I am a Mom, Neighbor, PTA Leader, Part-time Substitute Teacher, Former Social Worker, Friend and Advocate

Jasmin was born and raised in Boyle Heights and comes from very humble beginnings. The daughter of immigrants from Mexico, she was raised by a hardworking single mother and is the oldest of four children. Jasmin began working at just 15 years old and continued working while putting herself through college, eventually becoming the first in her family to earn a college degree. She graduated from California State University, Northridge with a degree in Health and Human Development with an emphasis in Family Studies. Her upbringing taught her early that education, hard work, discipline, and opportunity can change the trajectory of a child’s life.

For nearly 18 years, Jasmin built a career serving vulnerable children and families throughout Los Angeles and Riverside counties. Her work included supporting low-income families, at-risk youth, survivors of domestic violence, families involved in the child welfare system, and communities struggling with housing instability and homelessness. Over the years, she advanced into leadership positions where she supervised and mentored staff, managed programs and budgets, developed policies and procedures, and built partnerships with public agencies and community organizations.

Her work also included collaborating with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and serving individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Jasmin worked on housing initiatives, helped connect vulnerable families to housing and supportive services, and successfully helped secure homelessness funding for her organization to expand resources for people in need. That experience gave her firsthand knowledge of how government funding, public policy, and community partnerships can work together to improve people's lives.

Throughout her social-services career, Jasmin also worked closely with Native American children and families, county social workers, courts, government agencies, and nonprofit service providers. She advocated for families navigating complicated systems and helped develop programs and policies designed to strengthen families and keep children safe. Her professional experience taught her how to manage public resources responsibly, navigate complex systems, bring different groups to the table, and most importantly listen to the people directly affected by the decisions being made.

For nearly 12 years, Jasmin and her family have proudly called Montebello home. She is a wife and the mother of a six-year-old son Austin who attends a dual-language school in the Montebello Unified School District. Becoming an MUSD parent brought Jasmin’s lifelong advocacy for children directly into her own community. She has volunteered hundreds of hours inside classrooms and currently serves as the elected Secretary of the La Merced Academy PTA, working alongside parents, educators, and school leaders to strengthen family involvement and create opportunities for students. Her experience as an MUSD mother, PTA leader, classroom volunteer, and substitute teacher allows her to see public education from several different perspectives.

Jasmin is running for the Board of Education because she believes the people making decisions about our schools should understand how those decisions affect children, parents, teachers, and staff in their everyday lives. She believes our district needs strong academics, stable leadership, fiscal responsibility, transparency, safe schools, quality mental-health and student support services, respected and supported educators, and genuine partnerships with families.

As both a mother and educator, Jasmin approaches decisions with a simple question: Would this be the decision I would want for my own son and for every child in our district?

Jasmin is bilingual in English and Spanish and understands firsthand the experiences of working families, immigrant families, and parents trying to create greater opportunities for their children. She believes families deserve more than a voice during election season they deserve a seat at the table when decisions about their children's education are being made.

Jasmin has spent nearly two decades standing beside families as a social worker, supporting students as an educator, working alongside parents and teachers through the PTA, and advocating for children as a mother. Now, she hopes to bring that experience, perspective, and commitment to the Montebello Unified School District Board of Education and serve the entire community as Trustee for Area 2.