George Sánchez-Tello
Program Manager & MVM Educator Sánchez-Tello is a teacher, writer, reporter, and community advocate from Los Angeles’ San Gabriel Valley. He currently teaches at California State University — Northridge and California State University — Los Angeles in the departments of Chicana and Chicano Studies. Sánchez-Tello earned his master’s degree in Chicano Studies from CSUN in 2012, where his thesis examined the social use of Mexican Son Jarocho among contemporary Chicana and Chicano communities. Recent writing covers soccer, public space, and the intersection of race and politics, as well as historical fiction.
His reporting has won awards for public service, investigative reporting, and feature writing as well as its use of the Freedom of Information Act. As a community advocate, Sánchez-Tello has organized and led community workshops with Young Storytellers, the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory, and the Wilderness Society. In 2011, Sánchez-Tello helped create the San Gabriel Mountains Forever Leadership Academy, an organizer training program for the Los Angeles area and those working to protect the region’s remaining wilderness and public space. |
Tawnya Cervantes
MVM Educator In 2017 Tawnya Cervantes graduated from the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication at California State University – Northridge (CSUN), where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a minor in Creative Writing. Being born and raised in East Los Angeles has influenced her desire to give a voice to underrepresented communities. During her undergraduate years, Tawnya was a student reporter for The Sundial, a student publication at CSUN where she covered stories on the LGBTQ community and environmental issues. She was also the Editor in Chief of Scene Magazine, another student-run publication at CSUN. Driven by her interest in creative writing, she was a member of the Northridge Playwrights Workshop, where she wrote plays about immigration and the LatinX community. Tawnya hopes to use her journalism and creative writing experience to enrich the learning outcomes of students in English-Language Arts classrooms. She also has plans to return to school to earn her master’s degree in Education or Mass Communication. |
Natalie Jiménez
MVM Educator Natalie Jiménez was born and raised in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. In 2017 she graduated from California State University – Northridge (CSUN), where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a minor in Spanish-Journalism. Coming from a diverse community and being a Spanish-speaker has inspired much of Jimenez’s work and career aspirations.
As an undergraduate she reported for two CSUN publications: The Sundial, where she wrote about the Latinx community on campus; and the university’s Spanish-language publication, El Nuevo Sol, where she wrote articles and contributed to a student-led podcast series called Dreamers: Redefinir El Sueño Americano that focused on the undocumented immigrant community in Los Angeles and their pursuit to redefine the American Dream. Since graduating, Jiménez worked as a translator at a newspaper chain. She hopes to provide further coverage of minority communities and return to school to earn a master’s degree. |