Thanks to her double degrees, Vera discovered the path to many worlds, from daily newspapers to digital media mammoths Yahoo! and MSN (Microsoft). Now on her latest stage, Vera is director of news and media at Steelwork, a narrative architecture agency, as well as a published author and aspiring novelist. She credits Cal for the academic foundation that has endured in a constantly shifting media landscape.

“Berkeley has helped me develop a sense of critical thinking and big-picture analysis

that has stayed with me all my life,” Vera says. As an undergraduate, she majored in the mass communications program shaped by Todd Gitlin, read Richard Dawkins’ theories in evolutionary biology, and sopped up Shakespeare courses in literature and film.

Vera also entered a place at Cal replete with punching bags, kicking paddles, championship trophies, and bodies constantly engaged in convivial combat. Custom designed by its founder Kyung-Ho Ken Min, Ph.D., the University of California Martial Arts Program at Berkeley (UCMAP) has nurtured a unique community in its 55-year history, one that supported Vera as she studied for her bachelor’s in mass communications and master’s in journalism (“earned pre-Internet,” the Oakland resident notes).

“I’ve met so many people from all majors and fields, and made lifelong friends,” Vera says. “This space has been both an intellectual crossroads and a place that’s given me a sense of belonging.”

Indeed, Vera met husband Ray (also a Cal alum) through the program, which has unintentionally produced many marriages. Both 4th-degree yongmudo black belts have volunteered nearly two decades teaching defensive arts at UCMAP.

Vera makes gifts to UCMAP because the world of martial arts has been the constant where she gained grit and resilience. She wants others in the Berkeley community to discover how training in martial arts can shape their lives.

That resilience is built into UCMAP’s founding: Min, a Korean War veteran, navigated the turbulence of 1960s America to create the program. It’s the only institution in the United States to house six martial arts: judo, karate, taekwondo, taiji, wushu, and yongmudo (formerly hapkido).

In commemoration of Min’s 88th birthday, Vera and other black belts came together to pen a community memoir, Working the Way: Martial Artists on Their Career Journeys, released in 2023.

The book honors Min’s story of serving in the Korean War and immigrating to the United States and includes essays from other UCMAP community members, including a Mexico-Korea ambassador, a Rotten Tomatoes founder, Silicon Valley engineers, and more.

Threaded through the essays are themes of respect and trust, resilience through persistence and discipline, and a sense of joy that comes through building bodies, minds, and community.

Vera says her entire experience at Cal has been profound, but her martial arts journey has shaped her as a person. She hopes that donors will help UCMAP thrive for another half a century.

“That’s why I give back to this space as an instructor and donor alum,” she says. “Always honor the spaces that nurture you.”