatorade, Pepsi, Disney, Toyota,Nissan and Infiniti, Morgan has led large cross-functional teams to execute advertising campaigns on-time and on-budget. In addition to the management aspect of his work, he has technical expertise in both traditional and interactive methods of advertising and strategy including email marketing, viral campaigns, and social media. His responsibilities with Indie Brewing Company include development and implementation of marketing activities, company operations, and growth strategy.

David G. Price
David has over 20 years of experience working in private equity, consulting and financial services. He currently serves as a Managing Director at Point B Capital where he focuses on the firm’s Private Equity business and in managing the deployment of operational assets to assist in portfolio company transformations.Prior, David was a Senior Vice President for the Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG). At GLG, David drove sales, and strategy for the Western Region across the firm’s Private Equity, Investment Management and Strategic Projects platforms. David began his career working in the banking sector at Banc of America Securities and Cantor Fitzgerald/BGC Partners. He has a BA from the University of Southern California and completed work in economics at the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to his work with Changeist, he volunteers with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. He currently lives in Marina Del Rey with his wife and daughter and is an avid skier, rock climber and triathlete.

Michelle Wedberg
Michelle serves as the Vice President for Service Operations at City Year. In this role, Michelle is responsible for supporting achievement of site-level goals for impact at over 200 partner schools nationwide. Michelle comes to this role having gathered over fifteen years of experience in leading youth development and school-based service work. She spent eight years in the field with City Year Greater Philadelphia where she led school-based teams androse to become Director of the site’s Young and City Heroes programs. Michelle was promoted to Headquarters as the National Young Heroes Director in 2004, before moving on to help develop and lead City Year’s Whole School, Whole Child model. Michelle doesher work out of New Orleans, LA and is honored to serve as a board member for Changeist and Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools.

Norma Garcia
Norma is a Public Relations Specialist at Adobe, where she supports communications for Adobe’s enterprise business. She is a recent college graduate and earned her B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. During her time at Berkeley, Norma served as the Senior Vice President of Internal Affairs for the Latinx Business Student Association (LBSA), contributed to human-centered design initiatives at the Fung Institute, and helped strengthen student support services through the newly established Latinx Student Resource Center (LSRC). In recognition of her dedication to ethical leadership and community impact, she was honored with the 2024 “Beyond Yourself” Defining Leadership Principles Award at the BerkeleyHaas Undergraduate Commencement. Norma's commitment to service began early—as a member of the first cohort of Changeists in 2015. Since then, she has served as a Peer Team Leader, Youth Activist, and Special Projects Assistant with Changeist. She remains passionate about uplifting first-generation students and communities of color and continues to mentor students on their journeys through higher education, extracurricular involvement, and post-graduate opportunities. She currently resides in the Bay Area and enjoys photography, cooking, and traveling.