Our Team

Jose Antonio Vargas (he/him/his) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, he founded the non-profit narrative change organization Define American, named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.

He is the author of the best-selling memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen (HarperCollins), and the forthcoming book, White Is Not a Country (Knopf). He is also a co-founder of 1587, the first sneaker brand founded by Asian Americans. An elementary school named after Vargas opened in his hometown of Mountain View, California in August 2019.

Ana (she/they) is a strategist and storyteller working at the intersection of identity, culture, and belonging to shift narratives about power.

Ana comes to Define American with over 7 years of experience leading brand campaigns for creative studios, nonprofits, foundations, as well as electoral candidates and campaigns. Originally from Cali, Colombia, Ana is deeply inspired by their experiences as a queer, immigrant, Afro-Latina. She is a lover of museums, matcha, plants and is a proud cat mom. A former Coro Fellow, Ana holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Studies from the City College of New York.

Becky (she/her) is a producer and digital storyteller with a career that has spanned across working at the intersection of advocacy, campaigns, and digital media that center social justice and global humanitarian issues. She previously held positions at Oxfam America, where she led on media content and strategy for digital driven campaigns that address climate change, corporate power, conflict and migration. She has also supported communications and storytelling work at the United Nations Foundation. From the East Coast, she holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from West Virginia University.

Clement is the Narrative Strategies Manager at Define American, ensuring that all video productions run smoothly. Clement has over ten years of experience in video production and broadcast television; he started his career as an Assistant Production Manager producing a lifestyle show for Sony and assisted in post-production for the Dr. Phil show. His career highlights include producing and editing a Christmas special starring Andrea Bocelli and producing/editing talk shows with guests such as Mike Rowe and Bear Grylls. After crossing paths with Define American, the message of humanizing the immigrant experience resonated with him, and Define American became a natural progression in the next phase of his career.

Dulce Valencia (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist and storyteller from Guerrero, Mexico, based in Los Angeles. With a deep-rooted (and personal) passion for immigrant rights, Valencia has dedicated a significant portion of her career to advocating for comprehensive immigration reform and empowering civic participation through her work in political nonprofits. Her story has been featured on Lifetime’s Her America, and Apple TV’s Dear… and 271 Films’ We Are Here. In her current role as the Senior Manager of Entertainment Engagement at Define American, Valencia plays a pivotal role in Define American’s work to humanize immigrant stories through her expertise in entertainment consulting and storyteller engagement. She unironically loves Telenovelas, which she believes serve as a testament to the power of storytelling in connecting people across cultures.

In July 2024, Gentille Ntakarutimana (she/her) became the Resource Development Manager for Define American. A first-generation refugee from Burundi, Gentille came to the United States nearly 20 years ago to escape the Burundian/Rwandan genocide. Her experiences have driven her lifelong commitment to advocacy and social justice, particularly in supporting immigrant and refugee communities.

With over a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector, Gentille has held key leadership roles, including Assistant Director of the Metropolitan Housing Coalition and Program Director for Tuvugane. Her work has always focused on empowering marginalized communities and ensuring they have the resources needed to thrive. Now, in her role at Define American, she leverages this experience to secure the support necessary to amplify immigrant voices and build meaningful connections.

Gentille holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Kentucky, a paralegal certification from the University of Chicago, and is currently pursuing her master’s in business management.

Hazel Agustin (she/her/siya) is a first-generation daughter of Filipino immigrants raised on the unceded ancestral territories of the Tataviam in the San Fernando Valley, located just north of Los Ángeles. Outside of her multi-generational, multi-dialect home, Hazel is also surrounded by the different cultures and peoples of her hometown, enmeshing her with unique perspectives and experiences.

Her former career as an ESL educator to immigrant, migrant, and refugee learners in the greater Los Ángeles/Tonva region continues to inform her work and practice. Hazel values narrative storytelling and story-sharing to bridge community and connection. Her passion projects include collaborating with small businesses and creatives to shoot film photography and produce content/narrative work.

You’ll find her lingering in the aisles of bookstores, latte always in hand. She is a proud USC Trojan & MSMU Athenian Alumnae.

Jenn (she/her/hers) is an operations generalist with a passion for helping people connect with one another and strengthening the processes that help individuals and organizations advance their missions.

Jenn’s work with Define American is informed by her experience in operations, executive, and program leadership as well as consulting across education, human services, youth development, and leadership development organizations and small businesses. Jenn earned an MBA from Babson College, Ed.M. from Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and BA (Psychology and Mathematics) from Cornell University.

Lara Drasin (she/her) is the Director of Communication and Brand Narrative at Define American, where she helps the organization tell its own story. Having overseen Define American’s communications on and off since its inception, Lara has helped shape its voice across major campaigns, including an international PR initiative for the CNN Film Documented, which she also associate produced. Before Define American, she worked in crisis PR in New York City, managing high-profile stories with outlets like Forbes, Good Morning America, The Colbert Report, and The New York Times. With PR, social science, dramatic writing, corporate communications strategy, and comedy in her background and range of interests, Lara blends these skills to bridge communication across the diverse industries central to Define American’s work. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Science from UCLA and Bachelor’s degrees in Journalism and Sociology from NYU.

Nish (she/her) is a first-generation South Asian immigrant who grew up in the Midwest. She has spent the last five years working at national reproductive justice, immigrant rights, and child justice-centered nonprofits. She brings varied experience in operations, finance, development, and program management. She studied International Relations and Human Rights at the University of Iowa and has organized around refugee and immigrant rights on campus. She is passionate about racial justice and building power in communities of color. In her free time, she loves to read, explore new countries, play Animal Crossing, and create new recipes.

Sarah E. Lowe (she/her) is the Director of Narrative Research + Evaluation. Her work examines systems of oppression for systemic change. This child of rural Indiana, a literal red-headed stepchild, pounds the table for the power of Radical Healing to change the world. The first ten years of her career found her working in storytelling for Disney, The Discovery Channel, Cigna, and others. In the second 15+ years, she has focused on advocacy that heals storytellers and moves audiences to action, primarily around immigrant communities. She is a former undocumented immigrant, wife of an immigrant, and mother to two plucky bicultural kids. Sarah lives among the waterfalls of Western Massachusetts where she grows an untamed garden, lives in fear of ticks, and is nearing completion of her PhD in Community Health.

Shauna is a documentarian, researcher, and digital strategist with over ten years of experience working at the intersection media studies, digital production, and advocacy. In her current role as the Vice President at Define American, Shauna leads an award-winning team in developing and implementing research driven strategies to shift the narrative on immigration in mass media. Prior to this role, Shauna worked as a producer in television and digital media, with projects that have been featured on MTV, CNN, Nickelodeon, and PBS, including Emmy and Shorty award nominated work. She has also produced dozens of short films and articles that have been published with prominent brands such as The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Magazine, Teen Vogue, Upworthy and NowThis.