Please join us for a short informal reception to welcome our two newest interns, Emerson Gaspar and Brandon Martinez. Here are some short bios for both of them!

Meet Emerson Gaspar (she/her), one of the two interns with Pasadena Village this fall! Emerson is an incoming fourth year student at UCLA majoring in Public Health and minoring in Gerontology. Her main academic research interests center around health policy, HIV/ STD service accessibility, and injury and violence prevention among older adults. Upon graduation, Emerson intends to pursue a career in healthcare administration, using an administrative lens to better understand how healthcare can be more accessible and affordable. When she's not interning at the village or studying for school, Emerson also works as a barista on campus, manages a pool back in her hometown Sacramento, and is an active member of various community service clubs at UCLA. In the very rare moments she has free time, she loves to adventure and go on hikes--her favorite hike trail is the Lanikai Pillbox in Oahu. She also enjoys watching new movies & TV shows, especially older Disney movies and Studio Ghibli films. Last but not least, Emerson also has a side hobby as an amateur DJ, mixing late 2000s songs with 80s throwbacks at parties at UCLA.

Brandon Martinez is one of the new interns and is excited to join Pasadena Village. He's currently studying Computer Science at West LA community college. His previous internship was with the city of Los Angeles Department of Aging. He was originally hired as an IT systems intern to support the employees. However, because the team was short-staffed, he often worked at the front desk helping elderly community members with resources and assistance they needed. This experience opened his eyes to how meaningful it is to support the community, especially the elderly. He often found himself going out of his way to make sure the elderly community members received the help they needed, prioritizing that over his regular IT responsibilities. In his free time, he enjoys drives along Angeles Crest Highway, where he often stops to enjoy the mountain views. He’s also passionate about cars.

If you have any questions please contact our Program Manager Pablo Ortiz-Morales at pablo@pasadenavillage.org.