Meet Tala Justo: social welfare student, mental health advocate, community builder, researcher, counselor, aspiring social worker, and professional collector of ambitious projects.

Born in the Philippines and raised in the Bay Area, Tala's story is one of transformation. After navigating serious mental health challenges as a young person, including psychosis, hospitalizations, and years in supportive housing, they returned to the very systems that once supported them, this time as a counselor, peer specialist, advocate, and leader.

At UC Berkeley, Tala studies Social Welfare while balancing a collection of roles: Haas Leaders Fellow, mental health organizer, researcher, College Corps Fellow, former board director, and longtime advocate for Filipinx mental health. Their work lives at the intersection of community care, cultural identity, and belonging, especially for queer Filipinx communities.

Tala has presented research at Stanford, emceed symposiums at UCSF, organized wellness retreats, launched mental health forums, helped build youth programs at public libraries, and somehow still finds time to obsess over sociology, raw vegan recipes, skincare, running plans, and whether a paper is good enough.

Their guiding belief is simple: recovery is possible, belonging matters, and the people most impacted by a problem often have the clearest vision for solving it.

When they're not reading sociology, planning community projects, or trying to improve their writing, you'll probably find them walking, practicing yoga, spending time with family, cuddling their dogs, or dreaming up the next way to bring people together.

In short: Tala is a first-generation Filipinx immigrant, queer community advocate, mental health counselor, researcher, student, and storyteller who has made a habit of turning lived experience into public service.