Local Hero: Christian Esteban, Advocate for Students

Nominee Name: Christian Esteban
Title: Executive director
Organization/Business: JOYA Scholars
Website: joyascholars.org

About Christian Esteban

As executive director of the nonprofit JOYA Scholars, Esteban is responsible for operations and staff management, fund and program development, marketing and outreach, and community partnerships.

Originally from Modesto, Esteban graduated from UC Irvine in 2014 with degrees in psychology, social behavior, and anthropology. He served as an AmeriCorps fellow with Orangeview Junior High School in Anaheim and OneOC, a nonprofit that accelerates nonprofit success.

Esteban joined JOYA Scholars in 2015 as a volunteer mentor to junior high and high school students. The organization serves elementary, junior high, high school and college students in Fullerton and provides mentoring, tutoring, college application preparation services and more.

In 2017 he was hired as JOYA Scholars' program director and was promoted to executive director in 2018. In May 2022, JOYA Scholars celebrated the first major Class of 2022 college graduates. Student participants graduated from universities such as UC Riverside, UC Irvine, Chapman University, Cal State Fullerton and many others.