Welcome to EmpowerUS Summit 2025
Reclaiming Our Space
The EmpowerUS Summit will take place on Friday, March 7th from 9:00am – 3:00pm at The Cove @ UCI Beall Applied Innovation. EmpowerUS Summit is a campus-wide event for students, faculty, and staff. This engaging summit event provides attendees an opportunity to build community connections, learn holistic well-being skills, and explore various personal and professional development, and empowerment topics.
Registration Information
Registration for the annual EmpowerUS Summit is open for all UC Irvine students, faculty, and staff. Ticket prices include continental breakfast and lunch.
Ticket Prices:
Student – $10
Staff/Faculty – $25
Parking is on-site and free.
Here’s what you can expect:
• Engage in deep conversations with like-minded individuals who uplift and inspire.
• Exchange ideas and strategies to create meaningful change on campus and beyond.
• Build your community by networking with students and professionals.
• Take time for yourself with sessions focused on holistic well-being.
• Break barriers and learn how to navigate spaces that weren’t built for you.
• Step into your power with professional development and networking opportunities.
Speakers & Workshop Facilitators
Keynote Speaker: Tiffany Yu, CEO & Founder of Diversability
Tiffany Yu is the CEO & Founder of Diversability, an award-winning entirely disabled-run and led social enterprise to elevate disability pride, and a content creator with 200k + followers across platforms. She is a 3x TEDx speaker and has been named a TikTok API (Asian & Pacific Islander) Trailblazer, a LinkedIn Top Voice in Disability Advocacy, and a Well+Good Changemaker. Her first book, The Anti-Ableist Manifesto, will be published by Hachette Go in Fall 2024. Tiffany has helped to invest over $170,000 in disability initiatives through the Awesome Foundation Disability Chapter and the Disability Empowerment Endowed Fund at Georgetown University. She has been featured in Marie Claire, the Guardian, and Forbes. She started her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and has also worked at Bloomberg and Sean Diddy Combs’ REVOLT Media & TV. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a master’s from the London School of Economics. At the age of 9, Tiffany became disabled as a result of a car accident that also took the life of her father.
2024 – 2025 Committee Members
- Rasta Bagheri, CARE Advocate – UCI CARE
- Chasia Jeffries – Graduate Ph.D Student
- Sandy Wang, Assistant Director – International Center
- Christina K. Treble, Honors Advisor – Campuswide Honors Collegium
- Ta’hlia Davis, Undergraduate Student
- Shayla Ho, Creative Media Designer 2 – Womxn’s Center for Success
- Bowie Rivera, Transgender Care Specialist – LGBT Resource Center
- Saira Fazli, Assistant Director of Career Education – Career Pathways
- May Wilson, Associate Director, Alumni Relations – Alumni Association
- Erika Cortez, Assistant Director – Womxn’s Center for Success