Meet the Ya Basta! Center Team
Get to Know Our Co-Founders and Staff Members
Veronica M. Lagunas
Ya Basta! Co-Founder and Instructor
Veronica immigrated to the United States from El Salvador 20 years ago. She is a 43-year-old janitor, union leader, educator, and mother of two. As an employee and member of SEIU-United Service Workers West Union, her participation was crucial to the development and success of the Ya Basta! campaign to end sexual harassment in the cleaning industry. She took part in the hunger strike at the Sacramento capitol that led to the passage of AB-1978, The Property Service Workers Protection Act, mandating sexual harassment training in the workplace.
As part of a collective effort, she additionally participates in a hunger strike in New York to support the passage of AB 547, a ground-breaking #MeToo legislation that requires that all janitors in California receive sexual violence prevention training from fellow janitors that have been certified as trainers and counselors.
Today, as co-founder of the Ya Basta Center and a certified trainer by the state of California, she provides sexual harassment and workplace abuse prevention training to dozens of instructors throughout the state. Veronica draws on her personal and professional experience as a community educator on mental health and HIV/AIDS prevention in Los Angeles County. Lagunas serves on the executive committee of the National TPS Alliance, which is seeking to pass legislation that would grant permanent residency to the country’s 450,000 TPS participants.
Her academic career encompasses more than 335 hours of professional education as a trainee certified by the state of California and the following organizations:
- Valor@US and Ya Basta Center: Safe & Respectful Places: Preventing sexual harassment and abusive behavior in the Cleaning Industry 12/2022
- Human Trafficking Survivors Foundation
Domestic Violence Advocate Training 01/2020 - Labor Occupational Health Program University of California Berkeley LOHP
Training to prepare Promotoras to Train Others on Preventing Sexual Harassment and Abusive Conduct in the Janitorial Industry with LOHP 04/2019 - Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health
Mental Health Promotores Comunitarios 05/2018 - Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health
Mental Health Promotores Comunitarios 04/2018 - East Los Angeles Woman Center
Certified Training on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence 06/2017 - East Los Angeles Woman Center
Promotoras contra la violencia Training: Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Teen dating violence and stalking. 10/2016 - CALCASA Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Self Defense Instructor 07/2017
Anabella Aguirre
Ya Basta! Co-Founder and Instructor
Anabella has been a janitor for 22 years, originally from Guatemala, mother of 3 children and proud grandmother of a granddaughter. As a long-time survivor and advocate, she has helped build survivor and worker leadership to confront sexual harassment in the cleaning industry with the Ya Basta! campaign since its inception.
In 2016, she was part of a 5-day hunger strike at the Sacramento Capitol that led to the passage of AB-1978, the Property Service Worker Protection Act, which requires sexual harassment training jobs on-site for cleaning companies.
Anabela also played a key role in 2019 helping to pass AB-547, the Janitor Survivor Empowerment Act that requires janitors in California to provide peer-to-peer education on sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. The legislation gives janitors the leadership to change industry conditions, become resources to their peers, and create responses to sexual harassment in the workplace.
Anabela currently serves on the executive board of SEIU-USWW and is a co-founder of the Centro Ya Basta.
As a California state-certified trainer, she provides workplace sexual harassment and abuse prevention training to dozens of instructors across the state. Training assists in preventing violence by educating employees about the warning signs of abuse, the value of healthy relationships at work, and the resources that are available. According to Anabela Ya Basta has changed her life from victim to survivor, she has been empowered to help her fellow janitors at their workplace to say “Enough-is-Enough” to workplace abuse and violations.
