Riki Ott, PhD
Riki Ott, PhD, is a community activist, a former commercial salmon “fisherm’am,” and has a degree in marine toxicology with a specialty in oil pollution. She experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill—and chose to do something about it. She is the author of Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and Not One Drop: Promises, Betrayal, and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
April Linton
April Linton is an assistant professor of sociology at UC San Diego. She studies trade, global development, and international migration. Her book Fair Trade: Niche Markets or Norm Change? is under review at Stanford University Press. She is co-editor of The Global Governance of Food (2009, Routledge), and has authored several articles about fair and sustainable trade.
Dina Cervantes
Dina Cervantes: Chicana, first in her family to go to college, and the daughter of once immigrant parents who came to the US in pursuit of the American Dream. Although a once called “at risk youth”, Dina found her voice in organizing. She has focused her last seven years in the fight to advance quality education and the quality of life for children and families.
Currently, Dina works for Los Angeles Unified School District, in Board Member Steve Zimmer’s office as a School & Community Coordinator where she focuses on organizing and constituent empowerment in the West Los Angeles Area and the Southern West San Fernando Valley. She also provides consulting for BRSG/V. John White Associates in the areas of community outreach and education around renewable energy projects in Los Angeles and throughout the state of California.
In 2007-2008, as a student in the California State University (CSU), she served as Chair of the California State Student Association (CSSA), the nation’s largest four-year statewide student association. In her term as Chair, she led a historical march of over 4000 students from the three higher education systems, “March for Higher Education”, to the state capitol. She was a founding member of “Students for California’s Future”, a coalition born from the three statewide student higher education associations in California. Dina was also very instrumental in the formation of the “CSU Alliance”, a historical coalition in the California State University system. She attended Cal State Northridge (CSUN) and graduated in 2007 with a B.A. in Child and Adolescent Development and in 2009 with a B.S. in Family Consumer Science-Family Studies. At CSUN, she served as the Director of Legislative Affairs, Director of Political Awareness, and President of Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity.
In 2003-2005, as a student of the CA Community Colleges System, Dina served as the California Student Association of Community Colleges (CalSACC) Los Angeles Region President and Statewide Representative. As a student at Santa Monica College she served the students as the Student Trustee, and Inter-Club Council Chair. For two consecutive years, she assisted in the coordination of two historical marches; “The March in March” with over 12,000 students in attendance, to the CA State Capitol.
Dina Cervantes is currently very active with the local democratic efforts in the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats and the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. Dina is a former Founding Fellow and now Advisory Board Member of New Leaders Council-Los Angeles: New Leaders Council is a national movement to train, organize, and promote young progressive leaders.
Dina is interested in pursuing a career in advocacy for quality education, quality of life for children and families, and student engagement and empowerment.
