Gisella Celaya

Gisella Celaya was raised in a beautiful family in Mexico, and at the age of 15, she made a life-changing decision to come to Tucson looking for a dream. Through her efforts, dedication, and help from people who cared about the future of young people, she got a full scholarship to go to the University of Arizona. She graduated from college with a major in Spanish with an emphasis in Literature and a minor in Family Studies and Human Development. After graduating she worked at an international school in Tucson as a Spanish teacher where her greatest passion was sharing her culture, language, and knowledge with others. Now she believes it is time to give back to the Latino community a little of what she received while she was in her truck in search of success. While she was in college, she was in a program that Amistades offered for first-generation students. After completing the program, she was interested in learning more and getting involved in helping the community. Gisella is now a Project Coordinator for programs that are focused on helping the youth and their families in southern Arizona. She will assist with the Por Vida and Familia Adelante programs by working with parents and youth on topics like acculturation trauma, and behavioral health problems. She will perform activities focused on improving communication, substance abuse education, stress management, suicide, bullying education, and sex education, among other topics. Her main goal is to decrease the barriers Latino youth and their parents face while increasing healthy development.