Bella was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up playing sports and spending time with their two older sisters. Throughout elementary school and middle school, Bella struggled with reading, math and other subjects due to her learning disabilities. They experienced challenges as the only kid in a classroom who struggled with seemingly simple or easy tasks that other students had no difficulty with. Bella attended an all-girls catholic high school and started working as a reading tutor for kids who struggled with reading at Seattle elementary schools. Many of the students Bella worked with were neurodiverse and needed extra support that their classically taught classrooms did not provide. Bella learned patience, leadership and emotional intelligence skills from this work and a new understanding of learning differences. This experience further cemented Bella’s love for working with kids and interests in different teaching strategies as well as supporting neurodiverse individuals.

Bella moved to Los Angeles, California where she is currently pursuing a major in Psychobiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. After completing a Perspectives on Disability Studies writing class, they decided to minor in disability studies which has opened their eyes to different perspectives of neurodiversity as well as the presence of ableism in the education and medical systems. During her third year of undergrad, they worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and saw first hand the presence of ableism in health care systems and continues to see ableism through their educational career. Bella is currently working on a research project focusing on the accessibility of social media and its use in college age individuals.

Bella is excited to start working with Level up Solutions to continue to support others and learn more about the organization’s participants. She is excited to get to know each participant and be able to help in the most accommodating way. While they’re not studying at the UCLA campus, Bella likes playing ultimate frisbee, rock climbing, surfing, and baking.