Bruin Success

La'Tonya Rease Miles, Ph.D. '04 is the Executive Director of First-Year Experience at UCLA, where she works collaboratively with Residential Life, Student Affairs departments more generally and academic departments campus-wide to develop initiatives and to increase awareness of the first-year experience on campus. Dr. Miles has established two successful programs for first-generation college students—one at UCLA and the other at Loyola Marymount University—both recognized for national Best Practices. Prior to this position, La'Tonya was the Director of the Academic Resource Center at Loyola Marymount University where she also spearheaded campus-wide initiatives that address student food insecurity and worked closely with the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education to establish travel abroad pathways for students of color and first-generation college students. She earned a Ph.D. in American literature from UCLA; and her research interests include the hidden curriculum in higher education, narratives about the first-generation college experience, and the relationship of physical space and college student engagement.  

Bruin Success is hosted by Katie Russo, produced by Christian Chavez '13 and made possible by UCLA Alumni.

Todd Sargent ’96 leads talent and organizational development solutions for The Walt Disney Company’s Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products segment, solving complex human capital challenges and implementing innovative change strategies. Prior to his role at Disney, he spent 16 years in the management consulting industry. He served for five years as president the City of Los Angeles Innovation and Performance Commission and is now a board member of the City of Los Angeles Civil Service Commission.

As a student, Todd was a leader in the Undergraduate Student Association Council (USAC), Office of Residential Life (ORL), Student Alumni Association (SAA), and a founding father of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity. Todd received the UCLA Chancellor’s Service Award at graduation. He remained involved as an Alumni Scholar Mentor, Alumni Representative for USAC, co-chair of Lambda Alumni Network, and Advocate (President) of the Order of the Golden Bruin (OGB). He regularly participates in a number of Alumni Association programs, including Dinner for 12 Strangers, Interview with a Bruin, and Entertainment Networking Night. He’s currently serving his second term with the UCLA Alumni Association Board. In addition to his UCLA degree in political science, Todd holds an MBA from the George Washington University School of Business.

Bruin Success is hosted by Katie Russo, produced by Christian Chavez '13 and made possible by UCLA Alumni.

Jamika Martin '17 is the founder of ROSEN Skincare, a clean beauty brand for people with acne-prone skin. After years of dealing with difficult skin and a lackluster selection of solutions, Jamika began formulating products while studying Business Economics at UCLA. Upon graduating in 2017, she pursued ROSEN full time in the Startup UCLA Summer Accelerator program. Since launching, Jamika has grown ROSEN Skincare on a bootstrapped budget to thousands of customers and secured partners such as Urban Outfitters, FabFitFun and the Target Takeoff Beauty Accelerator.

Jamika is passionate about building thoughtful and meaningful brands while finding balance and taking time for yourself. Her goal is to continue to scale ROSEN as a profitable business heading toward an acquisition while allowing flexibility, peace, and mindfulness for herself and all those involved in the journey.

Bruin Success is hosted by Katie Russo, produced by Christian Chavez '13 and made possible by UCLA Alumni.

Stephen Mendoza '18 is a proud product of the Santa Ana public school system. His experience growing up in a poor, underprivileged community motivated him to learn more about finance in hopes of providing his family with the financial stability he never had growing up. This passion brought him to UCLA, a school he unquestionably believes is the best school in the country. While at UCLA, he worked with organizations aimed to help marginalized communities such as Furnish the Homeless and Career Closet. After graduating from UCLA in 2018, Stephen has been working as a Financial Analyst with Wells Fargo’s Restaurant Finance Team in San Diego. Outside of work, Stephen maintains his commitment to his hometown serving as an Ambassador for the Project Youth OCBF organization, an organization dedicated to matching at-risk youth with professional business internships. As a current UCLA Anderson Riordan Programs MBA Fellow, Stephen plans to earn an MBA in the future to pursue his passion for Social Entrepreneurship.

Bruin Success is hosted by Katie Russo, produced by Christian Chavez '13 and made possible by UCLA Alumni.

As UCLA’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, Nurit Katz, MBA/MPP ’08 works to foster partnerships among academic, research, and operational departments to create a world-class living laboratory for sustainability. She also serves as Executive Officer for Facilities Management, which provides a wide range of services including the maintenance and renovation of buildings, grounds and utility infrastructure. Additionally, she is an Instructor for UCLA Extension and Lecturer for UCLA’s Institute of Environment and Sustainability. Nurit holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, a Masters in Public Policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and a BA in Environmental Education from Humboldt State University.

Bruin Success is hosted by Katie Russo, produced by Christian Chavez '13 and made possible by UCLA Alumni.

