Where is home to you? Los Angeles, CA

Ed.M. Human Development and Psychology, 2019, Harvard Graduate School of Education
B.A. Psychology, B.A. Environmental Studies, 2015, University of California, Santa Barbara

As Manager of Community-Engaged Learning , Coco supports students who are interested in investigating public, civic and/or social justice issues they are passionate about through the integration of academic study with community-based learning, research, and action. She assists in the management of the Engaged Scholars Certificate (ESC) through advising undergraduate students, as well as working with Swearer staff and faculty to enhance student experiences with engaged scholarship.

Coco received her Ed.M. at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) where she focused on ethnic-racial identity development and understanding how individual and contextual factors interact to inform adolescents' development and adjustment. While at HGSE, Coco worked in the Adolescent Ethnic Racial Identity Lab (AERID) engaging in research that draws on socio-cultural ecological approaches to understanding ethnic-racial identity development in adolescence. In addition, Coco supported the creation of professional development programming focused on preparing educators to discuss issues of race, ethnicity, and identity with their students. Coco joins the center with several years of experience working within the nonprofit field. She served two years as a City Year Boston AmeriCorps member (2016-2018), working amongst youth, community stakeholders and educators, as well as co-leading the Women of Color Affinity Group. She also worked for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center developing and facilitating sexual violence prevention education across the Greater Boston Area.