Charissa Price Joins Lyrical Opposition as Operations Director

Social awareness nonprofit Lyrical Opposition has made Charissa Price its Operations Director. Charissa has volunteered for the organization in a range of roles previously and aligns strongly with its mission of spreading hope and raising awareness through lyrical arts.

Charissa joined Lyrical Opposition in 2020 when she returned to California from Africa as the pandemic escalated. She had been volunteering with Mercy Ships, helping to provide free healthcare to West African countries. Despite living on a boat for around seven months, she actually gets seasick, and she plans on returning to her former role when the global situation allows.

Charissa has a degree in Child Development and graduated Magna Cum Laude from California Polytechnic State University. She currently works full-time as a kindergarten teacher and dedicates her spare time to her role with Lyrical Opposition. She is especially proud of being able to contribute and support the global conversation around minority rights.

“We've been able to respond to a lot of the rise in hate crimes against Black and Asian Americans,” she says. “We’ve been able to offer book clubs with books that are relevant to what's happening, books are written by minority authors and about their journeys, and their immigrant stories. The most rewarding thing is that we're able to facilitate a place where people can go and do something, or process what's happening in the world right now. As much as I'm sure it's helping people, it also helps us as a staff to be able to kind of cope with what's going on too.”

Charissa is an avid reader and has memorized her library card numbers. She also collects passport stamps, though with three pages still to fill and her passport due to expire in 2022, she’s not sure she’ll be able to fill the remaining space. She is a big fan of the San Francisco Giants in the MLB and remembers being in the stands for Travis Ishikawa’s famous walk-off home run that won the NLCS in 2014.

More announcements from Lyrical Opposition

Team announcement

Get to Know Ashley Budelli, LO's Diversity, Inclusion, and Faith Coordinator

Ashley Budelli has the best of both worlds. A fifth-grade teacher, Ashley also takes on the role as the Diversity, Inclusion, and Faith Coordinator at Lyrical Opposition, allowing her to pack both her passions into her busy schedule. Lyrical Opposition is enabling positive social action through the arts, and Ashley is an advocate for marginalized voices. Part of her role involves running a book club, where she allows those voices to be heard. “It's really a community atmosphere; we're learning new things in an open space. In the community that we've created, we're all very different. It's multi-generational, multi-ethnic, and everyone can be their whole selves, which is a beautiful thing. “We try to not make diversity about this one event. Every activity, every program that we're doing, it's already included in the DNA of our group. So there's no special push for diversity. It's just that when we're picking books to read, we're thinking of who the author is or what’s a voice that we haven't heard from.” Ashley graduated with a bachelor of science and has since gone on to study ministry. Her degree is in Intercultural Studies, which gives her a unique perspective on inclusivity and diversity. “It’s just having the posture of learning from different cultures and different people. It’s about changing the frame of reference to think, ‘They have something to give that’s just as valuable as what I have to give’, and encouraging people to see how we can all become better from that.” Born and raised in San Francisco, Ashley says she has always been driven to help people to grow into the people that God has called them to be. Part of that comes from her work in school, where diversity can be encouraged from a young age. “With kids, it’s not just that they have a more well-rounded knowledge of others, but they can be active members striving for justice and equity. If you get that to young people, then they'll have that for the rest of their life, instead of trying to instill it in adults. “We're creating a different perspective, starting with things that are anti-racist or anti-oppression or anti-patriarchy. Because we're acknowledging these systems and we're only reactionary so really using our creative imagination and empowering the youth by having these conversations from a young age.” Passion is a central theme in a lot of what Ashley enjoys. Outside of her work, she likes watching movies, particularly when she can go to the theatre to enjoy them. She also hopes to live in a foreign country for a few months at some point and is drawn to Costa Rica as a place she wants to spend an extended period of time in.

Team announcement

Meet LO's Creative and Cultural Ambassador, Samuelu Veu

Lyrical Opposition’s Creative and Cultural Ambassador knows there are many traps waiting for young people these days. Bay Area native Samuelu Veu has seen the devastating effects of violence, drug use, distribution, alcoholism, and neglect too many times, and he’s driven to help people avoid these kinds of lifestyles by providing a positive influence. “In LO, everybody knows how it feels to be excluded or left out. That's why it's always an open door. Anyone is always welcome, and that's how the DNA of LO makes it so easy for anybody and everybody to come in and feel like themselves. A lot of us know how it feels to not have a family, so this is like our family.” Lyrical Opposition is a community of artists inspiring social action through its messaging, and Sam uses platforms such as rap, spoken word, and guest speaking to spread love in the community. He started writing in eighth grade with one of his friends but didn’t start taking it seriously until later. “I'm like, heavy West Coast. Music all around, gangsta rap from L.A. It wasn't until I got older that I really started finding my voice and including things like poetry. There was always writing, whether it came out in rap or spoken word. Those were the common nucleus of my writing. But things really developed when I started exploring poetry.” Sam says he’s spent years developing his writing, but the next thing he wants to do is incorporate creative videos into his messaging. “When it comes to poetry and the rapping part, I don't want to sound cocky, but that's the easy part. That part will always be taken care of. It's just more of the package, which is showcasing the video or anatomy or facial expressions, and stuff like that.” Sam met LO founder, Christian when he was a student at Skyline College. Sam was actually the president of the hip hop club that Christian founded, and the pair have kept in touch ever since. Sam sees plenty of opportunities for growth for LO as it continues to meet the needs of its communities and enable positive social change. He believes the key to doing that is to stay true to its strengths. “We have such a heart to meet so many different needs all at once. My hope is that we see LO focus on like a core few things instead of trying to meet every need. If we could just focus on three things that we do for good, we will make a bigger difference that way. That’s what I hope to see and I feel like we're getting to that.” Sam is a dedicated Christian and is a big believer in the values of his Samoan roots; God, family, respect, discipline, and love. He is, not limited to, but mainly active in the Black and Pacific Island community and helps to coordinate events and benefit concerts, many of which he performs at.

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