As the Land Use and Health Program Manager, Deja manages grant-funded projects and efforts, including the 500 Feet and TIERRA projects, coordinates with environmental partners to advocate for health-promoting, equitable, and community-serving land uses, and supports grant management and fundraising efforts to maintain and grow the program. One of her favorite things about this role is that she gets to be a part of creating fun and meaningful ways for communities to design and development healthy neighborhood spaces.

She was originally introduced to PSR-LA through a previous professor who organized with various organizations to shut down the Allenco oil drilling site in South LA. While working in the health field, she became more interested in the built environment and its impacts on community health and attended a few PSR community engagement events to become more familiar with the work. She was inspired to pursue a master’s degree in urban planning and was awarded a fellowship to work with PSR-LA for a year on the TIERRA project, with a focus on brownfield redevelopment and remediation research. This led to the development of a final capstone project she is very proud of titled “Barriers to Implementing Alternative Remediation Strategies in Los Angeles’ Brownfields.”

In her free time, Deja likes to spend time with friends and family and enjoy the outdoors. She loves hiking and going to the beach when it’s warm out.