In 2015, Paul Viviano, MPA ’76 accepted his current role as President and CEO of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). Prior to this position, he served as the CEO of UC San Diego Health System and Vice-Chancellor of UCSD Health Sciences. Before UCSD, he was board chairman and CEO of Alliance HealthCare Services, and President and CEO of USC University Hospital and USC/Norris Cancer Hospital. Viviano now serves in leadership capacities on various community boards and health care organizations. He is chairman of the Board of Directors for the California Children’s Hospital Association (CCHA) and a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, where he serves on the Public Policy Committee and as chair of CEO National Advisory Committee. Paul also serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees at Loyola Marymount University. He was named a 2016 Leader of Today Honoree by the Health Policy and Management Alumni Association of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health; and one of the LA500, LA's Most-Influential in 2018 and 2017 by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Additionally, he’s the incoming President of the UCLA Health Policy and Management Alumni Association Board of Directors. Paul holds a Bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara and a Master's degree in Public Administration and Public Health from UCLA.

Bruin Success is hosted by Katie Russo, produced by Christian Chavez '13 and made possible by UCLA Alumni.

Anna Lee Fisher '71, M.D. '76, M.S. '87 is a famous chemist, physician and astronaut and an amazing Triple Bruin with 3 degrees from UCLA. Dr. Fisher was also the 2019 distinguished UCLA College Commencement speaker. She was selected by NASA in 1978 to be among the agency’s first female astronauts. In 1983, just two weeks before delivering her daughter, she was assigned to her flight on the space shuttle Discovery, and she embarked on mission STS-51A in 1984 when her daughter was just 14 months old – making her the first mother in space. After logging 192 spaceflight hours, she returned to UCLA to get her Master’s in chemistry in 1987. She served NASA in several capacities throughout her career. In addition to serving on space missions, Fisher was the Chief of the Astronaut Office’s Space Station branch, where she had a significant role in building the foundation for the International Space Station. She also worked in the mission control center as a lead communicator to the space station. Before retiring from NASA in 2017, Anna Lee was a management astronaut working on display development for NASA’s pioneering Orion spacecraft, which will take astronauts farther into the solar system than they have ever gone. Lastly, Dr. Fisher is one of UCLA’s iconic alumni featured in its Optimists campaign.

Bruin Success is hosted by Katie Russo, produced by Christian Chavez '13 and made possible by UCLA Alumni. 

Jake Rosen '16 is an Account Manager at Hulu working within the Advertising Sales organization. He was previously a Sales Planner within the Pricing and Planning team. Prior to Hulu, he joined Rubin Postaer & Associates as a Digital Marketing Coordinator, where he ran the digital efforts for clients such as Honda, Los Angeles Clippers, Intuit, and Apartments.com. A New Jersey transplant, he graduated from UCLA in 2016 with his B.A. in English. 

Bruin Success is hosted by Katie Russo, produced by Christian Chavez '13 and made possible by UCLA Alumni.

Vishaka Sriniwasan '16 is a Sr. Associate Business Analyst at Amgen in their Information Systems group. She graduated from UCLA with a major in Computational and Systems Biology, and a minor in Global Studies in 2016. At UCLA, Vishaka cared passionately about creating a community of innovative thinkers in the Med-Tech space, and founded the on-campus organization, Bruin Medical Entrepreneurs. She was also involved with the UCLA Undergraduate Science Journal and was a computational research assistant at the California Nanosystems Institute.

Vishaka interned with multiple start-ups, and then at Amgen, which led to her first job as Associate Information Systems Analyst in Amgen's Research Informatics group. In this role, she interacted closely with scientists to develop technical solutions to optimize their research process. In March 2019, Vishaka was promoted and has since worked with the global clinical trials and enterprise IT teams at Amgen. She was born and brought up in Mumbai, India, and moved to the US for her UCLA undergraduate education.

Bruin Success is hosted by Katie Russo, produced by Christian Chavez '13 and made possible by UCLA Alumni.

J.J. Lee '13 studied Computational and Systems Biology and graduated in 2013. Currently, she is a program manager at L'Oréal’s technology incubator where they create programs and technology-driven devices and products to offer consumers more personalized products. She recently helped launch Color and Co, a personalized hair color service delivered to your door. Today, she is working on a new project for Clarisonic skincare devices. Before her time at L'Oréal, she worked in product development, specializing in formulation for Sephora, Kendo brands – Marc Jacobs Beauty, Kat Von D and Formula X nail. In hopes to understand more about cosmetic testing and FDA regulation, she went on to receive an M.S. in Biostatistics at Columbia University. As a true beauty, trend and science enthusiast, J.J. strives to innovate in both technology and cosmetics. You can usually find her on a plane in between Seattle, NYC, Paris, and San Francisco.

Bruin Success is hosted by Katie Russo, produced by Christian Chavez '13 and made possible by UCLA Alumni.