Founder and Director

Growing up in the San Fernando Valley has been an incredible and eye-opening reality that has influenced my work in environmental justice organizing. My experience living here, along with my education, have helped me understand how environmental injustices affect our livelihoods and the importance of being an advocate for positive, local change. By creating REC, I aim to share the specialized knowledge I have gained about our surrounding environment to create consciousness, inspire hope for change, and provide young people with pathways toward self-determination through environmental leadership.

Board Member

Alejandra Fernández, originally from Guanajuato, is a lover of plants and animals, an artist, photographer and a graduate of RI from UANL. She finds her passion in the care and preservation of native plants.

Board Member

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Alejandro has an appreciation for our city’s open spaces and biodiversity. Habitat gardening is important to Alejandro. He has fond memories of helping his family with their landscaping business. Gardening has instilled Alejandro’s appreciation and curiosity for the natural world, whether pulling weeds or stumbling upon new insect friends.

He has worked for land trusts, nature centers, and native plant nurseries, advocating California native plants.

Board Member

Estephany Campos grew up in South Central Los Angeles and developed a deep love for nature after her first camping trip with friends while attending the University of California, Riverside. After graduating from Otis College, Estephany balanced jobs as a Teaching Artist and Museum Educator. She later served as the Lead Interpretive Ranger for the Coconino National Forest in Flagstaff, AZ, earning a Regional Forester’s award in 2018 for her efforts in diversity and inclusivity. In 2021 she worked as a Recreation Technician in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and later began working in the Los Angeles Gateway Ranger District, where she was designated as a permanent Assistant Recreation Officer.

Board Member

Anthony Gascon is a seasoned fundraising professional with over a decade of experience in the non-profit sector. A graduate of Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in Business Administration, Anthony currently serves as the Associate Director of Fundraising at St. Lucy’s Priory High School. His expertise spans capital campaigns, major gifts, and strategic annual funds. Beyond his professional work, Anthony is a passionate advocate for outdoor stewardship. As an assistant coach for the Damien High School Mountain Bike Team, he spends his free time teaching youth the fundamentals of cycling and the importance of trail etiquette, reflecting his deep commitment to preserving our natural landscapes. 

Board Member

Born and raised in Los Angeles, I moved to the Bay Area in 2011 to study and earn my bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture at UC Berkeley. Falling in love with the native coastal scrub and redwood groves of the Bay, I began my career immediately after graduation at a San Francisco based landscape architecture firm, specializing in parks, schoolyards, and athletic design. With a deep passion for the outdoors and the sense of calm it provides beyond the built environment, my work centers on community engagement and development as the foundation for truly inclusive public spaces. My work is rooted in designing green spaces that honor local voices and foster vibrant, connected communities.

Board Member

Jose Mireles believes that access to clean, safe, and biodiverse green space is a fundamental human right. A dedicated Horticulturist and Arborist, Jose’s roots are in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, where he spent most of his life curating gardens alongside his father. This foundational experience sparked a lifelong passion for the land.

As the Parks Superintendent for the City of Pasadena, Jose views the labor force as an integral component of a healthy urban ecology. He is a staunch advocate for the "green-collar" workforce, believing that true environmental justice requires investing in technical education and dignity of the people who steward our land. 

Jose translates his deep municipal expertise into actionable community empowerment. By centering community voices and professionalizing the workforce, Jose works to protect frontline neighborhoods and build a future where both the land and the laborers who maintain it are treated with ecological respect.

Board Member

Montze’s (she, her) leadership and lived experiences stem from growing up in a low-income, immigrant Mexican family in Santa Ana, CA. She values community organizing, community participatory action research, health policy, and strategically working to better the livelihood of communities disproportionately affected by lack of investment and access to healthy resources.

Montze decided to join the REC Board because she believes in the mission and vision of the organization. REC is not just a nonprofit, it is an opportunity to get community together, to find roots in the community, and to reflect on how we can be more responsive to the environments around us.

Montze holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley and a Master of Public Health from California State University, Long Beach. Montze is an avid runner, hiker, and reader.

Board Member

Community-driven nonprofit executive with 30+ years of experience advancing environmental justice, workforce development, and community-based services in underserved communities. Proven leader in designing, scaling, and managing large-scale environmental and conservation programs, with deep expertise in securing and administering multi-million-dollar public and private funding, including City of Los Angeles contracts, state grants, and philanthropic partnerships. Recognized for leading with a strong equity, accountability, and service-oriented lens while building sustainable programs that create jobs, improve neighborhoods, and strengthen community resilience.

Board Member

Offering more than two decades of nonprofit management leadership, Roxana is committed to community economic development and environmental access. Roxana’s background in youth development and environmental justice complements her role to increase the community’s access to the outdoors and to environmental careers.

Fluent in both English and Spanish, Roxana has contributed to bicultural programs in several communities in LA County including NorthEast Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, Pico Union and the San Fernando Valley. 

Roxana holds a BA degree in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Environmental Justice, and a BA degree in Latin American and Latino Studies from UC Santa Cruz and is a Certified CA Naturalist.