who are we?

KQED Youth Media Corps is a unique media education initiative that brings together a diverse group of young people from across the Bay Area to learn about and work with the popular media. Collaboration between media professionals and young people results in the youth voice having a sustainable and positive media presence in communities throughout the Bay Area.

ANA Hurka Robles is fifteen years old and goes to Berkeley High School. Ana lives in Oakland and is a member of the television production component of the Youth Media Corps. Ana is an aspiring film director. She wants to be involved in the creative aspects of film production.

ANTHONY Valdez is a student at Archbishop Riordan High School and is fifteen years old. Anthony enjoys media and wants to see more positive portrayals of his own generation. He is a member of the television production team and plans on being a broadcast journalist.

DANNY Erdberg is a senior at University High School in San Francisco. As a filmmaker, his love for the creative process inspired him to make the film Urbal Journeys, which was shown at the SF Youth Film Festival. He is part of the radio team.

JAYLYN Hernandez Silvestre is eighteen years old and was the President of her senior class a Balboa High School. She lives in San Francisco in Bernal Heights and is active in the Filipino Club at school. Jaylyn heard about the Youth Media Corps from her media teacher Ms. Churchill, and she is working with the television production group. Some of her inspirations are photography, dance and poetry.

JUDY Dinh Bao Chau is eighteen years old and a graduate of Balboa High School. Her community involvement has included volunteering at Cleveland Elementary School, working with the group Students Who Care, as well as interning at both the Employment Law Center and the Youth Guidance Center. Judy is part of the radio team for the Youth Media Corps.

NOEL Fahden is sixteen years old, and in the 10th grade at Acalanes High School. Noel lives in Lafayette and she is a writer/cartoonist for her school newspaper the "Acalanes Blueprint." She heard about the Youth Media Corps through her leadership and journalism classes. Noel enjoys drawing and painting and she is working on the web design aspect of the project.

RACHEL Bolden-Kramer attends Leadership High School and is fifteen years old. Rachel lives in the Upper Haight in San Francisco and she heard about the Youth Media Corps through her involvement at the Bay Area Girls Center. One of her most important inspirations is Angel Davis. She is an outreach worker as well as peer health educator with LYRIC (Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center). Rachel is part of the public relations/community outreach team for the project. In the future Rachel plans on teaching and writing both poetry and short stories.

BILAL Ashanti Trufant is a graduate of Thurgood Marshall Academic High School and is seventeen years old. Some of his inspirations are Steven Spielberg and Joe Marshall (director of the Omega Boys Club). Bilal lives in San Francisco in the Visitation Valley/ Bayview neighborhood and is working on the web design portion of the Youth Media Corps. He was involved in producing a video on youth stereotypes last year called, "JQ's Street Wisdom" through a program called "Teaching Intermedia Literacy Tools." Bilal plans on attending San Francisco State University next year and then transferring to UCLA to study animation, multimedia and digital art.

JONAH Copi is eighteen years old and a graduate of School of the Arts High School. He is a member of the Media Bomb Crew and is the editor of Freestyle Expression: A Youth Arts Publication. He is working on the public relations team for the Youth Media Corps.

LODRINA Cherne lives in Noe Valley in San Francisco, and is an active senior at University High School. She has worked with Youth Quest through the San Francisco Volunteer Center, and has written for YO! (Youth Outlook) newspaper. Lodrina is working as a member of the television production team.