The Rainbow Pride Center offers a wide range of services through its empathy driven coordinator-counselor.
By Isaac Dektor, Editor-in-Chief
Natalie Guerrero shines as head of the three-month-old Rainbow Pride Center, a one-stop counseling shop for LGBTQIA students at Valley College.
The 37-year-old started working at Valley in June, temporarily setting up shop in the Mosaic Center on the second floor of student services. Her office will take permanent residence in the old bookstore in Campus Center once it reopens in the coming weeks. The Rainbow Pride Center offers a wide range of services, everything from help applying for CalFresh and Medi Cal to academic and mental health counseling.
Guerrero grew up in East Los Angeles, jumping from school to school, which was a formative experience for her.
“When you grow up in chaos, sometimes you quickly learn things like right from wrong,” said Valley’s new counselor. “I always wanted better for myself. I didn't know how I was gonna get there, but the chaos somehow made me want out of that — like an escape.”
A daughter of immigrants and the first person in her family to graduate from college, Guerrero first set her sights on higher education in the second grade, while riding the school bus through Cal State Los Angeles.
Guerrero would attend that same campus ten years later as a psychology major, later returning to receive a master's degree in counseling. During her time at university, the psych major was the beneficiary of two mentorships that developed her personal and professional life, cementing her path towards Valley.
“That’s how I got into this field — because I’m built on mentors,” said the mentee-turned-counselor. “I didn’t have a lot of family support but I did have great mentors.”
Guerrero worries that the pandemic has adversely affected the social skills of incoming freshmen, who spent their final years of high school behind a computer monitor.
“I keep the students' mental health in mind always,” said Guerrero. “Given that we're still going through a pandemic, I feel that kindness and empathy are needed more than ever right now. I make sure that I go above and beyond with students, so if I can walk a student over to another department and stay with them through the process, I will do it.”
Guerrero’s empathetic nature stems not only from a deep rooted kindness, but also a lived experience that may be relatable for LGBTQIA students. At 13 she realized she liked girls.
“I wasn’t able to put a name to it,” said the counselor. “But I feel like I've known my whole life. I just wasn't, I didn't have a language to identify it.”
At 33 years-old, Guerrero cut off her long curly hair in favor of a shorter style. She recalls being afraid to challenge traditional gender norms at first, but feeling empowered afterwards.
“I just felt ready, I felt confident, I felt like ‘hey, this is me,’” said Guerrero. A lot of times, especially for women, hair is a form of femininity. It's safer. And so when you are
going against what a woman looks like, it's scary. So cutting my hair off was probably one of the scariest things I've ever done. But I did it anyway.”
Four years later, she still rocks the same haircut.
Guerrero has big plans for Valley. She has already charted the Gay Straight Alliance for the fall semester and is looking for members.
The Rainbow Pride Center, in collaboration with the Dream Center, has a wide variety of scheduled events for the new semester. A film screening of “Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá” is on Oct. 18. The center will also be hosting a LGBTQIA self defense class on Nov. 15 and an end of the year celebration on Dec. 8.
“I do think it's important that we have spaces for our LGBTQIA students where they feel at home,” said President Barry Gribbons. “We’re excited to open the [Rainbow Pride] Center in Campus Center for them. It’s going to be a nice space.”