In collaboration with the Raza Grad Committee, the UCLA Latino Alumni Association has prepared a panel discussion to support the Class of 2020 during these historically unprecedented circumstances. This panel will provide you with insightful commentary and perspectives from individuals who have previously navigated similar uncertainty. These panelists from different industries will provide insight on how they successfully secured job offers, tackled obstacles in a tough job market, and overcame extreme adversity caused by the economic downturn.

Date: Tuesday, July 28th 
Time: 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM 

Where: VIA ZOOM - Please email [email protected] or

[email protected] if you do not receive the link!

Panelists:  
Denice Gonzalez-Kim, ‘08 & M.B.A ‘19 - M&A Strategy & Operations Consultant at EY-Parthenon.
Sergio Orznkski, ‘09 - Real Estate Professional at Keller Williams Realty, Inc.
Joshua Boudreaux, ‘09 - Medical Representative for VITAS Healthcare. 
Juana Sanchez,’09 - Public Policy consulting, Senior Associate at HCM Strategists

RSVP below to receive the Zoom link

BIOS:

Denice Gonzalez-Kim, ‘08 is a Senior Consultant at EY Parthenon – M&A Strategy and Operations in the Los Angeles office. As a first-generation Latina from South Central Los Angeles, she’s passionate about diversity and inclusion in higher education and the corporate world. Denice started her professional career doing Business Development across the world in the Aerospace Industry. She transitioned from Aerospace to the Nonprofit Industry working in Business Development for School on Wheels, a nonprofit that focuses on education access for homeless children on Skid Row and the greater Los Angeles area. Currently, Denice works on a variety of transaction-related projects with private equity and corporate clients across various industries.

Denice has received numerous awards for her dedication to service in the fields of education, poverty alleviation, and diversity improvement. She was a 2016 Woman of Excellence Awards Nominee for the National Latina Business Women Association of Los Angeles (NLBWA-LA). In 2015 and 2016, Denice was honored to receive the President's Volunteer Service Award Gold Medal from the White House. The Pacific Century Institute awarded her in 2013 for her Exceptional Leadership and Commitment to Building Bridges Between Diverse Cultures. Additionally, the Riordan Scholars Program presented her with the Mentor of The Year award in 2009.

She received her MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2019. At Anderson, she was VP of Diversity and Inclusion for AAC, VP of Impact Investing for AVIP, and the VP for The Consortium class of 2019. She received her B.A. from UCLA in Global Studies with a minor in Public Affairs in 2008 and is a UCLA Latino Alumni Association scholarship recipient.

In her free time, Denice enjoys hiking with her husband, long-distance solo runs, golfing with friends through the Latina Golfers Association (LGA), or ‘vegging out’ while watching Korean dramas.


Josh Boudreaux, ‘09 was born in San Pedro and raised in Santa Fe Springs. He is a first-generation college student and identifies as Creole and Costa Rican. Josh has experienced various life obstacles including losing his brother at 12 years old, being left for dead at 17 years old when he was shot, but persevered by getting into UCLA. Determined to finish his education, he slept in his car his last two quarters. Josh proudly graduated a quarter early with a B.A. in Political Science in 2009. After graduating he attended Chapman University to earn a Masters in Public Administration in 2011.

Joshua’s professional journey includes internships with the City of Whittier, Union Representative for the Orange County Employee Association where he served as the main contact link between management and agencies for about 16,000 employees, an Analyst II for the City of Anaheim, and currently, he is a Professional Medical Representative for VITAS Healthcare.

Josh has learned to navigate his professional and personal life by breaking down doors, building his networks, and staying hungry. He gives back by way of advocating against Domestic Violence and is not afraid to share his mental health journey which includes working through anxiety, depression, OCD, and PTSD. In his free time, he enjoys BBQing, fishing and is a proud husband and father to his wife, Janeth and daughter Amelia.


Juana H. Sanchez, ‘09 is a proud first-generation, daughter of Mexican immigrants from a working-class community, and graduate of UCLA, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in American Literature and Culture with minors in Chicano/a Studies, Education Studies, and Political Science. Throughout her four years at UCLA, she worked part-time at the Academic Advancement Program, which fueled her interests in a career serving historically marginalized and minoritized students. After graduating in 2009, she embarked on her career as an academic advisor and retention coordinator at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), a historically Black university. In 2012, Juana transitioned to the nonprofit sector as Assistant Director of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) National Internship Program. Following these professional experiences, Juana completed her Master of Public Policy degree at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Since graduate school, Juana has worked on higher education policy advocacy, collective impact, and consulting. She is currently a Senior Associate at HCM Strategists, a national public policy consulting firm focused on advancing equity in K-12 and postsecondary education.


Sergio Orzynski, ‘09 was born and raised in San Francisco. Sergio grew up in a Nicaraguan household speaking Spanish and taking ESL in school till he became proficient in English. Throughout his formative years, he was deeply immersed in martial arts which helped him develop the discipline to study hard and accomplish his goals. In 2009, Sergio graduated from UCLA with a double major in Psychology and Economics. After graduating, Sergio began his career in retail management with Target where he worked there for seven and a half years as a sales floor and logistics manager. This built his foundation for his next career as an entrepreneur and as a real estate professional. Sergio has been a full-time Real Estate agent with Keller Williams Realty, Inc. since 2017. This fulfilling professional has provided Sergio the opportunity to help families build wealth through real estate.

If there are any questions that you would like to ask the panelists, please email your questions to University Relations Chair, Cesar Pacheco at [email protected] no later than July 27th at 5 PM.