In 2002, after a phone interview with Boys and Girls Club of Alaska (BGC), UAA alumna Natasha Pineda bought a backpack and a pair of boots, booked a ticket out of PDX to Anchorage for what she calls, “a classic Alaska story.” The M.P.H. ’15 grad worked for BGC for a couple of years, ended up returning to Portland before moving to Mexico to live with her dad when she decided it was time to get serious about her career.