Brittany Beard entered a world where social structure presented numerous challenges. But the adopted, multi-racial woman with a learning disability who was raised in a single-parent home, overcame them.

As an undergraduate, she was part of the National Coalition Building Institute and selected as a NextGen Leader by the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. She received President Obama's Volunteer Service Award for dedicating more than 850 internship hours with Teaching Fellows, Central High School, and the César Chávez Foundation.

Brittany maintains a 3.84 GPA in her master's program in counseling at California State University, Fresno, while she provides in-home tutoring services to at-risk youth. She is establishing a multicultural counseling student association that will offer students the opportunity to affiliate with the American Counseling Association. In the future, Brittany hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in counseling education and supervision to make a positive impact on individuals, organizations and her community.​