She worked closely with the Obama Administration, as well as local, state and national organizations working at the intersection of the rights of the LGBTQ and immigrant communities.

During her first year as CEO, Dessert led The Center through a phenomenal growth phase. Under her leadership, The Center increased its budget from $6M to $10.2M annually, and service visits to more than 80,000 annually. Along with The Center’s team and Board of Directors, in 2019 The Center engaged in an in-depth community-driven strategic planning process with the participation of over 2,000 community members.

Dessert led The Center in expanding its housing services to a full range housing continuum that includes the first shelter in San Diego County for LGBTQ youth, additional permanent supportive housing and prevention programs, and ongoing services and advocacy for LGBTQ community members who are at risk of experiencing homelessness. The Center also embarked on its first-ever cross-border immigration campaign which provided life-sustaining humanitarian relief to LGBTQ and HIV-positive asylum seekers and their families at the border; opened the South Bay Youth Center; started The Center’s Training Institute and Black Services Program; and stood with our transgender and nonbinary community fighting back against the relentless attacks from the Trump Administration with undaunted courage and inspirational authenticity. 

Prior to joining The Center as CEO, Dessert served in the California Department of Justice in the Office of the Attorney General as a Deputy Attorney General in the Public Rights Division, where she worked with then-California Attorney General (now Vice President) Kamala Harris’ executive team.

She has deep roots in the San Diego area. A native of El Centro, she previously was The Center’s Policy and Community Organizing Coordinator, San Diego’s field director for the No on 8/Equality for All campaign, and worked for Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest. She completed her JD at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law, where she was the editor-in-chief of the Chicana/o Latina/o Law Review and earned degree specializations from the Epstein Public Interest Law and Policy and Critical Race Studies programs. She earned her BA at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD).

She is a Commissioner for both the Healthy California for All Commission and the Leon L. Williams San Diego County Human Relations Commission. She is married to Lisa Valenzuela.