Gabriel Maldonado is an activist, long-time community organizer, founder and Chief Executive Officer of TruEvolution. Founded in 2007, TruEvolution is a health and justice organization serving LGBTQ+, youth, seniors, and people living with HIV in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Formerly a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS under President Barack Obama, Gabriel has worked in public, private, and industry spaces having served on the national advisory board for ViiV Healthcare, and advisory groups for Merck & Co. and Gilead Sciences. 

What are you most excited about for the Racial Equity Commission? 

I am most excited about meeting new folks and expanding my understanding of the diverse and complex nature of inequities and opportunities throughout the State. 

What role do you see yourself playing in Commission Activities? 

I see myself as a facilitator and a liaison. My role is to bring my expertise and insights to facilitate a set of community-informed recommendations and strategies that can be of the People and for the People. 

Yolanda R. Richardson serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of San Francisco Health Plan (SFHP). In this role, she works collaboratively with SFHP’s Governing Board to set the strategic vision and provide executive leadership for the #1 Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan in San Francisco, California. Richardson cultivates SFHP’s strong partnership with providers, hospitals, and community partners to deliver quality whole-person care to members and ensures financial stewardship and stability for SFHP’s nearly $1 Billion operational budget. As a cutting-edge health care leader, Richardson brings vision, operational excellence, and passion to her work.  

What are you most excited about for the Racial Equity Commission? 

I am most excited about hearing from Californians and what they want to see as we work to advance racial equity in the state. My fellow Commissioners and I have been traveling to cities across the state, visiting with community members in each region, and learning about the issues that impact them. Listening and learning has provided us with the education we need to begin our work. This is an ideal time for us to prioritize racial equity. We are on the heels of the Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate movements, and now is the time for us to take the important conversations we had during these turbulent times and create meaningful change.

What role do you see yourself playing in Commission Activities? 

I see myself drawing on the lessons we learned in each community to create meaningful and impactful change. As a Commission, we are champions for equity. I am grateful to Gov. Gavin Newsom for this opportunity to uplift our marginalized communities and create a better future for all Californians. 

Angelica Salas is an immigrant from Durango, Mexico. She came to the United States as a child to reunite with her parents, who came to provide a better life for their family. Angelica comes to her understanding of immigrants and immigration through first-hand experience; she and her entire family lived in the country undocumented, experienced deportation, and were able to legalize their status. In 2008, Angelica became a U.S. citizen. She makes Pasadena, California her home, the first city she arrived at as a child. She is married to Mayron Payes, an immigrant from El Salvador, and has two children Ruben and Maya Payes. Angelica joined The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) in 1995 and became CHIRLA’s Executive Director in 1999. In her role, she has transformed CHIRLA into a mass membership immigrant-led organization that empowers immigrants and their families to win local, state, and national policies that advance their human, civil, and labor rights. 

What are you most excited about for the Racial Equity Commission? 

I am excited about hearing about the lived experience of community members all over California and the challenges and opportunities that they see in advancing racial equity in our state. I am thrilled to be working with so many people who care so deeply about being positive agents of social change and justice. The Racial Equity Commission’s work allows for their perspectives, research, and recommendations to be visible. I am inspired by my fellow Commissioners and their decades long work to advance racial equity and look forward to ensuring that our work will facilitate the full implementation of our communities’ recommendations. We can all be part of creating a state where we all belong and where we can all thrive. 

What role do you see yourself playing in Commission Activities? 

I am a Mexican immigrant who works with immigrants from all over the world who today compose 30% of California’s population. I want to ensure that we include in our work our communities’ intersectional identities such as gender, age, immigration status, disability, and ethnicity to more expansively advance racial equity in our state.