Bruin Success

Rafi Sands '18 is an MBA candidate at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he's exploring innovative ways to help communities better adapt to the challenges of the 21st-century, including climate change and economic insecurity. While not in class, Rafi works in Business Development with Pano AI, a wildfire technology company using cameras and AI to help communities better prepare for and respond to catastrophic wildfire events. Prior to Pano, Rafi was a consultant with Bain & Company, with experience supporting C-suite strategy and operations across a range of sectors including utilities, tech and media, and automotive. Rafi graduated summa cum laude from UCLA in 2018.

Kelsey Balance, SVP, Scripted for NBCU International Studios, oversees the Studio’s Scripted division in LA. She has been with International Studios for two years and has been the key executive in packaging and selling a number of shows, including Clickbait for Netflix, Lady Parts for Peacock, The Capture for Peacock, and Stateless for Netflix, as well as major development deals and creative on premium projects at SVODs such as Apple and Amazon. Together with the wider creative teams across the UK, US, Australia and Canada, Balance is charged with building on the company’s track record of creating premium scripted content with global appeal and with developing series with emerging and diverse voices.

Prior to joining International Studios, Balance was Head of Programming at NBCUniversal’s comedy streaming venture Seeso, where she had oversight of all originals, acquisitions and co-productions, including the critically acclaimed Flowers, Take My Wife and HarmonQuest.  Prior to NBCUniversal, Balance was at Participant Media where she worked on multi-award winning comedy (or critically acclaimed series) Please Like Me, (Emmy Award winning) Hitrecord ON TV, and Sky Atlantic's Fortitude. 

Lucy Tseng is a Life & Resilience Coach working with folks who are experiencing major changes, particularly athletes of all levels who are transitioning to life after sports. Additionally, she is part of the development team that raised $5.49 billion during The UCLA Centennial Campaign and focuses on raising funds for scholarships and student support.

With clients internationally, Lucy currently resides in Los Angeles, where she was born and raised. In 2012, she graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, Asian American Studies, and Education Studies. At UCLA as a student, she was involved with several campus organizations including UCLA UniCamp, Pediatric AIDS Coalition, and served as a Resident Assistant for the Office of Residential Life. In 2014, Lucy graduated from the University of San Francisco (Southern CA campus) with a Master’s Degree in Sport Management. Her master's thesis was focused on building a comprehensive life skills program that included development training for student-athletes.

Shortly after grad school, Lucy was recruited to work for Environmental Charter Schools (ECS), where she learned in great depth about the world of business development. After two years of being hands-on with almost every project at this growing charter school network, Lucy returned to her alma mater to contribute through the development team. To this day, she is a very active Bruin alumna and staff member. In July 2020, she was appointed as a Staff Advisor to the UC Board of Regents by President Janet Napolitano.

Lucy's breadth of experience has helped her discover her passion: being a resource to all people. More specifically, her purpose in life is to inspire and support others in finding, pursuing, and living their own passions and purpose.

Outside of working at UCLA and pursuing her passion as a Coach, Lucy is involved with several global and local nonprofit organizations including Rotary International (fighting human trafficking), NextLA (formerly known as Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce), and Delta SigmaPi International Business Fraternity. Lucy is passionate about living a lifestyle of natural healthcare and serves as a Wellness Advocate fordōTERRA, an essentials oils company. Lucy also enjoys staying active and spending time with loved ones, including her furry children named @Tunechi_Kobe.

Hannah Gordon is the Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of the San Francisco 49ers. Gordon is a Bay Area native who grew up in Oakland and attended Stanford for law school. She is a former board member of Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation, among other nonprofits. Named by NFL.com as one of the most influential women in football, Gordon advises on all legal issues involving both the football team and Levi’s® Stadium and leads the ESPN Humanitarian Team of the Year-winning community impact division which includes the 49ers Foundation’s co-ed youth football programs and STEAM education program which serve tens of thousands of Bay Area youth each year. Gordon is a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 and Game Changer, The Athletic NFL Forty Under 40, Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Forty Under 40, 100 Women of Influence, Corporate Counsel Diversity Champion, ICA Cristo Rey Leader in Mission, and PureWow’s 20 in ’20 list honoring 20 Up-and-Coming Leaders Working to Better Our World. She is the author of SZN of CHANGE: The Competitor’s Playbook for Joy on the Path to Victory that has been featured by Good Morning America.

