From Watts to Rome: Genesis Cruz’s journey in youth advocacy, environmental justice, and global learning
Genesis Cruz during her study abroad in Italy
Genesis Cruz, a 2023 graduate of Jordan High School in Watts, South L.A., is now a student at the University of Southern California (USC). A former Wellness Youth Advocate (WYA), she has spent the past several years building a path rooted in advocacy, education, and youth empowerment. What began as a student leadership opportunity in high school has grown into a journey that now spans classrooms in Los Angeles, community work in South Central, and study abroad experiences in Rome, Italy. Her journey first took shape through her involvement as a Wellness Youth Advocate with The L.A. Trust, where she began developing her voice as a youth leader.
Starting with youth voice at The L.A. Trust
Genesis at the 2025 Y2Y Health Summit
Genesis first became involved as a Wellness Youth Advocate (WYA) after learning about the program through a friend at Jordan High School. What drew her in was not only the program itself, but the opportunity to speak up about issues affecting her community in Watts.
Even before joining, Genesis had a strong interest in health education and self-care, often encouraging her peers to prioritize wellness. But it was sexual health education, particularly in underserved communities, that became her central passion.
Growing up in a Latino household where conversations around sexual health were often avoided and viewed as taboo, she understood early on how silence could shape outcomes.
“I saw it in my family, including my own mom, with teen pregnancy and a lack of information from not having those conversations,” she explained. “I knew education needed to be part of the solution.”
A key influence during this time was her mentor, Jasmine Cisneros, an adult ally staff member with The L.A. Trust who led the WYA program. Genesis describes her leadership as collaborative and empowering.
“It didn’t feel like a hierarchy,” Genesis said. “It felt like we were building something together.”
That approach shaped how Genesis now engages with young people, centering trust, relatability, and shared experience rather than authority. That foundation with The L.A. Trust became the beginning of her long-term commitment to youth advocacy.
Early lessons in advocacy and environmental justice
Genesis handing out resources during World No Tobacco Day
While still in high school, Genesis’s advocacy expanded beyond health education into environmental justice, particularly surrounding Atlas Iron and Metal Corp., a recycling facility located next to Jordan High School. The facility was accused of exposing students to toxic metals like lead, with some measurements far above safe levels.
Growing up in Watts, she initially saw the plant as just part of the neighborhood. It wasn’t until later through school-based advocacy and conversations with community partners that she began to understand its broader environmental and health implications.
“We didn’t realize it wasn’t normal,” she said. “It was just what we grew up around.”
Through advocacy efforts involving The L.A. Trust in partnership with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and other community stakeholders, Genesis became part of youth-centered initiatives focused on environmental awareness, education, and community health.
Years of collective advocacy from students, organizers, and community members eventually led to a major milestone: Atlas Iron and Metal Corp. closed in 2025, marking a significant outcome for a community that had raised concerns for years. As someone involved in that movement, Genesis now reflects on the work with pride. “It showed me what consistency and collective voices can do,” she reflected.
From student advocate to community educator
After graduating from Jordan High School, Genesis carried her advocacy forward into college at USC, where she continues to study and engage in youth and community-focused work. At USC, she added Public Relations alongside her continued interest in health and wellness-related work, recognizing her strengths in communication, storytelling, and education.
She also gained professional experience through a marketing and communications internship with Nike, where she was drawn to collaborative, people-centered environments. “I like spaces where ideas and people come together. It didn’t feel like work,” she said. “It felt like connection, storytelling, and community.”
Advocacy beyond campus: The L.A. Trust and community work
Genesis, the student speaker at the annual Salute to Student Health Gala in 2024
Genesis’s connection to The L.A. Trust and youth advocacy didn’t end after high school, it evolved. She took a position with The L.A. Trust, leading the youth advocacy initiative funded by a fine paid by Atlas Iron and Metal Corp., the result of a lawsuit brought by DTSC. Genesis’s involvement included outreach efforts related to environmental justice concerns affecting her former school community.
When not in Rome, she also volunteers her time with Women and Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE), a USC-affiliated volunteer program where she teaches sexual health and wellness education to middle school girls in South Los Angeles. For Genesis, the goal is simple: create the space she once needed but didn’t always have. “I didn’t have those conversations growing up,” she said. “So, I try to be that person for them.”
Much of her approach is shaped by her own experience as a student advocate with The L.A. Trust, especially her experience around the need for safe, relatable spaces for youth to speak freely. Through anonymous question boxes and open discussion, she creates space for students to ask questions about relationships, consent, and health without fear or judgment.
Studying abroad in Italy: growth beyond the classroom
Genesis at the Trevi Fountain in Rome
Through USC, Genesis was selected for a study abroad program in Rome, an experience she chose to broaden her academic and cultural perspective. She was drawn to Italy for its history, culture, and connection to language learning, but the experience quickly became deeply personal as well.
Early in her time abroad, she became seriously ill, forcing her to slow down for the first time in years. “I had to stop and take care of myself,” she said. “That was new for me, and it changed how I think about wellness.” That period marked a shift in how she understood wellness, not just as something to advocate for others, but something she needed to prioritize for herself. “I realized I had been so focused on everyone else,” she reflected, “and I hadn’t really checked in with myself.”
New perspectives on inequality, culture, and daily life
While in Italy, Genesis also volunteers at a local middle school, working with students around age 11. The experience offered a new lens to compare educational environments abroad with those she knows in South L.A. “The differences are real,” she said carefully. “It makes you think about access and opportunity in a different way.”
Living abroad also gave her a new lens on lifestyle and culture, including slower-paced living and different approaches to community and daily life compared to Los Angeles. “You start to see how different life can be outside what you know,” she reflected. “There’s less pressure to constantly consume or keep up,” she noted. “People just live.” That observation led her to reflect on habits she had normalized growing up in L.A., including fast-paced living and constant social pressure.
Full circle: From The L.A. Trust to what’s next
Even as Genesis expands her experiences globally, her foundation remains rooted in The L.A. Trust and her early work as a Wellness Youth Advocate in Watts. That early experience, she says, taught her how to speak up, lead conversations, and trust her voice, skills she continues to carry into every space she enters, from USC classrooms to international settings.
As she looks ahead, Genesis hopes to continue building a career that blends advocacy, communications, and community impact, while staying connected to Los Angeles and the communities that shaped her. “I’ve grown a lot, but I always come back to where I started,” she said. For Genesis, the message that guides her journey is simple but steady. “Never stop caring,” she said. “If something matters to you, stay with it. That’s how change happens.”