Daniela Cervantes: HHF Ignite Program Fellow & SVL Intern

July 21, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JYCfKKyB-A&t=1s Daniela Cervantes is a 17-year-old incoming freshman at the University of California, Berkeley. She was born in Salinas, California and grew up in Greenfield, California where she attended Greenfield High School and graduated at the top of her class. Growing up in an underserved, low-income community, Daniela was fueled by her parents’ experiences as blue collar workers and Oaxacan heritage in order to strive for academic success. Daniela distinguished herself as a leader in her school and agricultural hometown by serving as President of her student body during her 8th grade, freshman, and sophomore years, and then serving as Associated Student Body President as a senior. Through these roles Daniela ensured that organizing, planning, and executing activities such as Homecoming Week, rallies, and Prom met her class and school’s needs. Additionally, she co-founded her school’s first Gay-Straight Alliance to advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion in a generally intolerant community. Daniela is especially proud to have impacted her community as founder and President of her class’ French Club which fundraised, planned, and executed a trip to France for herself and eight other low-income classmates who had been rigorously studying the language for four years.

Through her extensive leadership positions and dedication to volunteering with her local outreach organizations, Daniela’s senior year of high school was filled with college acceptances to New York University, UCLA, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and early admission to UC Berkeley, along with Berkeley’s most prestigious merit-based Regents and Chancellor’s scholarship. Furthermore, Daniela was awarded the Coca Cola Scholarship of $20,000, which went to only 150 students in the United States out of 86,000 applicants, as well as the Youth Award in Community Service from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. Daniela is truly passionate about activism and advocacy for the representation and success of under-served and underrepresented groups such as communities of color, women’s and LGBT rights. She’s currently at a stage in her life where she can see herself as a politician, cinematographer, marketing executive, film producer, or a non-profit CEO. Daniela is looking forward to taking advantage of all the opportunities at UC Berkeley and beyond to fulfill her goals and create a meaningful impact in the world.

We are delighted that Daniela’s passion, vision and goals align so well with those of Silicon Valley Latino. We also believe her future is full of promise and are optimistic that she will not only accomplish her goals but exceed expectations. Silicon Valley Latino is happy to have her as an intern through the Hispanic Heritage Foundation’s Ignite Program and we’ll do everything to support her success. Adelante!