As Political Director for CEJA and CEJA Action, Mabel works to build the political power, self-governance and self-determination of EJ communities and communities of color burdened by health, economic and environmental impacts. Mabel builds the bridges of accountability between California’s elected leaders and voters, manage ballot measure campaigns, and expand democratic participation for environmental, racial and social justice by centering and including members of our community who have been historically barred from voting. Mabel successfully led the campaign to beat down Proposition 70 which preserved critical public funds to fight climate change.
Mabel became an organizer because of her mom. She found myself in the social justice movement in hopes of making the world a better place for her and others like her. Despite health problems ranging from heart disease to asthma, Mabel’s mother worked as a waitress and a care-taker which brought Mabel into organizing at United Food and Commercial Workers alongside Walmart workers with Organization United for Respect at Walmart, for retail workers’ rights, human dignity and respect in one of the largest commercial global polluters.
This brought Mabel to work for San Francisco Rising, an alliance of six Asian, Black, Latinx grassroots working-class immigrant, youth, and people of color base-building organizations across San Francisco, to build the political power to elect progressive candidates and pass bold ballot measures for necessary resources and changes in our community when elected officials would not or could not. Mabel brought her experiences to Asian Pacific Environmental Network a member of CEJA to lead a campaign to contact 30,000 voters, the largest Asian Pacific American direct voter contact efforts in California. Mabel carries these invaluable lessons forward into CEJA’s Civic Engagement and Electoral programs to build the infrastructure of political power and decision making for the future we are building today.
Outside of electoral politics and organizing, Mabel is a current fellow in LeaderSpring’s LEADStrong women of color cohort. Mabel can be found meditating and teaching yoga, taking trips to some of the most beautiful places, and writing books for children of color so they can see themselves in this world.