Meet Danielle Guillen | Founder, STEM in the Park

We had the good fortune of connecting with Danielle Guillen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Danielle, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I started STEM in the Park out of need. At the time, I was on the MacArthur Park neighborhood council and noticed that we did not have many outside of school STEM activities. However, we had some of the lowest STEM achievement scores in LAUSD. I knew we needed to provide our families with the opportunities to learn STEM together and in the language they felt most comfortable in. I created a bilingual STEM program in MacArthur Park where I brought in bilingual educators to help our children and families feel comfortable to learn together with us.

That first summer ended up being magical and STEM in the Park was many kids first educational experience in the United States. The pandemic shifted our model to include components that helped further refine what we do. But that first summer, it was just me, my sisters, my grandma, and my friends in my apartment designing STEM activities so we could do them with the community members in MacArthur Park.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I never dreamt of a career in politics but found my political career launched when I became the policy director for a school board member in the second largest school system in the nation. As a first generation college student from a working class family, my non-linear path to politics instilled a passion to ensure that the civic sector is accessible to everyone.

Prior to entering policy, I was a 7th grade math and social studies teacher. I loved my profession but the reality of teaching in America soon caught up to me. It took three years from the moment I left my classroom to when I started my role as a policy director, specializing in community organizing. It was really hard financially and professionally to pivot from the classroom to policy. I worked part time jobs tutoring and at summer camps to make ends meet prior to going to graduate school at USC. Even at USC, it was a constant struggle to get over the imposter syndrome of being able to do the work that policy professionals do. I realized in particular that a lot of education policy professionals were gate-keeping the lingo needed to talk about concepts that I intimately knew as a teacher.

Asymmetrical information from policy professionals is the power play many government professionals use to make it harder for community members and school stakeholders to participate in designing policy and programs. It is a particularly a pet peeve of mine. I aim to make hard concepts really accessible because that is what is needed to make sure we have an inclusive democracy. I use human centered design and community organizing principles to have those most impacted by an issue design solutions themselves. This has led to designing over 18 policies and programs alongside those most impacted by an issues in school boards and localities across the nation. Not many policy practitioners do what I do. After graduate school, I had to find roles that allowed me to do both community organizing and policy work and have created my own career path. I am very proud to train others who want to stray from traditional policy making and theory of policy making to a model that is more inclusive, human centered, and accessible to everyone.

Much like the work I do with my career and STEM in the Park breaks down asymmetrical information to make that world more accessible.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh. em. gee- I have a taco tour I LOVE to take people on that centers a number of criteria: homemade tortillas, regional/familial recipes, salsa options, story of the owner. I can do this for any neighborhood in Los Angeles City. My favorite tour happens to be in North Hollywood where we try tacos from El Venado, Pablito’s, and Angel’s Tijuana Tacos.

My day with my best friend would include the Getty to Hermosa Beach to this taco tour in North Hollywood. Simple and divinely perfect day.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate this shoutout to my grandpa Joe. My papa was the first person to believe in me and my wild visions for what I wanted to do with my life. He was the ultimate supporter always offering me sage advice about the world from his experience. STEM in the Park would not be possible without his love and support……….

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielle.guillen/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-guillen/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_daniguillen

Other: https://medium.com/@danielleguillen