Citizenship Ambassadors

Hamissi Mamba is a co-owner of Baobab Fare, an East African restaurant in Detroit, along with his wife Nadia Nijimbere. The husband-and-wife duo were born and raised in Burundi and came to America as asylum seekers. Nadia came first in 2013 and, upon her arrival, found she was pregnant with twins. Mamba joined his family in 2015, and together, the couple navigated their new landscape — learning English and working to rebuild their family dynamic and a new home after years of separation. They found community within Detroit’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and, in 2017, embarked on the journey of opening a restaurant that could give back to their newly adopted city that had welcomed them and their two daughters. After winning Hatch Detroit, a contest that was built on an idea called “crowd entrepreneurship,” where residents have a role in voting for the type of businesses they want in their community, they opened Baobab Fare. Since its opening in 2021, Baobab Fare has been awarded Eater’s Best New Restaurant In America in 2021, and 2022 Freep’s Best New Restaurant In Metro Detroit, and Esquire’s Best New Restaurant In America. Mamba and Nadia also received two nominations for James Beard Semifinalist for Best Chefs, and in 2023, Mamba became a Food Network Chopped Champion. Following this success, the couple launched two sister brands of Baobab Fare: Waka — a food truck that serves East African street food at Detroit City Football Club home matches and throughout Metro Detroit; and Soko — an East African market that collaborates with farmers, makers, growers, and artists in both Burundi and Detroit to create a collection of goods for sale.

The journey to citizenship was a lengthy process for both Mamba and Nadia. Seeking asylum in the United States, they found solace at Freedom House Detroit. Upon entering the country, the couple faced the challenge of adapting to a new language, community, job, and way of life. Mamba opted to become a driver to enhance his language skills, engaging in conversations with people to improve his English. Through this, he experienced the kindness and patience of those who conversed with him, sharing his story and learning from others. In 2023, two years after establishing their Baobab Fare Mamba and Nadia became U.S. citizens.

The child of second-generation missionaries with roots in Japan and Canada, Jodie Stanley was born and raised in the Bolivian Andes. At the age of 17, Stanley left her family and came to the United States to finish her last year of high school and pursue a college education at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. In 2000, she moved to Greensboro, North Carolina with her husband and children. Her Spanish-speaking abilities led her to a career as Greensboro, North Carolina’s first International Support Coordinator. Since assuming this role, Stanley successfully revived the city’s language access program and implemented its first bilingual pay incentive program, ensuring that bilingual staff are appropriately tested, incentivized and trained. She also developed the first interpreter training for bilingual staff, equipping and empowering them with information about interpretation ethics, translation best practice and boundaries. 

She designed Greensboro Speaks, a basic Spanish class that is paired with cultural humility, an overview of the U.S. immigration system, language access compliance and bias training. Stanley also manages the International Advisory Committee, the only elected municipal international advisory board in the country. In addition to doing immigration integration work at the local level, she is an active member of the North Carolina Municipality Working Group, which promotes immigrant integration work at the statewide level. In addition, she helps manage a national peer support group for government language access coordinators, Municipal Language Access Network.

Myriam Mézadieu began her career with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) in Miami. She took on the daily operation of the Catholic Emergency Legal Aid for Haitians, a project begun in 1991 to assist Haitians paroled from Guantanamo Naval Base after the 1991 Haitian coup d’état. On June 1, 1994, she co-founded the G.W.L. Legal Project, which was subsequently restructured as Catholic Charities Legal Services, Archdiocese of Miami, Inc., (CCLS). She currently serves as the chief operating officer of CCLS. Supervising a seasoned team of immigration professionals, Mézadieu is committed to serving the under-privileged immigrant community of South Florida, as well as religious workers from all over the world. She holds a BA in business law with a minor in communications and management and a MA in international affairs.

Margarita Rocha was born in Blythe, California and raised in Fresno. She is a mother of three sons, grandmother of ten, and a great-grandmother of ten. From early on, her mother and father who worked in the fields instilled in her that hard work and dedication were the key to success. Rocha was the first person in her family to go to college.   

Rocha is the Executive Director of Centro La Familia Advocacy Services (CLFA) and knows that policy decisions can have an immense impact on communities. With more than four decades of experience in community organizing, she also knows that policy decisions occur two ways: with the community’s involvement or without the community’s involvement. She has long been involved in organizing communities in the Central Valley region to raise awareness among residents about their power to impact their communities. She is a strong advocate of U.S. citizenship and is already actively working to promote naturalization. 

In her leadership role, Rocha has guided CLFA in the design and implementation of successful programs focusing on serving in a holistic manner that acknowledges and respects the cultural issues of the families they serve. Her work has transformed CLFA from a small, grassroots organization into an important resource for the Hispanic/Latino community, growing the agency from a small staff of five to nearly one hundred, with four locations in Fresno County.  

A strong and determined advocate for families, Rocha’s career in advocacy began in the 1970’s. Her work has taken her to Washington, DC, and Cleveland, OH, where she worked in the newly established Office for Civil Rights with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. During this time, she also co-founded the nonprofit League of United Latin American Citizens in Cleveland. A 1976 profile in the local newspaper names her as one of the few Spanish-Speaking Americans working at the federal level field.  

Since then, Rocha’s work has been recognized by many others including being CSU Fresno, Fresno City College, The Business Journal, Vida en El Valle, local elected officials, and several community-organizations. In 2019, she has recognized as Woman of the Year by Fresno City Council President Soria, Woman of the Year for District 7, and Champion of Justice by Central California Legal Services. 

In November 2020, Rocha was recognized by the Government of Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Ohtli award, one of the highest honors bestowed by the Mexican Government upon persons of Mexican descent for their leadership and blazing a trail for younger generations. 

Pao Yang is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Fresno Center, a nonprofit organization with a 30-year history of promoting cross-cultural understanding through its community work.  The Fresno Center provides social services, advocacy, immigration, education, workforce training, and mental health services within Fresno County and throughout California. Yang is very generous with his time and applies his diverse leadership experiences to help the community and other charitable nonprofits across the Valley with engaging in critical policy issues, exchanging proven practices, and advancing their missions through advocacy. 

Over the past 20 years, he has held multiple leadership positions in non-profits and higher education. He has helped hundreds of Southeast Asian students earn their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering and technology while mentoring them so they can become the next generation of community leaders. Yang holds a bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering and a master’s degree in business administration. Yang is currently a candidate for his doctorate degree in organizational leadership. Yang is a current member on the following boards and committees: 

• Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer’s Advisory Committee Member 
• City of Fresno Immigrants Affairs Committee Member 
• Saint Agnes Hospital Board of Directors 
• Fresno Unified School District Foundation Board Member 
• Commission on Engagement of Young Man at SCCD Committee Member 
• Steering Committee Member for Central Southeast Specific Plan 
• Member of Kiwanis Club of East Fresno