Alumni discuss their careers through IAS Mentor Chats

During spring quarter, several IAS alumni met with students to share their career pathways. Called “Mentor Chats,” these conversations are intended to assist students with career exploration, job searching, networking, and learning about a range of professional trajectories. Recent alumni guests included Erik Ashlie-Vinke, Javier Carrasquero, Candice Plendl, Salvador Salazar Cano and Drew Stone.

Erik Ashlie-Vinke is the Senior Manager of Business & Economic Advocacy for Economic Alliance Snohomish County (EASC). He graduated from UW Bothell in 2014 with a B.A. in Society, Ethics & Human Behavior, minoring in Education and Human Rights. Previous to joining EASC, Ashlie-Vinke spent the past decade working in the Washington State Senate as a legislative aide. There he worked on transportation policy and economic development issues within Snohomish County. Ashlie-Vinke chairs the Advocacy Board and Military Affairs Committee for EASC, as well as running the Snohomish County Committee for Improved Transportation, a non-profit focusing on increasing the region’s mobility. He also serves as Chair of the United Way of Snohomish County Policy Committee and is a board member of the Washington Highway Users Federation.

Javier Carrasquero graduated from UW Bothell in 2017 with a bachelor’s in Global Studies and minors in Policy Studies and Ecological Restoration. Currently, he is a Lean Practitioner at Boeing working in the Everett Delivery Center where he supports the department responsible for delivering finished airplanes to customers world-wide. Carrasquero believes that IAS’s learning outcomes are fundamental to the success of his work as he coaches various teams to apply critical and creative thinking to problem solve issues that are affecting the efficiency of the delivery process of airplanes to Boeing customers. In addition, he acts as a liaison between departments to help them collaborate to find the most beneficial and sustainable solutions for Boeing.

Candice Plendl is passionate about connecting our natural and built worlds. As a 2018 graduate of UW Bothell’s Environmental Science – Earth System Science program, she brings an appreciation of planning, design, and environmental education for the betterment of a community. She has experience conducting outreach to promote Green Stormwater Infrastructure through her consulting work for the RainWise Program implemented by King County Wastewater Treatment Division and Seattle Public Utilities, and currently supports various multimodal transportation efforts in her position at EnviroIssues. As a Filipino-American, Plendl approaches environmental issues from an equity lens, working to incorporate ecological issues into outreach messages that resonate with diverse audiences.

Salvador Salazar Cano (’18, Society, Ethics & Human Behavior) is the Civic Engagement & Advocacy Coordinator for Latino Community Fund. Previously, he was a Congressional Intern for Senator Patty Murray and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. As an undergraduate at UW Bothell, Salazar Cano interned at 21 Progress, a Seattle nonprofit for equity and justice; worked as a student assistant in the Diversity Center; and served as the first full-time advocate at the Washington Legislature for Associated Students of the University of Washington Bothell.

Drew Stone is a mindfulmedia artist and culture-designer, driven towards creativity, design, organizational leadership, games, and forward-thinking culture. Stone holds a Certificate of Excellence in Filmmaking from Seattle Film Institute. He completed undergraduate degrees in Media & Communication Studies and Society, Ethics & Human Behavior (’14) at UW Bothell and a Master of Communication in Communities and Networks (’16) at UW Seattle. Stone is the VR Coordinator for the Sakura-Con, the most well-attended anime convention on the west coast, leading a team of ~20 volunteers to deliver demos of VR content, the Organizer of the Eastside Virtual Reality Meetup, and co-founder and co-CEO of YantraWare, which develops play-practice technology tools for mindfulness.