Environmental Health Scientist | Vanessa Galaviz

Vanessa Galaviz is an American environmental health scientist.

Galaviz completed degrees at San Diego State University and UC Diego and received her PhD in Environmental & Occupational Hygiene in 2013 from the University of Washington.

She has always had a strong interest in understanding and addressing the environmental health of minority and low-income communities. Her graduate work fell well within this area, researching diesel exposure among pedestrians who cross the US–Mexico border in San Ysidro, CA. The cross-border findings have already helped establish a biomarker for diesel exposure and has already been used by San Ysidro to consider policy changes.

Galaviz has already received multiple awards in her career, including the Casa Familiar ABRAZO Award in 2011, the the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Volunteer Award in 2012, and the Gilbert S. Omenn Award for Academic Excellence in 2013.

In addition to her academic work, Galaviz is very active in the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and is passionate about inspiring high school and undergraduate students, especially minority students, to pursue science as a career. She is famous at for her ability to organize field trips and lab visits for budding scientists and uses any national meeting she may presenting her work at to also network with and recruit prospective students.

Culture Icon | Sonia Marie De León de Vega

Maestra Sonia Marie De León de Vega is a LA-based American symphony and opera conductor. Born in San Antonio, TX, De León de Vega is the daughter of actress/producer Sonia De León and singer/guitarist Reynaldo Sanchez. De León de Vega began her musical training at age four. She excelled in school and later at university where she focused on conducting studies with Dr. David Buck. She continued her training with Herbert Blomstedt, Otto Werner Mueller, Maurice Abravanel, Pierre Boulez, Andre Previn, Zubin Metha, and Ricardo Muti.

De Leon de Vega has been a guest conductor for many orchestras and opera companies and has developed concerts and children’s music workshops for the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles. At the Santa Cecilia Orchestra she developed the Discovering Music program that takes orchestra members into elementary schools in underserved Latino neighborhoods to introduce children to classical music, the instruments of the orchestra, and choir. The program has worked with more than 40,000 students in 35 schools introducing thousands of children to classical music, orchestral instruments, and the magic of the orchestra.

De Leon de Vega has accumulated many and diverse accolades. She was the first woman in history to conduct a symphony orchestra for the Pope, she was named named Outstanding Latina of the Year in 2000 by Univision, Mervyns, and Target, and she was voted one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the US twice. In April 2005 Hispanic Business Magazine named her in their “80 Elite Women” list. Also in 2005, she was named “Business Woman Of The Year in Arts And Entertainment” in the State of California.

Below is a NBC Nightly News segment on De León de Vega and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra...

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Smart Stars | Eva Longoria

Eva Longoria is an American actress, activist, and philanthropist best known for her roles on Desperate Housewives and Young and the Restless. Born in Corpus Christi, TX to Mexican-American parents Enrique Longoria, Jr. and Ella Eva Mireles, she can trace her Spanish ancestry in the New World back to 1603.

In college, Longoria studied kinesiology and received her Bachelor of Science degree in 1998, the same year she won the title of Miss Corpus Christi. Soon after university, she won an Infinity Model Search contest in LA where and was later signed by a theatrical agent. She joined the cast of Young and the Restless in 2001 as Isabella Braña, a role she won an ALMA Award for in 2002. She has since gone on to perform in many other tv shows and movies and has received multiple other acting nominations and awards.

Longoria founded Eva's Heroes in 2006, a charity which helps developmentally disabled children and serves as a spokesperson for many other nonprofit organizations. 2009 was a big year for Longoria. She enrolled in a Master's program in Chicano Studies and Political Science at Cal State University, Northridge, was appointed to a bi-partisan commission issued with the task of determining the feasibility of the creation of a National Museum of the American Latino, and was named Philanthropist of the year by the Hollywood Reporter for her commitment to Latino causes and giving back to the community. She also began serving as an executive producer of Shine Global Inc.'s film The Harvest/La Cosecha in 2009 (released in 2011), a documentary that focuses on three teenage Mexican migrant workers in order to raise awareness about the hundreds of thousands of child migrant farm workers in the U.S. In 2010, Longoria created the Eva Longoria Foundation to help Latinas build better futures for themselves and their families through education and entrepreneurship.

Longoria has become quite active in politics in recent years. In 2011 she proclaimed Arizona's SB 1070 immigration law unconstitutional and fought against Texas Governor Rick Perry’s budget cuts for services to the mentally disabled (including her sister). In 2012, she was one of seven Californians named as co-chairs of Barack Obama's re-election campaign and she later spoke Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.