Shortly after graduating from UC Santa Cruz and moving to the Bay Area from Los Angeles, Karla started as the Client Intake Specialist at RTP. “I wanted to do something to help people,” she said. “I was looking to work in a place where I could see tangible results and where I could make a difference in people’s lives.” Today she is the first person at RTP that people come in contact with when they request repairs to their home. She assists homeowners through the application process and acts as the client liaison to our services.
While in college, Karla served as a social justice volunteer for Empathy in Action at Soledad State Prison and as a research assistant with Alzamos La Voz (Raising Our Voices) in Watsonville. She helped run student voter registration drives and recruited volunteers for the New Voters project for the CA Public Interest Research Group, and she interned at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, DC.
Today she’s focused on making the intake process for vulnerable homeowners as easy as possible. “I’m trying to develop a connection with these people and communicate with them,” Karla said. “I want to break down any intimidating barriers and make it as easy and accommodating as possible.”
In her free time, Karla likes to paint and draw mostly digital art. Making a video game could be in her future.