Office of Student Affairs & Alumni Relations (OSAAR)

Kevin is a queer Chicano first generation professional who has worked at the nexus of education and social change since 2010. He holds a Master of Public Policy and a Master of Social Welfare from UCLA and a Bachelor of Social Ecology with an Education Minor from UC Irvine. In his role at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Kevin oversees the School’s career services, fellowships, student support efforts, and alumni engagement strategy.

Outside of his role at Luskin, Kevin serves as the VP of Finance for UCLA Staff Assembly, conducts hate crime data analysis for the LA County Human Relations Commission, performs with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, and spends too much time going to concerts, traveling, cooking/eating plant-based foods, exercising, and playing PokemonGO & Genshin Impact.

Nandini is the eldest daughter of immigrants and a native of Atlanta, Georgia and completed a BS in Psychology and BA in Anthropology with a minor in German Language at the University of Georgia. She moved to Los Angeles in 2015 to attend graduate school and holds a Master in Public Health, Community Health Sciences, from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. As a Career Counselor for the Luskin School, Nandini hopes to provide students with support and holistic advising, along with the resources to succeed during their time here at UCLA and after leaving to pursue their passions. Outside of work, Nandini enjoys trying new restaurants across LA, finding new hiking spots, and signing up for a new art class or hobby every few months. You can most likely find her binge watching a new TV series or going on quests to find and eat the best affordable sandwiches in the city.

Nael is an U.S. Army Veteran and Chicago native, where they completed both a M.A. and B.A. in English Literature at Chicago State University. They are currently a PhD student at Claremont Graduate University, where they are studying 20th century American Literature with a focus on the Grotesque, and they hold both a certificate in Africana Studies and Gender Studies. As the Student Support Coordinator for the Luskin School, it is their hope to ensure that underrepresented student populations understand and receive the vast number of resources available to help them succeed here at UCLA. As a trans non-binary person of color, building community where students can commune in safe spaces is important to them. When Nael is not working or studying, they enjoy singing, writing, and playing with their Aussiedoodle, Sunni.

Karina is a first-generation trilingual professional raised in Los Angeles. She holds a Ph.D. in Italian Studies from Brown University and a B.A. in Psychology and Italian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. As Director of Alumni Engagement at Luskin School of Public Affairs, she is committed to building meaningful relationships and connections amongst current students and alums at the local and global levels. Her vision adopts a global citizenship lens that embraces the idea of belonging to a larger community and shared humanity where there is a political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental responsibility to collaborate, innovate, and maintain sustainable practices to make this world a better place. Before joining the UCLA family, she lived on the East Coast for 15 years. She was an adjunct professor in the Department of Modern Languages and director of study abroad at Rhode Island College, where she had experience supporting international, immigrant, undocumented, DACAmented, and refugee populations. Her favorite hobby is traveling to different countries yearly; she hopes to visit and befriend people in fifty countries by her 50th birthday. She embraces being a boy mom of two with enthusiasm and grace, and in her free time, which is slim, very slim, you will find her learning how to cook international dishes with a Mexican twist, as she likes to add a little of a kick to everything she creates.

As the Director, Policy, Advocacy, and Organizing Program Supports & Innovations at Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE), Mollie Stephens leads a team of career coaches in supporting thousands of members seeking to have an impact on equity. Prior to joining LEE, she worked for the Children’s Defense Fund-CA, Chrysalis, TreePeople, and the ACLU of Maryland, and received her dual MSW/MPP from UCLA, and her BA from Cornell University. She also runs her own coaching practice through Matter Coaching through which she nurtures leaders whose careers focus on social good. She lives in Durham, NC with her husband, daughter, and cat, and enjoys reading, gardening, and walking by the Eno river in her free time.