Dr. Kristen Choi is a psychiatric nurse and Assistant Professor of Nursing and Public Health at UCLA. Dr. Choi studies health services and policy approaches to promoting mental health among children and adolescents. Her current research projects include studies on adverse childhood experiences, developmental disabilities, and the intersection of homelessness and mental illness. As both a clinician and a scientist, Dr. Choi maintains a clinical practice as a registered nurse at a safety net psychiatric hospital in Downtown Los Angeles. In addition to her role at UCLA, Dr. Choi is an Investigator with Kaiser Permanente Southern California and an Associate Director for the UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program. She was the first and only nurse included on the US 'Forbes 30 Under 30 Healthcare' list in 2020 and was recently inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Kal Penn is an actor, writer, producer, and former Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. He is known for his starring roles in Designated Survivor, House, Mira Nair’s The Namesake, the Harold & Kumar franchise, and the patriotic immigration sit-com Sunnyside which he co-created for NBC. 

From 2009 to 2011, Kal took a sabbatical from acting to serve in the Obama/Biden administration, where he served as the President’s Liaison to Young Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and the Arts community. In these roles, he worked on a range of issues, including the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Affordable Care Act, Pell Grants, arts and culture programs, the DREAM Act, and rapid response to the BP Oil Spill and earthquake in Haiti.

He was a national co-chair for the Obama/Biden re-election campaign in 2012 and served on the President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities, focusing on arts education and cultural diplomacy, including the first-ever US Government arts delegation to Cuba. Penn has taught courses at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Los Angeles. Originally from New Jersey, he received his undergraduate degree in sociology, theater, film, and television at the University of California, Los Angeles, and received a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford University. He has been a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Penn recently wrapped production on the CBS Drama, Clarice (based on Silence of the Lambs), and Freeform’s late night youth election format show Kal Penn Approves This Message. He currently stars in the animated Disney Junior series Mira, Royal Detective, is an Executive Producer on the Viacom/Paramount + comedy, Surina & Mel, and can be heard in Nickelodeon’s It’s Pony. 

His culinary competition series Money Hungry airs on Food Network. 

Kal’s first book You Can’t Be Serious released on November 2nd, 2021 from Simon and Schuster/Gallery Books. He also narrates the audiobook.

Matt Kaczmarek, Director, is head of sustainable investing and macro policy research for the global credit investment team at BlackRock. He also serves as a senior member of the firm's external affairs team and is co-chair of BlackRock's Los Angeles leadership team. He is a member of the firm's geopolitical risk and inclusion and diversity committees. Matt teaches public policy analysis as adjunct assistant professor of public service at NYU's Wagner School. He serves on the board of directors of the UCLA Alumni Association, the campaign board of the national LGBT Victory Fund, and is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Dr. Jasmine Talei is a California licensed Naturopathic Doctor. She completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Film Studies at UCLA and received her Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University, California. Dr. Talei focused her clinical training on the skin-gut connection, autoimmune conditions, and mold-related illness. She has furthered her training in homeopathy, IV nutrient therapy, and craniosacral therapy. She currently also works with women and men to optimize their hormonal health and provides post-surgical naturopathic care. In alignment with her philosophy of treating the root cause, Dr. Talei understands the need for a holistic approach when it comes to achieving optimal health.

Bruin Success is hosted and produced by Christian Chavez '13.

Tim Gallati '10, MLIS '13 is a Cybrarian on the Virtual Library team at Oracle with responsibilities in data, user experience research, research services, and learning curation. Following his UCLA BA (’10) and MLIS (’13), Tim served in corporate, academic, and non-profit libraries. He also explored a career in Theological Librarianship and received a Master of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School (’18). He recently taught a course in “Community Data” at the UCLA iSchool and looks forward to connecting with the next generation of UCLA students.

Bruin Success is hosted and produced by Christian Chavez '13.