Society of Emerging Leaders History

Our Story

In 2022, Kira Sano and Mary Kemp started the California Emerging Leaders to increase youth and young professional engagement in the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). This volunteer x staff partner duo took the idea and ran with it—growing from a small leadership team of 10 to over 100 engaged volunteers today. They’re hoping to reach every county in California, to have a diverse body of youth and young professional representatives who are trained and empowered to make tangible change in cancer advocacy. We firmly believe that these individuals have a unique position and power, and we want them to feel their volunteer journey is their own.

Our 2024 Milestones

Our 2023 Milestones

Our 2022 Milestones

  • Leadership Summit and Lobby Day 2022

    Sent student leaders to Washington D.C. to speak to their representatives about the DIVERSE Trials Act, Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Act, and an Increase in Federal Funding for Cancer Research and Prevention—marking a historic number of youth volunteers.

  • Lights of Hope 2022

    Our team fundraised over $1.5k in Lights of Hope Bags that we brought to the Reflection Pool in D.C.

  • California Volunteer Leadership Summit 2022

    Led sessions for youth and young professional engagement. Recruited new volunteers and hosted focus groups for California engagement.

  • Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

    Sent members across California throughout October to host petition drives and informational booths to raise awareness for ACS CAN.

  • Passed YES On Proposition 31

    Our team spoke at press events, getting letters to the editor published in local newspapers, attended tobacco coalition meetings, and spoke at voter education events.

  • Support Tobacco Policies Locally

    Members attended committee meetings and built on relationships with local policymakers made by previous student volunteers.

  • Increasing Access to Biomarker Testing

    Supporting outreach on the biomarker campaign—making calls and emails to representatives, tweeting to Governor Newsom on #CallOnNewsom, and raising awareness at schools.

  • Youth Quest 2023

    Sent volunteers to represent ACS CAN at Youth Quest 2023 at Sacramento, CA.

  • Building the Community

    Created career-skill focused opportunities for students like website design, power analysis and policy research skills, and journalism.

  • Featured Young Leaders as Speakers

    We featured young leaders like Aditya in speaking about how they uniquely combine culture and advocacy. We also led and spoke on panels with the Vice President and President of ACS CAN.

  • 1st Young Leaders Summit

    We sent representatives to the first young leaders summit held by ACS CAN and served as advisors on how to start a state-based or regional organization for youth and young professionals in Chicago.