Kyle Muña ’21 bridges education and industry to improve equity

Kyle Muña majored in human development with a minor in education. As a senior associate for workforce development and health policy at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation (SVLG), he expands and strengthens career connected learning opportunities for Bay Area students. His own experiences ignited his passion and shaped his career trajectory.

Q. What do you do with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation?

A. I secure and coordinate direct hire and work based learning pathways in partnership with SVLG and the Bay Area K 16 Collaborative. Working with a network of nearly 200 employers across Silicon Valley and the broader Bay Area, I manage public private partnerships that align education with workforce needs and expand equitable pathways into high demand careers.
I also support SVLG’s health policy portfolio and facilitate the Health Advocacy Committee, bringing together hospitals, medtech companies, and allied organizations to advance state and local priorities focused on access, affordability and innovation.

Q. What does your work look like day to day?

A. No two days look the same, but my work centers on supporting leaders across K–12, community college, and university systems as they build sustainable, high impact partnerships with industry. These collaborations are designed to make academic pathways feel more connected to real careers.
This often involves organizing worksite visits that bring students onto employer campuses; helping students build social capital and gain exposure to in demand career paths; and co developing classroom projects that cultivate real world professional skills.
We identify opportunities for mutual value between education and industry and manage the relationships intentionally, ensuring they are durable, scalable and capable of generating long term impact.

Q. What have you learned that you wish you knew when you were a student?

A. Career journeys are non-linear! During undergrad, my path, from starting as a pre-med to later pivoting into education, left little room for detours or the freedom to explore the many possible directions my career could take.

I became energized by the real-world and downstream impact of research that could support youth, as well as the educators and practitioners working alongside them.

Kyle Muña ’21

Senior associate for workforce development and health policy, SVLG

Q. What inspired you to pivot from pre-med to psychology and education?

A. Very early in my pre-med journey, I noticed stark differences in how my peers were performing in foundational chemistry and biology courses — differences that were often rooted in the level of academic preparation students received in high school to navigate rigorous STEM curricula.

I benefited from participating in the Prefreshmen Summer Program and later, the Cornell HHMI Accelerating Medical Progress Through Scholarship (CHAMPS) program, which specifically prepared me to succeed in chemistry and organic chemistry. Many peers from similar backgrounds, however, did not have access to comparable opportunities and consequently experienced the academic year very differently.

I came to understand that systemic inequities play a significant role in shaping students’ trajectories, and that substantial work remains in supporting students from underserved communities as they access, explore and thrive in STEM and health-related pathways. I not only saw my own background reflected in the challenges being addressed, I also became energized by the real-world and downstream impact of research that could support youth, as well as the educators and practitioners working alongside them.

Q. What course or activity most impacted your career?

A. The Translational Research Lab, part of PRYDE (Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement), was a transformative series of courses that taught me how to engage external partners with curiosity and humility, collaborate effectively as part of a team, and integrate multiple perspectives to support youth practitioners through a research-informed lens.

Q. Is there anything else that you wish to add?

A. My academic experience at Cornell, and especially within Cornell Human Ecology, gave me the foundation to operate confidently across both micro- and macro-oriented organizations, while staying grounded in curiosity about how systems, communities and institutions create social change.

Group photo of Pryde Scholars with Tony Burrow at the State Fair

Kyle Muña ’21 (yellow shirt) with the PRYDE scholars and Anthony Burrow, Director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at the New York State Fair. Photo by Marilu Lopez Fretts.