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Youth Creating Change Team
Jana Sczersputowski, MPH
She/Her/Ella
Founder/Executive Director
Jana’s passion for mental health and suicide prevention is fueled by being a survivor of suicide loss and the personal experience of growing up with a family member in treatment and recovery for a series mental illness. She understands the impact of trauma on individuals and families and is deeply invested in building resilience and community-based efforts that promote help-seeking, inclusion, and support for both the individual at risk and their support system.
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Jana Sczersputowski has over 22 years of experience implementing regional, statewide, and federal behavior-change communication campaigns, curriculum development, and providing technical assistance to county behavioral health, public health, and education agencies. Her areas of expertise include storytelling for behavior change, facilitating listening sessions and formative research, writing content and messaging for a variety of public health topics, creating behavior change models for health communication efforts, and developing and applying co-creation and community participatory models to inform authentic program and campaign development. In addition to her role as founder/executive director of the Youth Creating Change program she also runs a social marketing agency called Your Social Marketer. Born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, she currently lives in San Diego with her husband and two daughters.
Shanti Bond-Martinez, MPH
She/Her
Senior Program Manager
As Senior Program Manager since 2014, Shanti leads the Directing Change Program’s Hope & Justice initiative which incorporates art, creative activism and storytelling into mental health and suicide prevention curriculums. Shanti is passionate about supporting youth in exploring social justice and other critical health topics through art-based learning and centering inclusive and diverse youth voices in program development.
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Shanti brings over a decade of program management expertise, particularly focused on community and school-based projects within diverse and resource-challenged communities. With Youth Creating Change, she oversees the administration, promotion, implementation, and partnership development of initiatives aimed at supporting youth mental health through the Hope & Justice Initiative and Directing Change Film Contest. She has made significant impacts locally throughout California and internationally in South Korea and Kenya, enhancing community and youth engagement through strategic assessments and sustainable development plans. Beyond her professional endeavors, Shanti is a passionate birth doula and maternal health advocate. She enjoys exploring the world with her husband, two daughters, dog, and two cats, and is always looking for a new foster pup or cat to welcome into her home.
Devin Saragosa-Harris, MPH
She/Her/Ella
Senior Program Manager
Devin Saragosa-Harris, MPH is a senior program manager with Youth Creating Change. A Southern California native, she has worked with youth of all ages and has been a passionate advocate for mental health throughout her career. She has been part of the Youth Creating Change team since 2017, serving as the lead for the Directing Change mini grant program and supporting implementation and evaluation of the program across the state. Devin believes deeply in the power that each person’s voice has in creating change in our communities and the importance of giving youth the chance to express themselves through art.
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Devin’s areas of expertise include program development, evaluation, volunteer management, partnership strengthening, and teaching mental health lessons to youth. Previously she worked for a coding and STEM-focused non-profit, developing and leading an afterschool program that focused on leadership development and arts programming for youth in underserved Los Angeles communities. She also interned for a media company that created accurate and engaging public health storylines for film and television to influence positive youth health outcomes and worked as a camp counselor with youth in kindergarten through high school, running camps such as stand-up paddleboarding. She received a Bachelor of Science in behavioral neuroscience and a Master of Public Health with a focus on community health sciences and health education from UCLA. She is currently a doctoral student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studying adolescent mental health. Devin is originally from San Diego and currently lives in Santa Monica with her partner, where she spends her time playing beach volleyball and searching for the perfect bean and cheese burrito.
Emma Spiekerman
She/Her
Program Manager
While in high school, Emma was a participant in the Directing Change Program and Film Contest and her film placed in the statewide Mental Health category. She graduated with her bachelor’s in psychology from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Emma is passionate about expanding access to mental health care and using art to express emotions and social justice issues.
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While in high school, Emma was a participant in the Directing Change Program and her film placed in the statewide Mental Health category. She graduated with her bachelor’s in psychology from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where she worked as a research assistant, volunteered as a peer educator through her university’s counseling center, and worked with her peers to organize a Mental Health Dialogue Week. In her previous roles, Emma has worked as a direct support provider for young adults with disabilities, a language and culture assistant in Spain, and a volunteer crisis counselor. She is passionate about expanding access to mental health care and using art to express emotions and social justice issues. Emma was born in San Francisco and recently moved back to the Bay Area. In her free time, she enjoys painting, knitting, and planning her future travels.
Shailen Dawkins
He/Him
Program Coordinator
Shailen Dawkins is a recent graduate from UCLA with a degree in Film, Television, and Digital Media, specializing in narrative directing. With over 4 years of experience in filmmaking and music, Shailen enjoys exploring themes of coming of age, mental health, and social justice. Shailen has been involved in mental health and suicide prevention work since 2016. In 2020, he helped create and work on the Youth Advisory Board in partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health and the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Network. Since 2023, he has served on the Youth Advisory Board for the Never a Bother campaign which focuses on suicide prevention for underrepresented groups and youth.