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Los Angeles Mission College: Empowering single mothers to overcome adversity and pursue dreams

Stories of resilience, hope, and community

Stories of resilience, hope, and community
This documentary shines a spotlight on the remarkable journeys of two single mothers as they navigate the pursuit of education and career aspirations while simultaneously caring for their children. Join us in witnessing the inspiring narratives of these determined women, who find unwavering support through the Los Angeles Mission College community. Discover how Los Angeles Mission College, the CalWORKs program, in collaboration with community partners like Hope Gardens, empowers them to overcome adversity, break barriers, and craft promising futures.
Director: Lara Everly
Producer: Emily Lallouz, Mike Zunic
Cinematographer: Senda Bonnet
Editor: George Freund
Executive Producer: Melissa Panzer, Joan Lynch, Art Bilger

“Los Angeles Mission College: Empowering Single Mothers to Overcome Adversity and Pursue Dreams” is an inspiring documentary that delves into the lives of resilient single mothers who are determinedly pursuing their educational and career aspirations while navigating the intricate balance of motherhood. This heartfelt film sheds light on their unwavering determination, remarkable resilience, and unwavering commitment to their dreams.

The narrative unfolds through the experiences of two remarkable women:

Carissa Vazquez, a Psychology major, is on a journey of self-discovery and academic achievement at Los Angeles Mission College. Her decision to return to education despite daunting statistics and personal challenges underscores her determination to provide a brighter future for herself and her two beautiful children, Nehemiah and Sala.

Janet Sanchez, pursuing a degree in Sociology and Child Development with a specialization in Special Needs, is a shining example of perseverance. Her path has been marked by addiction, homelessness, and struggles, but her unwavering determination to turn her life around for her five children has led her to Los Angeles Mission College through the Hope Gardens program.

This documentary spotlights the profound impact of Los Angeles Mission College, the CalWORKs program, in collaboration with community partners like Hope Gardens, illustrating how these partnerships provide critical support, including childcare assistance and financial aid, allowing these resilient single mothers to pursue their academic dreams.

Ultimately, the film underscores the powerful message that when single mothers succeed in their academic pursuits, their children thrive as well. It emphasizes the program’s core mission of empowering single mothers and enabling them to create brighter futures for their families.

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.