Commission on the Status of Women

The Commission on the Status of women (CSW) Spotlight is featuring Commissioner Dana Linda who started on the Commission in the summer of 2018. Dana Linda has an adventureous spirit and fearless commitment to women's issues. Learn more about her interests and professional background here!

Basics

Place of Birth: Alameda County 
Raised: Second Bart stop on the Dublin/Pleasanton line. 
Professional Background: Caribbeanist / feminist. A hybrid academic currently working in tech. 
Position most known for?  Served as a key advisor to the UC-wide Humanists@Work initiative.

Work

Job(s) held that is most unlike what I currently do now:  Smoothie maker at a local mom-and-pop shop. 
Field: Higher Education / Communications 
Years of Experience: 10+ years combined.  
Significant Challenge: Transitioning off the academic tenure track.  
Significant Accomplishment: Completing my PhD in Comparative Literature at UCLA. 
Significant Learning: There are many different ways one can continue to be an educator.
Career Advice: Invest time and energy in better understanding who you are outside of work.  

Personal

Significant Challenge: I tend to absorb other people's emotions, both the highs and the lows.  
Significant Accomplishment: Traveled north of Venice to the remote village where my great-grandfather was born, spending the entire day with extended family and without a common language.
Significant Learning: That "no" is a complete sentence. 
Life Advice: Borrowed from a young girl's motivational sign seen during the HMB Pumpkin Run: "Have some fire. Be unstoppable. Be a force of nature." 
What is an issue for women/girls that stands out most for you? Empowering women to lead, in San Mateo County and beyond.
Other causes you support? Educational equity, and its intersections with economic, racial, and gender justice. Big believer in environmental sustainability and long-term solutions to end homelessness and mass incarceration.
Most admired people/role models (excluding parents): My husband, Brandon. He doesn't compromise his values to fit in, but still manages to make just about everyone feel at home.

Lifestyle

Favorite activities in your “personal downtime:” Take any chance I have to escape to the coast, peruse local bookshops, dance Brazilian samba, or (very literally) hit the ground running.  
Favorite shows, movies, or books: Caffe Central, Burlingame Library, Coyote Point, Poplar Beach.
Something about me that may surprise you: I joined the then all boys' wrestling team in 8th grade.
Anything else? Fun fact: I count Lisbon and Santiago de Cuba among my favorite cities in the world.