Where were you born?

Quezon City, Philippines. I grew up in a place called Novaliches and lived there until my family moved to Las Vegas in 2007.

How long have you worked at the Health District? What jobs have you had here?

I’ve been with the Health District for two years. I started as a Disease Data Collection Specialist II with ACDC (Acute Communicable Disease Control) in 2024. Recently, I was promoted to Epidemiology Surveillance Specialist with the Office of Epidemiology and I currently work with the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner, abstracting and reporting data on violent and unintentional drug overdose deaths in Clark County to the CDC.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a paleontologist when I was a child. I loved dinosaurs and grew up reading all sorts of books about Earth’s history and all the forms of life that lived on our planet before our time. If anyone is curious, my favorite dinosaur is the ankylosaurus. It’s this giant, heavily armored herbivore with a tail club so powerful that not even the T. rex would mess with it!

What was your first job?

My first job was in retail. I worked as a sales associate for Vans in Reno and it helped pay most of my bills while I was in college, working toward my public health degree at UNR.

What is your dream job?

I’d like to pursue my MPH in the future so I can become an epidemiologist someday. My dream is to work on advancing our knowledge of health disparities affecting the AAPI community. Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial group in the U.S., yet we remain one of the most understudied populations in this country. Even in the little representation we get in specific research, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are typically aggregated within the same data which obscures the actual reality that every AAPI group uniquely experiences. My dream is to join the future workforce that will tackle this issue so we can appropriately address the needs of all groups that comprise our local AAPI population.

What is your favorite…?

• Nickname: My family never really used nicknames, so I don’t have a favorite.
• Movie: I’m a big fan of the horror genre, and The Thing by John Carpenter is a movie that I’ve seen so many times that it’s become my go-to film to watch when I’m bored. I love the plot. The characters are great, and the amazing practical effects are still considered to be the gold standard in horror movies to this day.
• Local restaurant: Trattoria Nakamura-Ya on Spring Mountain. It’s a fusion of Italian and Japanese cuisine that I highly recommend to anyone interested in trying something new.
• Charity: I adopted my husky at The Animal Foundation in 2021 and have been donating to the organization since then. I’ve also volunteered at Nevada SPCA in the past, and I follow its social media for updates on their Pet Pantry so I can donate food when supplies are running low.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and what would you do?

I’d like to go on a safari someday. As a child, I fell in love with the landscapes and wildlife of Africa from the books I read, so I’d love to witness and experience the African wilderness firsthand.

What’s one item on your bucket list that you’re eager to check off?

Retirement.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be, and why?

Anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. In college, I would always go to Oregon or Washington for spring break, and I fell in love with the scenery and weather of this region.

What’s a hobby or skill you’ve always wanted to learn?

Woodworking. I think it’s cool to have the ability to create your own items and furniture, but I heard it gets expensive and time consuming, so it’s probably something I’ll get back to later in life once I’m able to commit to the hobby.