Meet our wonderfully amazing CVP Team!

Student Advocate

Peer Group Facilitator:

LGBTQIA+ Community Group

LGBTQIA+ Youth Community Group

I am passionate about health and food sciences, and the human body, brain, and mind. I deeply enjoy connecting with and providing for my fellow Queer and Trans communities! I plan on continuing to learn about people's intersectional experiences to be able to provide them with the best resources, education, and care I possibly can.

Advocacy Director/Founder

Eric Olson-Diehl is a compassionate professional with a diverse background in social services and education. With a strong commitment to supporting the LGBTQIA community, Eric has dedicated his career to empowering individuals and fostering inclusivity. From his work as a Therapeutic Behavioral Specialist to his role as a Program Supervisor, Eric has demonstrated his commitment to fostering inclusive environments and providing compassionate care. Eric brings a genuine desire to uplift and support the LGBTQIA community and continues to contribute to its well-being through his expertise and advocacy.

CEO/Founder

Jennifer McQueen (she/her/hers) is a South Korean immigrant with a background as a youth worker, educator, and small business owner. Jennifer has been  heavily involved with LGBT+ advocacy through Free Mom Hugs, the Pride Progress Flags on Main Street project, Oakdale’s 150th Anniversary Parade, and much more around Merced County. McQueen then served as the Executive Director of the Merced Pride Center, and now serves as the CEO of co-founded Central Valley Pride and has the strong belief that CVP has the ability to make real, tangible, impactful change here in the Central Valley and beyond for all in the LGBTQIA+ community.

Peer Group Facilitator:

A・Spec Space

Jessica Gillis is passionate about writing and helping others. Currently a graduate student at Florida Insititute of Technology and studying Applied Behavior Analysis, her goal is to obtain her master's degree to pursue a career as a BCBA to work with kids with autism. She is excited to be a part of the community and wants to spread her love and heart to everyone she meets. 

CVP Youth Initiatives, Executive Director/Founder

Dr. Jon McFarland (he/him/his) is originally from Hawaii where he earned his B.Ed. and M.A. from the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa. He received his doctorate in Educational Leadership from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. He has nearly three decades of teaching experience and has taught at multiple levels of education including working 16 years at the same Title I comprehensive high school in Ventura County in southern California before joining the faculty at California State University, Stanislaus where he is an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education in the Single Subject Credential Program. 

Jon is a champion for K-12 student advocacy and marginalized populations. He has incorporated that fervor by rewriting an inclusive curriculum that brings a greater awareness of LGBTQ+ students in teacher education. He has expanded his pedagogical practice to provide quality professional development for educational partners in K-12 schools and school districts throughout California.

Jon is a published author and researcher on LGBTQ+ issues in K-12 schools. He has presented at national and international conferences on various topics concerning queer issues in education. He is currently working on a book to help guide educators establish a culture of care to best serve their LGBTQ+ K-12 students.   

Student Advocate

Community Activities Lead

Josiah Beharry is a recent graduate of the University of California Merced, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies with a minor in Writing Studies; graduating magna cum laude, in the top 4 percent of his class. He prides himself in being a writer with published poetry in the UC Merced Vernal Pool and can often be found cooking and working out in his free time. He enjoys listening and vibing to neo-soul, R&B, and drill music. He has experience as a Gateway Academy Program Developer, Lead, and Mentor at UC Merced Bright Student Success Center, developing a summer academy to prepare and inform underrepresented high school students on college readiness and character development skills. He also has experience as a Fellow in Emerging Leaders Institute at American Civil Liberty Union, developing a capstone project to help increase testing and reading levels of students in the central valley and impact the school to prison pipeline. He has skills in creativity, versatility, critical thinking, queer of color critique, and conscientiousness and attention to detail. He is aspiring to pursue a Phd in Interdisciplinary Humanities, to expand knowledge in liberatory pedagogy and decolonizing curriculum grounded in arts-based education and trauma-rooted healing. 

Peer Group Facilitator:

LGBTQIA+ Youth Community Group

Naomi J. Parra (she/her) is a Merced community member, a psychology major at CSU Stanislaus, a local writer, and loyal team member. Coming out in 2017, she has then since left her mark on the LGBTQIA+ community as the El Capitan GSA President/Vice President from 2018-2020 and volunteering for the Merced Pride Center and the LGBTQIA+ Alliance since then. Naomi hopes to use her degree in the future to counsel LGBTQIA+ youth and all they go through.

Peer Group Facilitator:

Adults, Youth, and TGI

Bryn has lived all over California, with a majority of time spent in the Bay Area. Social justice has always been a focus for Bryn, including choosing to major in American Studies with an emphasis on income inequality, public policy, and education. They have spent years working in public education in a variety of capacities, and bring lived experience & empathy to every endeavor in support of our LGBTQIA+/2S community.

Peer Group Facilitator:

Trans and Gender Diverse

Shelby Defeo (they/them/theirs) is an active and proud member of the Merced LGBTQIA+ community. Originally from Southern California, Shelby has moved up and down the West Coast, living in 5 cities in 5 years before moving to Merced in 2020. Shelby has since come to love Merced and its community. They are a PhD candidate at UC Merced where they study water quality. Shelby is passionate about fostering community and creating change. Say hello if you recognize them around town!

Team Member

Valor Smallwood is a trans non-binary woman pursuing their PhD at UC Merced. They study paleontology, and fuse their passion for activism and science in all that they do. Being a black trans woman in her discipline where people like her are extremely uncommon, she feels a strong need to improve diversity and inclusiveness for all. They are a strong advocate for the people around them, on- and off-campus, and she loves writing about fantasy settings as a way to create images of the kind of world she wants to help create through her work. She also enjoys attending various events around town, especially pride-related events. If you ever see her at one of these events, feel free to come up and say hi! She'll be the best-dressed person there 😉