An 18-year-old, second generation Berkeleyite, Belia worked in high school for Youth Radio, a youth media organization that trains teenagers in broadcast journalism. She recently completed an internship at National Public Radio in Washington D.C., and will pursue her journalism studies as a freshman at Laney College in the fall. Belia has an extended multiracial family whose diverse backgrounds include Latin, Asian, and Jewish roots.

Belia describes the nature of her heritage: "Most people are born with a culture and religion to guide them through life, but I have the blood of three continents and the Catholic, Buddhist, and Jewish beliefs that go along with each of them. As different as they are, I'm heir to all the pain and beauty of their lives."