Human Services Commission

Gabriela Lopez Vazquez was born and raised in Mexico City she moved to Kirkland in 2015.  She has a Master’s in Logistics and International trade and has 15 yeas experience as a former Supply Chain Supervisor.    As an immigrant Gabriela decided to get involved with her community and started volunteering at the Bellevue Library as a tutor for adults at Plaza Comunitaria Program that helps Spanish speakers to obtain elementary and high school certificates. 

Later Gabriela became a Promotora at King County Promotores Network and started collaborating with other nonprofit organizations like Eastside Refugee and Immigrant Coalition and Eastside for All in multiple projects mainly doing community outreach to promote for example people’s participation in the Census 2020 and providing information about public programs and resources specially for people impacted by Covid19 on the Eastside. At the end of 2020 she participated with the City of Kirkland to do a survey with the Latino community to learn about their thoughts about living in Kirkland and their needs.

Gabriela loves animals and volunteers at Regional Animal Services of King County as customer service for the adoption of cats at the adoption Center in Kirkland.  She is happily married and still discovering the wonders of the Northwest. 

Sriram was born and raised in India. He has lived in the beautiful Pacific NW for nearly 35 years, 25 of those in Kirkland. He wants to do his part in ensuring that Kirkland remains a livable, vibrant, welcoming, and supportive community for all people regardless of ethnicity, age, wealth, gender identity, and many other factors. As a person with lived experience of mental health challenges, he has benefited from having access to resources that helped him work through these challenges. That’s why he cares deeply about ensuring that everyone has access to sufficient resources and support for overcoming not just healthcare challenges such as mental health and substance use, but also safe shelter, access to healthy food, clean water, education, transportation, jobs, and so on. He’d like the city of Kirkland to be a leader in providing human services equitably with a social justice lens, so that everyone has an opportunity to live a good quality life.

Sriram is currently serving as a volunteer member on the Crisis Response Improvement Strategy (CRIS) Technology Subcommittee that’s advising the state on the build-out of a new technology platform for a modern and integrated behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system. Previously, he served in numerous volunteer leadership roles as well as as a street outreach lead for the Seattle chapter of StandUp For Kids, a non-profit that serves and advocates for homeless and at-risk youth on the streets of Seattle.

Sriram worked at Microsoft for more than 25 years. He’s currently working as a solo strategic IT consultant helping businesses on their journey of digital transformation. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, biking, reading, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.

He is honored to serve on the Human Services Commission.

Gildas Cheung is a Product Manager at Amazon and has worked in the technology industry for over 10 years. In addition to serving on Kirkland’s Human Services Commission, he is the Board Chair of International Community Health Services, a local nonprofit community health center providing culturally and linguistically appropriate health services to improve wellness of King County’s diverse people and communities.

When not working or volunteering in the community, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, cooking, playing soccer, and eating at nondescript places.

Kobey Chew is excited to serve on Kirkland’s Human Services Commission. A lifelong resident of Kirkland’s Kingsgate neighborhood, he has appreciated all that Kirkland has had to offer and enjoys serving the community in various capacities, such as through his experience as a former Kirkland Youth Council and Park Board Member, and recent addition to the EvergreenHealth Community Advisors. As a multiracial person, and someone who has experienced lifelong physical disability, he recognizes the critical importance of maintaining and growing opportunities for Kirklanders of all backgrounds to thrive. Kobey currently works as a Communications Coordinator at a local nonprofit focused on promoting youth mental health and discouraging youth substance use. He graduated from the University of Washington Seattle in 2023 with a business degree in marketing, a bachelor’s degree in political science & communication, and a professional sales certificate.

Jory Hamilton considers his role to serve along with his fellow Kirkland Human Services Commissioners, Human Services Staff, and City Council Members one of his greatest honors and privileges of his life.  He appreciates the opportunities the people of Kirkland afforded him since he was born in Evergreen Hospital.  

As someone with learning disabilities, a first-generation immigrant, and growing up in a poor single-parent household on Finn Hill, he believes the City of Kirkland's efforts to help those in need are life-saving.   

Jory studies business administration with Washington State University's online master's program after quad majoring in STEM at the University of Washington.  Jory volunteers with the LWSD and BSA Troop 565 at St. John Vianney Church.  He serves as the Bellevue wrestling head coach, his fraternity's domain director, founded and leads local small businesses Suplex City Wrestling, Hamilton Analytics, and the Juanita Class of 2009 Foundation.

Melantha Jenkins is honored to serve the Kirkland community as a member of the Human Service Commission. She will strive to be a voice for people of color in our culturally rich community. As a Kirkland born native who is now raising twin daughters and two young boys in this city, she feels that it is her civic duty to protect and even enhance our community’s cultural prosperity. Melantha Jenkins will not only use her own personal experiences, including but not limited to, her tenure as the Student Body President of Bellevue College, the time studying as a non-traditional student at Howard University-a historical black college in Washington D.C., the time spent working as a Sports Medicine Medical Assistant in Kirkland, WA for Dr. Lee Kilburn, Dr. Lawrence Maurer, Dr. Peter Vincent and Dr. Mimi Johnson, and the four years she served as the girls Head Track and Cross Country coach at Bellevue High School; but also gains present day knowledge of current day crisis, situation and issues regarding people of color, low income families, and families experiencing unforeseen crisis by interacting daily with individuals who identify as such and listening to their experiences. Melantha Jenkins is a lover of sports, especially track and football. She often states she was “born a Seahawks fan” because her father played for the Seattle Seahawks at the time of her birth. Additionally, growing up chasing after two older brothers helped her have her own outstanding youth track and field career. She still holds a youth USA Track and Field Regional record for the fastest 400m dash for girls aged 13-14 (55.88 seconds, set in 2002). All-in-all, Melantha Jenkins is focused on being the next link in the ladder of life, helping to ease the journey of those coming behind her, just as those did who came before her.

Cristian Liu is the Director of Partnerships & Go-to-Market Strategy, Google Health, leading health partnerships and go-to-market strategy for health & wellness products across Google. He and his team are responsible for driving Google’s cohesive approach & engagement with the healthcare ecosystem. Prior to Google Health, Cristian advised healthcare organizations while at the Boston Consulting Group and developed health technology policy supporting the Affordable Care Act as part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Cristian is a graduate of Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering and the USC Marshall School of Business, and is pursuing his doctorate in public health at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He serves on the board of HealthAdvocateX, a national nonprofit aimed at raising awareness of the importance of health advocacy.  

Chloe Sow is a current student at The Downtown School who moved to Kirkland in 2021. As a previous beneficiary of human services and a youth member of the commission, she hopes to bring a unique perspective to the table and is committed to creating a more inclusive and equitable community for all. She has also been involved in other organizations like TeenTix, the Technology Access Foundation, and the Participatory Budgeting Project.

While not studying, working, or volunteering, Chloe enjoys playing badminton, watching documentaries, reading translated novels, and discussing history or philosophy.