Helen is a product of working-class Chinese immigrants, born in Los Angeles and raised in Frogtown (unceded Tongva territory). Since joining LA Más in 2013, Helen has focused on community-led strategies that minimize displacement pressures that come with gentrification. She ensures the work of LA Más is rooted in systems change, abundantly resourced, and resident powered.
Helen has extensive policy and community-based experience having worked for the City of Los Angeles, Living Cities, the Office of Sustainable Housing & Communities at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, and the Office of Political Affairs at the White House under President Obama’s administration. Helen also served on the Los Angeles City Planning Commission under two mayoral administrations and advocated for great racial justice in many citywide policies.
Helen serves on the board of Social Justice Partners LA and is a proud alum of LISC’s Rubinger Fellowship and the Center for Community Investment’s Fulcrum Fellowship. She holds a master’s degree in public policy and urban planning from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Communications from the University of Pennsylvania.
