Meet Our Founding Member-Nazanin Nayeri

My name is Nazanin Nayeri, and I serve as the Founder and Head of Leads for the Mattel Youth Ambassador Program. 

At the beginning of 2019, I was diagnosed with Sarcoma cancer as a senior at El Camino Real Charter High School. After several consultations with the Sarcoma Multidisciplinary team, I started treatment. During treatment, I gained a valuable perspective on life.

I had felt alienated and vulnerable during treatment, with a yearning for my life to go back to normal as a teenager. One night during treatment, it struck me that these feelings must be universal for many pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients. That same night, I composed a letter to Volunteer Services at UCLA to form a Youth Ambassador Program. 

We launched the program in the depths of the pandemic in 2020 and it has been a great success since then. My favorite aspect of this program is seeing the Ambassadors execute their fundraising project plans. For example, Ambassadors use a hobby or talent they cherish and brainstorm innovative methods to create a fundraising project for them to work on. Through this program, Ambassadors are exposed to fundraising, project planning, brainstorming, and innovative skills to bring their project plan to fruition. I also value how our program is constantly evolving to better meet the needs of our Ambassadors. Last, this program means a lot to me and I am grateful to the team members behind the Mattel Youth Ambassador Program.