Selena Martinez Mak, MBA, MPA

Selena is originally from Selma, CA, and currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has been for 20 years. Selena is a mother, patient advocate, racial equity activist, and social entrepreneur. In 2020, she co-founded and served as the Executive Director of The 559 Mural Project, an organization dedicated to addressing racial injustice and socio-economic inequity through mural art and community dialogue. Selena intersects many diverse identities: she is the proud daughter of retired Latinx migrant workers, a part of the LGBTQIA community, and a carrier of a hereditary cancer condition, known as Lynch Syndrome. These identities have all significantly impacted how she interacts with people, builds relationships, and approaches situations.

 Selena received a Bachelor of Science in Cellular Biology at the University of California, Davis, in 2006 and began her 10-year journey working at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), conducting scientific research and addressing health care inequities as a patient coordinator in cancer genetics. To address healthcare inequities, she decided to pursue business school, but while there found her professional calling — to be part of the collective solution to create more just, equitable, and inclusive communities.  In 2019, Selena received dual Master's degrees in Business and Public Administration from Presidio Graduate School. Selena is currently a Policy Lead with FORCE, Facing Our Risk of Cancer, Empowered, a non-profit dedicated to serving the needs of individuals and families with hereditary cancer syndromes.