aian mendoza (they/them) is a Research Associate with OBI's Network for Transformative Change.
aian comes into this role with a passion and dedication for movement building and community organizing across issues and sectors. They've enjoyed learning for a broader perspective on collective struggles such as health access, queer and trans justice, disability and covid awareness, workers justice, and student leadership. More recently, aian was advancing LGBTQQIA+ and Undocu initiatives at Diablo Valley College, and providing crisis support services around suicide prevention. Prior to grad school, aian was a youth organizer with AYPAL: Building API Community Power to grow leadership and power around ethnic studies and organizing frameworks.
aian is a proud community college graduate from Santa Ana College, and is also a graduate from UC Riverside's Bachelor's in Ethnic Studies program and UC Berkeley's Master’s in Social Welfare (MSW) program.
In aian's free time, they are coordinating the CARE (Community Archival Resilience and Engagement) Project through UC Berkeley's Ethnic Studies Library and Asian American Research Center to preserve Southeast Asian elders' resilience through the COVID pandemic, and the online archive will be available Spring 2026. They also go on adventures with their cattle dog, Azula.