Her academic career encompasses more than 142 hours of professional education as a trainee certified by the state of California and the following organizations:
- Valor@US and Ya Basta Center: Safe & Respectful Places: Preventing sexual harassment and abusive behavior in the Cleaning Industry 12/2022
- Human Trafficking Survivors Foundation
Domestic Violence Advocate Training 01/2020 - Labor Occupational Health Program University of California Berkeley LOHP
Training to prepare Promotoras to Train Others on Preventing Sexual Harassment and Abusive Conduct in the Janitorial Industry with LOHP 04/2019 - East Los Angeles Women Center
Certified Training on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence 06/2017 - East Los Angeles Women Center
Promotoras contra la violencia Training: Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Teen dating violence and stalking. 10/2016 - CALCASA Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Self Defense Instructor 07/2017
Ya Basta! Center Staff
Get to Know Our Staff Members
Julia C. Cepeda Martinez, MSW
Ya Basta! Center Interim Executive Director
As an Afro-Latina, representation and empowerment of our communities is key to how we lead in our advocacy roles, it goes beyond advocacy to having participants see themselves reflected and as part of the solution to empowerment. When I first relocated to the SF Bay Area from Puerto Rico by the end of 2013, I started as a volunteer at El/La Para TransLatinas, Also taught Bomba dance classes and supported the evening social programs for the participants and then I became a member of the staff as a Case Manager formally in 2015. Since then, I have worked as a Case Manager and more recently since 2018 as a Case Management Director. I am proud to have supported and mentored the TransLatina women in our staff who now are the current case managers in filling that role to have a Trans-centered approach to staffing at El/La Para TransLatinas.
Before moving to the Bay Area, I had the privilege of being the first Legal advocate in the specialized domestic violence courts in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Later, after that, I had the opportunity to be one of the supervisors in the Division of Family and Minors, where I mentored and directed the division that most commonly deals with domestic and assault cases.
While working towards my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work I was able to work with and do community service in different marginalized communities in need of advocacy in Puerto Rico. I worked in outreach for 5 years at Plaza Corazon, which focuses on the homeless population on the island. My Social work practicum for my bachelor’s degree was in the Domestic Violence community centers in Carolina, PR and I also worked at Casa Protegida Julia de Burgos (Puerto Rico’s oldest women’s shelter for Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence survivors), for five years before moving formally to my role in the court’s advocacy department after obtaining my master’s in social work.
I have continued to expand on my professional growth so that I may continue to manage a trauma and care informed approach to the training and advocacy work that we do at El/La Para Translatinas through leadership, training and coaching opportunities. I appreciate the team that I work with and the important work and service that El/La Para Translatinas continues to offer our Translatina community.
Ixchel Hernandez
Ya Basta! External Organizer
I am a proud daughter of a janitor and restaurant worker. In 2001, my parents made the difficult decision to uproot our family from our home in Oaxaca, Mexico, and plant our roots in the heart of Los Angeles. As a Mexican immigrant and DACA recipient, I carry with me the values of hard work that have been ingrained in me since childhood, navigating a country where the odds often seem stacked against us.
From a young age, I embraced activism as a means of giving back to my community. I became involved in Children Over Politics, a young adult group led by the children of janitors, and tenant organizing in the neighborhood of Koreatown, LA. These experiences equipped me with the tools to embark on a lifelong journey of activism through civic participation.
Thanks to the unwavering dedication, hard work, and support of my parents, I proudly hold a Master of Arts degree from the State University of Northridge. Through my activism and Art-ivism, I’ve delved into crucial subjects such as gentrification, home displacement, and the beauty of immigration. My constant goal is to showcase the inherent beauty in labor but through organizing, education and creativity I hope to continue uplifting hard working immigrant individuals like my parents, who have played a pivotal role in building the vibrant communities of Los Angeles.
Stacy Panfilo
Ya Basta! Data Entry Specialist
I am a first generation Mexican American. My parents immigrated to the United States without a penny to their name or family to rely on.Growing up as the daughter of service workers, my parents, especially my mom, who worked tirelessly as a janitor, instilled in me, the values of hard work, perseverance, and the importance of education.
I was fortunate enough to pursue a career in the arts, a passion of mine that represented the hard work and sacrifices of my parents. Today I have a Bachelors of Fine Arts from California State University, Long Beach and I stand as the proud daughter of a Janitor
I believe in the transformative power of learning and the impact it can have on individuals and communities alike. It was ingrained in me to pursue higher education, that it would open the doors and opportunities that someone without it could not and that humiliations and injustices suffered by the immigrant worker was the norm.
My time working in education shaped my perspective on the possibilities that arise when education is accessible, empowering, and community-focused.I know my mother did not dream of becoming a janitor but her experience now makes her an expert in the industry and as a certified instructor for the Ya Basta Center she is on the road to pursuing a new career path with all the opportunities to be a student and now instructor.
By combining my dedication for education with a commitment to social justice I am motivated to advocate for the empowerment of janitors, recognizing their invaluable contributions to our communities.