Catchin' Up With a Cookie: Yanelle Cruz Bonilla
Yanelle Cruz Bonilla
2017 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar; 2020 Graduate Scholar, Oxford University
Introduction
Yanelle is a Qualitative Research Analyst at Rewiring America. She works on various research projects supporting the organization's mission of electrifying every American household. Currently, she leads the affordability research portfolio and supports the extreme heat and resilience research portfolio, as well as the organization’s social and behavioral consumer research. She has a BA in sociology from Tufts University, an MSc in Migration Studies, and an MPhil in Evidence-Based Social Integration and Policy Evaluation from the University of Oxford. Born in Honduras, Yanelle resides in Washington, DC. In her free time, she enjoys going to the movies, seeing live theatre, making pottery, going to museum events, and going on walks with her dog Teddy all around the city.
Tell us about a memorable moment in undergrad or graduate school.
There are so many! I have many incredible memories from my time studying abroad in Madrid as an undergrad, but one of my favorites is from my “Sketch the City” class. We traveled to a different site every week to draw and I loved having the chance to nurture my creativity every week. But I also appreciated having the chance to sit and stare at the world around me for an hour and a half. Maybe it’s the sociologist in me, but I love getting to observe the world around me. It made me appreciate so many little details about Madrid and I remember those class days fondly.
As for graduate school, attending Oxford was an absolute dream so there are so many to choose from, but I’m especially proud of my time working with the Global Centre for Healthcare and Urbanisation. I got to work on several exciting projects but I loved drafting the research reports I authored with The King’s Foundation, which examined the intersection of health, wellbeing and our built environment. As part of that work, I traveled to Scotland to learn all about the education programs hosted at Dumfries House and it was an inspiring week for me. After that, I decided I wanted to pursue a job in climate after graduating and that led me to my current role at Rewiring America.
What is ONE THING YOU DID TO HELP TRANSITION TO YOUR FIRST YEAR OUT OF COLLEGE?
When I graduated undergrad I made it a priority to learn about personal finance. As a first-generation graduate and professional, I knew it would be important for me to learn all about how to manage my salary from my first-ever full-time job. So I learned all about budgeting, increasing savings, investing, retirement accounts, etc. Not the most fun or exciting stuff to learn but I think it’s an absolute necessity. Post graduate school my focus has been making time to nurture myself and my wellbeing. I make time for all of my million hobbies (I love a fun, artsy hobby) so I regularly engage in creative activities whether at home or taking classes around the city. I make time to do something that brings me joy every week whether it’s an art class, seeing a movie, going to a theater show, baking a new recipe, etc. and I’ve learned to prioritize that time to pour into myself. I think it’s key to remember to take care of and nurture yourself when entering the workforce, it definitely helps prevent burnout and teaches you how to engage in a healthy work life balance.
What was the last show you watched that you really enjoyed and highly recommended?
This is a tough question! I made a resolution to watch 100 movies last year, I watched 102 and had so much fun doing it I decided to do it again this year, so I have a lot of movies to recommend! Recently, I watched “One of Them Days” and highly recommend it for laughs, good escapism, a reminder to call your best friend, and phenomenal acting from Keke Palmer and SZA. Some of my favorites from last year were American Fiction, Problemista, Challengers, Thelma, Conclave, Sing Sing, Juror #2, Wicked Little Letters and My Old Ass. All of these were wonderful movies for different reasons so highly recommend checking them out.
I recently read the book One, Two, Three by Laurie Frankel with some of my coworkers and it was a wonderful read – I recommend the audiobook version if you have access to it! As for shows, I highly recommend Severance and Shrinking on Apple TV (actually, just watch all the Apple TV shows, they are all so good).
If you were to create your own cookie, what would it consist of and what name would you give it?
I love baking so I’d probably make a matcha pistachio shortbread cookie, dunk half of it in dark chocolate and add a raspberry drizzle on top. I’d name it Wicked Delight to honor another movie I really liked (the green shortbread and the pink from the raspberry can count as a Wicked themed cookie no?)
To hear more from Yanelle, check out her interview videos on Compass here.