To Our Scholar Community,
Please join us in wishing a tardy but much deserved farewell to our previous Director of Finance and Operations Leslie Vasquez.
Oftentimes we are so focused on the work and getting things done that we forget to make space to reflect and celebrate and honor ourselves and accomplishments. We want to make sure we share with all of you how deep of a support Leslie has been to Central Valley Scholars.
Leslie is a founding member of our organization, first joining us in the summer of 2019, driving over an hour just to serve as a panelist in one of our workshops. Since then, Leslie has been committed to our work as a volunteer and later employee, helping fundraise close to $1 million dollars for Central Valley Scholars in less than four years.
Leslie has always been committed to supporting the next generation of scholars, whether through filing organizational taxes, managing budgets, fundraising, facilitating programming, and more — Leslie has always offered more than we deserved to sustain this work.
Not only has Leslie accomplished so much as a professional, but our team has grown to love and support her as a human as well. Leslie is an incredibly kind, humble, wise, and powerful human with a beautiful soul. Her leadership and presence in our organization has been a true blessing. Leslie, please know that our organization is forever indebted to you for all you have given.
Joining our organization at the start of her junior year at UC Berkeley, Leslie has grown as Central Valley Scholars has. While we say goodbye to Leslie as an employee, our love, care and support for her as a human will always remain true.
Leslie, know that you are appreciated and loved by all of us at Central Valley Scholars. May your future bring you joy, peace, rest, and true happiness. We hope life has us cross paths again. We are forever grateful for you.
Below are some of the few privileged moments we got to spend with Leslie.
