Welcome, Brianda!

I’d like to officially welcome Brianda (She/They) to our staff! Brianda is joining us in the role of Wikipedia Expert, where she will support student editors while they make high-quality content contributions to Wikipedia. She will spend most of her time monitoring and tracking student contributions on-wiki, answering questions, providing feedback, and explaining Wikipedia rules and policies in concise ways to new student editors. I’m very excited to have Brianda join us and think her experience and expertise will be a valuable addition to the Student Program.

Most recently, Brianda worked for the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory’s Opus Project in the role of Community Program Coordinator. In this capacity, Brianda coordinated music instruction, working closely with students, teachers, and their families. Brianda’s deep commitment to equity is evident throughout her experience in education, supporting students from historically marginalized communities in different capacities. Before Opus, Brianda worked as a Program Assistant for the Upward Bound program at CSU-Fullerton where she helped hundreds of historically underserved high school students prepare for college. Brianda has held a number of internship positions further highlighting her passion for equity driven work, including positions at The Justice for Janitors Project at UCLA, Mayme E. Clayton Library & Museum, and the Museum of Social justice.

Brianda was raised in Orange County, CA. She graduated from UCLA with a major in History and a minor in Latin American Studies. While at UCLA, Brianda actually participated in a Wikipedia assignment in a course on Labor History and recalls how impactful the experience was. She is a native Spanish speaker, and is learning French and Korean. In her free time, you can find her exploring the streets of San Diego on her 2-wheeled steed, tracking down the tastiest tacos in Tijuana, or grooving to live music somewhere in SoCal. When not out and about, Brianda enjoys keeping her plant babies alive and trying to squeak out some notes on the clarinet. She’s also content with a good book in hand, accompanied by some light mezcal sipping or a warm cup of hot chocolate.

Join me in welcoming Brianda!