Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Junior College Host The Reach For Your Dreams Conference
This conference is a safe space for undocumented high school students within Sonoma County and neighboring counties. Undocumented high school students will learn that attending college right after high school is possible! Students will have the tools and knowledge to achieve their educational and career goals.
Keynote Speaker:
Denia Candela
Pronouns: her/she/ella
Identity Markers: Afro-Costeña
Candela was born in Acapulco, Guerrero, and came to the US in 2006 with her grandmother Vianey. Denia attended Sonoma Valley High School and lived in the town of Sonoma. She later attended Sonoma State University and graduated in 2016 from the Department of Math and Statistics with a degree in Statistics with a concentration in the Actuarial Field. She is a mother, wife, and leader in this county.
Denia Candela is currently part of the Country Administrator’s Office as the lead statistician for the Office of Equity in Marin. Before this role, Denia served as the Sonoma County Department of Health Services Department-wide Equity Manager and led equity efforts during the COVID-19 Pandemic Response. Denia has focused her work inside of government systems by strategically advancing racial equity work.
Throughout her career, she has been able to support regional efforts in developing strategies focused on increasing cultural sensitivity, and more recently, she is supporting Marin County’s Office of Equity work in challenging traditions, systems, processes, and policies that have created barriers in achieving racial justice as an outcome of structural racism. Candela’s record of activism has been ongoing through her work in immigrant rights and fighting for immigration reform for all, and racial justice that centers the lives experienced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
As a statistician, she approaches analytics through an equity lens, emphasizing methodology and cultural sensitivity, resulting in metrics that place community narrative at the forefront.
