Mariana King with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro
Allentown, PA native Mariana King ’27, a first-generation Cuban American, has a passion for community, public health and government. As a population health student at Lehigh University’s College of Health (COH), she merges these interests and influences real-world change. In August 2025, she was appointed to the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs (GACLA), a state agency dedicated to advising the governor on policies and legislation that impact Latino American communities in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
While attending William Allen High School in Allentown, she was also a dual enrollment student at Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC). She transferred to Lehigh in the 2024-25 academic year. One of her LCCC professors approached her about an opportunity to apply to join the GACLA, and she was accepted. According to King, she is the youngest commissioner of GACLA to ever be appointed.
GACLA is one of six statewide councils that act as an advisory group for different demographics. “We basically tell the governor what’s going on in the community, how he can help, and what we need to do,” King explained. “We are split up into three different divisions, and we have education, economy and health. I’m on the health committee; we talk about how Latinos’ health is being affected by what’s going on, and what we can do for possible solutions.”
She appreciates the group’s passion for positively impacting community members’ day-to-day lives. Efforts from GACLA have ensured that Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) materials and voting ballots are translated into Spanish.
King shared that even before the press release went out announcing the newly appointed commissioners, Olga Negrón, executive director of GACLA, came to her with an opportunity to speak at the second annual Pennsylvania Latina Women conference about what it means to be a Latina in the Lehigh Valley in today’s day and age. The event took place on July 29, 2025 at the Univest Public Media Center on the SteelStacks campus in Bethlehem, and was organized by the Pennsylvania Latino Convention, in partnership with Lehigh Valley Public Media (LVPM). Featuring conversations around leadership, identity and opportunity, the event included King; Negrón, also the vice chairwoman of PALC; Luis Campos, Easton City Administrator and LVPM board Treasurer; Hasanna Birdsong, LVPM Chief Executive Officer; and Norman Bristol Colón, founder of PALC and the commonwealth's chief diversity officer.
King noted that at the time, the political climate was “very hot” due to ICE raids in the area, and immigration issues were top of mind, so it only felt right to address these topics. She shared her view of it means to be Latina in the Lehigh Valley:
“It means that you’ve heard of two things. You’ve heard of your own cultural side, but you also have to learn how to navigate the new environment and learn how to never forget where you come from. It’s a constant pull and push with your own self,” she said.
“You have to give yourself room to be able to grow, to be able to progress and to be able to change because change is always going to happen,” King said. She also spoke of the importance of holding onto your roots, so these changes do not take over.
While it was a bit nerve-wracking to speak on a microphone for the first time, King found the audience to be very supportive. “It was nice to see people just like me,” she added.
At the COH, King has the opportunity to dive into community-based studies that advance health equity. King is currently contributing to Professor Kate Jackson’s work with the Bethlehem community to address persistent waste challenges through a trash mapping project. Working hand-in-hand with affected communities through community-based participatory research is central to the work of the College of Health.
Instead of approaching area neighbors with a strong, research-based approach, the importance of doing community-based research puts the community at the forefront and “gives them the space to be able to talk about the problems they are facing,” she said.
King plans to graduate from the COH in the spring of 2027 and pursue a career in policy. “I am open to wherever the wind takes me,” she said. “Every single time I take a new class with a new demographic of people to study, I’m even more interested than I was before. Every single class, I’m accumulating all these niche interests about different demographics and how to help different people.”
She added the college feels really personal and like a family. “I love it because it feels like a community, and I’m very community-based,” she said.
