ABOUT US:

Kellie Benson

Kellie is the director of research for the Make A Change Foundation. After receiving her Doctor of Pharmacy from USC, she quickly became the lead pharmacist at Huntington Memorial Hospital. A few years later, she decided to take some time off and open her own bakery shop. After expanding her shop and opening  several more locations, she handed the company off to her daughter so she could return to her job as a part time pharmacist at the hospital and also focus on her research for the Make a Change Foundation. She spends her free time at one of her shops in Los Angeles making cupcakes to give to the patients at the hospital. 

Viviana Garcia

Viviana is a secretary of the Make a Change Foundation.  She graduated from NYU with a degree in cinematography.  She is in charge of contacting people and setting dates for future events for the foundation. Viviana is currently filming a movie with a famous movie director and also close friend Guillermo del Toro. She spends her free time traveling around the world and learning new languages, cultures and people.

Desiree Ha

After graduating from UCSD with a M.D. in pediatrics, Desiree helped to co-found the Children's Hospital. Traveling from country to country, she is the public relations administrator for the Make a Change Foundation. In her free time, Ha is a successful taste tester, sampling various Yelp-worthy restaurants and dessert shoppes. 

Kristin Koga

Kristin is the publicist of the Make a Change Foundation. As a young adult, Kristin decided to retire from her music career to pursue other aspirations. Also the CEO of her own flourishing cosmetics company, Koga graduated from USC with a masters in Business Administration. She spends her free time advocating against animal cruelty and volunteering at animal shelters.

Tammi Matsukiyo

Tammi Matsukiyo is one of the founders of the Make a Change Project.  She primarily deals in the legal aspects  of such the foundation as well as collecting esteemed donors.  A successful lawyer with a masters in behavioral psychology from UC Berkeley, she started her own law firm at the age of 29 and is still consulted from time to time on major cases.  She spends her early retirement counseling at-risk teens and volunteering with the Red Cross in the Disaster Relief sector.  She has no children of her own but enjoys spoiling the children of her friends and family.

Chris  Ryan 

As one of the seven heads of the Board of Supervisors for the county of Los Angeles, Chris Ryan helped funded the Make a change Project. Graduating from UCLA and receiving a  Masters degree in Business and Political Science and Juris Doctorate Degree from Harvard, Ryan is planning to run for Congress in 2016. As one of the Senators of California, Ryan intends to have the Make a change Project go nation-wide. On his free time, Ryan also enjoys hosting multiple volleyball clinics in the cities of Monterey Park, Alhambra, and San Gabriel, California. Every summer, Ryan spends one week in Sacramento, volunteering for the American Legion at the annual session of California Boys' State, where he first received inspiration to be involved in the government. He enjoys not only teaching the future generation how to play volleyball, but how to work together and form meaningful interpersonal relationships with others.   

Lauren saiki

Saiki is the treasurer of the Make a Change Project.  She handles the foundation's money transferred to charity organizations.  She graduated from the University of West Virginia with her masters degree in Exercise Physiology.  She enjoys traveling around the world promoting a healthy lifestyle to a variety of audiences,  mostly children.  In her free time, she likes to travel around the world to places she's never been to and coaching basketball to kids.  

Christopher tang

Christopher Tang is and has been the Dean of the Department of Psychology at Yale University for the past 15 year. He has published over 150 research papers regarding teen suicide and the psychological aspect behind suicide and its prevention. Not Only a world renowned scholar, he also worked for the FBI and CIA during his early career. He participated in many unresolved suicide investigations. In our interview with him last year, he told us about retiring soon in the future and has been invited to teach at Cambridge University for two semester as a Professor Emeritus.