David Kianmahd never anticipated a career in the culinary industry. The UCLA alumnus said he actually spent much of his time in college preparing for medical school. Read more...

Photo: UCLA alumnus David Kianmahd originally planned a career in medicine and nutrition but has now spent over a decade as a chef and restaurant manager after following his passions in cooking. From attending culinary school in New York City to managing Violet Bistro in Westwood Village, Kianmahd said he is now in the beginning stages of opening his own business in the food industry. (Kristin Pischel/Daily Bruin)

This post was updated Dec. 4 at 5:50 p.m. Nisha Mody is setting books down and instead perusing through the pages of the complex identities of Asian peoples. Read more...

Photo: Nisha Mody, the associate director of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Pacific Southwest Region based at UCLA, set out with a goal to amplify Asian voices. Through her new podcast, “MigrAsians,” she explores how the complex and intersectional identities of Asians influence their politics and art. (Courtesy of George Davison)

Makailah Hernandez’s medicine of choice amid a pandemic is beading jewelry. The third-year psychobiology student is an enrolled Navajo Tribal member and founded the Indigenous jewelry brand Graymountain Beads about a year ago. Read more...

Photo: Makailah Hernandez, a third-year psychobiology student, created the Indigenous jewelry company Graymountain Beads about a year ago. She is an enrolled Navajo Tribal member and said she named her business after her great-great-grandmother, Wanda Graymountain, to continue the matriarchal traditions of the tribe. (Xuxin Zhang/Daily Bruin staff)