Alejandra Gaeta, Executive Committee Chair, 2024-2026 (email)
Alejandra Gaeta is Archivist/Librarian at the Autry Museum of the American West, where she is responsible for overseeing the physical management and processing of the Autry Museum’s manuscript and archive collections. Before joining the Autry, she was Archivist at the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) and previously worked at UCLA in the Digital Library Program. She received her MLIS from UCLA and her B.A. in English and Latin American Culture & Literature from Whittier College. Her fundamental philosophy, throughout her education and work experience, has been that the development and the creation of collections in the archive should always keep the communities they are a part of, and those they represent, a priority.
Lizeth Ramirez, Executive Committee Member, Publicity & Outreach Lead, 2024-2026 (email)
Lizeth Ramirez is currently a Librarian/Archivist for Los Angeles Communities and Cultures at UCLA Library Special Collections. Her current work and collecting priorities focus on local marginalized communities, working to center them and their stories in the archival record. She received her MLIS with a focus on archival studies from San Jose State University. Prior to joining UCLA, she was an Archivist and Reference Librarian at the Orange Public Library & History Center in Orange, California, where she managed the local history archive for over eleven years. Born and raised in Southern California, she has worked in a variety of library settings as both a library assistant and librarian for over 18 years.
Stella Castillo, Executive Committee Member, Programming & Education Lead, 2023-2025 (email)
Stella Castillo is currently the Archivist in the USC Digital Library where she creates metadata for digitized materials.
In her previous role as the LA as Subject Community Archives Specialist, Stella collaborated with LA as Subject members to increase online discoverability and public engagement with Los Angeles archival collections using the updated LA as Subject Directory Portal. She also led the successful Virtual Talk-Shop series held online between March and September 2020 which bolstered LA as Subject’s community during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Previously, Stella worked at Cal State Dominguez Hills on the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project digitizing Japanese American Incarceration materials and served as an LA as Subject Resident Archivist working on wide-ranging archival collections across the greater Los Angeles region. Stella holds a BA in the Study of Religion and an MLIS in Archival Management both from UCLA.
Liane Schirmer, Executive Committee Member, Secretary, 2024-2026 (email)
A native of Los Angeles, Liane has a passion for all aspects of our history - from Hollywood lore to aerospace to ethnic enclaves. Armed with several languages and an unerring sense of direction, she takes pride in uncovering every detail about Los Angeles, no matter how obscure…or how far she has to drive! This magnificent obsession logically led to a dual career in history and the performing arts. While auditioning or rehearsing a play, Liane managed to carve out a few hours exploring local history and amassing a ton of knowledge about L.A. She was fortunate to have worked in Spanish and English and witnessed the growth of Latinx theatre in Los Angeles. Recently, Liane’s two loves - L.A. history and the performing arts - are finally coming together in a groundbreaking way. A member of the Latinx Theatre Alliance/Los Angeles, she is the Project Director for “Voces del Teatro - An Oral History of Latinx Theatre in Modern Los Angeles - 1960s to the Present.” This is the first attempt to record, preserve and study this unique movement in the cultural history of the city.
Liane Schirmer is an L.A. native of Costa Rican descent, who has a passion for languages, theatre and L.A. history. She has an extensive background in entertainment as an actress, director, voiceover talent and translator. She specializes in bilingual theatre. Liane is also an L.A. historian, and a member of L.A. as Subject. Current projects include “Voces del Teatro - An Oral History of Latinx Theatre in Modern Los Angeles - 1960s to Present”. She is currently researching the history of theatre in Los Angeles, with a concentration on various cultural communities.
Lulu Uriadales, Executive Committee Member, Exhibits Lead, 2023-2025 (email)
Lulu Urdiales is the Archive and Exhibitions Coordinator at Self Help Graphics & Art. Lulu has worked closely with guest curators and SHG’s Director of Art Programs and Education in developing and implementing exhibitions, including coordinating the adjacent public programs that uplift the exhibition’s theme. In her current role as the archives steward and with an MLIS from San Jose State University and B.A. in History of Art and Visual Culture from UC, Santa Cruz.
Claire Kennedy, Executive Committee Member, Archives Bazaar Lead, 2024-2026 (email)
Claire Kennedy is a native to Southern California, born and raised in Orange County, working and living in Los Angeles. She is the Archivist at LA Metro, accessioning, processing, and exhibiting its historical and institutional collections.
She has previously held positions at the South Pasadena Public Library, the studio of artist John Baldessari, The Huntington Library and several private collectors and antiquarian booksellers in Southern California. She holds a BA in anthropology and an MLIS from UCLA.
Victoria Bernal, Executive Committee Member, Membership & Nominating Lead, 2023-2025 (email)
Victoria Bernal (she/her) is a biracial public historian, researcher and writer from Los Angeles who specializes in Southern California history. Victoria founded the @LAhistory twitter project, now with over 43,000 followers, in 2009 to raise social media awareness about the Los Angeles history. She presented her work at the 2016 Society for American City and Regional Planning History conference and also at Digital LA, a symposium hosted by the Huntington-USC Institute for California and the West (ICW). She has managed, researched and created online content for the ICW, Angel City Press, the Autry and the Los Angeles County Arboretum Library. In April 2022, Los Angeles Walks awarded Victoria the Ray Bradbury Community Walking Champion Award for all her volunteer work with the pedestrian organization, which included co-organizing a series of walks around the 1850 border of Los Angeles (approximately 26 miles). Her history articles and essays have been published on Curbed, LAist, KCRW and the Autry’s site and KCET’s Lost LA. For five years, she co-coordinated an L.A. History Happy Hour that brought together those working from difference disciplines (archivists, academics, librarians, preservationists and media makers) to build a community of those interested in the city's history. She graduated with a dual-masters in Global Media & Communications from USC's Annenberg and the London School of Economics.