NYU Alumni Club in Los Angeles

For over a decade, the NYU Alumni Club in Los Angeles has stood out as a leader in the alumni community through the sheer quantity and exceptional quality of its programming, having hosted over 300 events that have brought together more than 7,000 attendees. The club maintains a steady, active presence year after year, hosting creative and varied gatherings tailored to its diverse audience—even pivoting seamlessly to virtual programming during the height of the pandemic. From award-winning signature celebrations like the annual Holiday Party on Ice to swift, impact-driven civic responses—assembling 85 volunteers in under a week for an emergency Global Days of Service effort following the Southern California wildfires—the club continuously delivers meaningful experiences that engage the 15,000+ alumni that call Southern California home.

The club’s success is anchored by a deeply dedicated leadership team led by Co-Presidents, Daniel Esquivel (STEINHARDT ’11) and Liliya Gritsenko (CAS ’08). Grounded in accountability, empowerment, and equity, their core contributions as Co-Presidents have included implementing a structured volunteer onboarding program to provide clear pathways for engagement, launching an annual elections process to ensure fair leadership transitions, and creating a new Vice-President role to develop emerging leaders and support succession planning.

The exceptional impact of the NYU Alumni Club in Los Angeles has been widely celebrated by the NYU Alumni Association through four (4) major volunteer awards: New Volunteer of the Year (Subah Imami, 2024), Volunteer of the Year (Arianna Deans, 2022), Event of the Year (Holiday Party on Ice, 2022), and Volunteer of the Year (Daniel Esquivel, 2018). Now a recipient of the NYUAA's highest honor—Club of Distinction—the Los Angeles club stands as a shining example of sustained alumni engagement and transformational volunteer leadership development.