Born in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, Jassiel and his family migrated to the United States in 1992 when he was just a couple of months old. He grew up in Lakeland, Florida where he attended elementary, middle, and high school graduating in 2010. His passion has always been art and design but was unable to afford college straight out of high school. Not letting this roadblock stop him, he decided to teach himself graphic design through YouTube and various books with the goal of designing a website from scratch, which he accomplished within one year.
He was originally introduced to activism in 2011 through a group called United We Dream Tampa Bay, an affiliate of the national United We Dream network, where he volunteered his design skills to contribute to the group. From there, he interned at the American Federation of Teachers and the Hillsborough School Employees Federation as an organizer and eventually joining the United We Dream team in 2012.
As UWD’s Web Product Designer and Developer, he leads all things web products and development at the organization. He spends a lot of his time working with UWD’s talented team of designers and consultants to create digital products designed to empower and create meaningful change in the immigrant community. His work has been featured in many places including Glamour, the front page of the New York Times, Buzzfeed, Remezcla, Univision, NBC, CNN, among other media outlets and blogs.
A fun fact about Jassiel that many people don’t know is that he is a certified welder.
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