I was raised in Brentwood, New York—a place that the news too often reduces to crime statistics or headlines about what’s broken. But I know Brentwood differently. It’s where I learned about sacrifice. About love. About what it means to belong to a community that looks out for each other even when no one else will.

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I grew up surrounded by systems that were never built for us—underfunded schools, polluted parks, and government agencies that treated our neighborhoods like dumping grounds. When Roberto Clemente Park, a cherished space in Brentwood, was secretly filled with toxic waste, it wasn’t just an environmental crime. It was personal. A reminder that some people in power didn’t think our lives were worth protecting.

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But instead of letting that be the end of the story, I made it the beginning.

I founded Islip Forward to organize, inform, and fight back—using digital tools, direct action, and community storytelling. What started as a grassroots project in my living room has grown into a movement that’s reached over 300,000 people across Long Island. Through tools like Brentwood Votes, Central Islip Votes, and our Suffolk County ICE enforcement tracker, we’ve helped neighbors turn fear into action, silence into turnout, and disillusionment into political power.

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In 2023, I became the youngest White House appointee at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where I served as a Special Advisor for Implementation and Climate Justice. There, I worked to ensure that the largest climate investment in U.S. history—the Inflation Reduction Act—reached the communities most harmed and least heard. I helped federal agencies understand what I’ve always known: that the people closest to the pain are also closest to the solution.

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But I’ve never lost sight of where I come from. I don’t do this work for a title or a seat at the table. I do it for the high school student who feels like no one’s listening. For the family who’s lived down the block from a toxic site for too long. For every community that’s been told to wait their turn.

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I believe in organizing from the ground up. In showing up with both love and fire. In building power that doesn’t depend on permission.

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I’m not here to reform broken systems. I’m here to help build new ones—rooted in justice, led by the people, and powered by the places they tried to forget.