Alejandra Orellana-Portillo

Alejandra was born in Los Angeles, California to Salvadorian immigrants and identifies strongly with her Latin American roots. She was raised in Durham, North Carolina and obtained her BA from Elon University in International Studies and Human Service Studies with minors in Anthropology and Spanish. She has lived in Spain, Guatemala, and Chile and has worked in the areas of youth development, professional development, and immigrant rights while overseas. She was inspired to pursue Global Social Work after learning about her parents' impoverished upbringings in El Salvador and the plight of immigrants within the U.S. Her populations of interests are immigrants, minorities, LGBTQIA individuals, as well as persons with intersectional identities. In the future she hopes to work with diverse communities domestically as well as internationally with a focus in community organizing and development. She is also interested in working with children and youth in mentorship and leadership programming. As a GASP student in the MSW program she hopes to learn how to better adapt and apply her social work skills in a global setting in order to better aid her clients in the U.S or abroad.