Lyan Joy Pernala has spent over a decade helping socially impactful nonprofit organizations better help underserved and underrepresented people by building partnerships, negotiating contracts and grant agreements, communicating with stakeholders, as well as streamlining operations and programs. She’s worked to increase access to higher educational and affordable housing, improve workforce development programs, and expand public health protections. At the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, Lyan formalizes partnerships with like-minded organizations, seeking to save lives and improve public health through inclusive smokefree policies, extensive tobacco laws data, and strategic engagement of nontraditional partners in health.
When she’s not working, Lyan is running a Lean-In Circle in the East Bay, volunteering at church, teaching ACT/SAT courses for first generation college-bound students, or is visiting with her ginormous family.
Lyan has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master in Public Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School.