Leading with Heart: Dr. Fabiola Bagula Receives Luminary Leadership Award

By Cesar A Reyes

For Dr. Fabiola Bagula, San Diego has always been home in the deepest sense of the word — the city that raised her, shaped her, and ultimately inspired a lifetime devoted to making sure young people feel seen, protected, and valued.

Born and raised in San Diego, Dr. Bagula’s roots run deep. A graduate of both UC San Diego and the University of San Diego, she has spent years working across San Diego Unified as well as county and state equity initiatives, advocating for students whose voices too often go unheard. This year, that work is being recognized with The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s Luminary Leadership Award during the organization’s annual Luminaries Luncheon.

For Dr. Bagula, the recognition carries a mix of emotions.

“Honor, privilege, responsibility,” she says, reflecting on what it means to be named a Luminary this year.

The words are brief, but they hold the weight of someone who understands leadership not as service rather than status.

Throughout her career, Dr. Bagula has focused much of her work on equity and creating systems of support for LGBTQIA+ youth and families. But when she talks about students, the conversation quickly moves beyond policy and professional titles. Instead, she speaks about real lives, real fears, and the importance of making sure young people know they matter.

“Not every student walks into school feeling safe, seen, or supported,” she says. “For some students, school can be one of the few places where they do have that support.”

Consequently, partnerships with organizations like The San Diego LGBT Community Center have become important.

“We work closely with the Center and our community partners to provide wraparound support for students and families both inside and outside of school,” Dr. Bagula explains. “When students or parents need additional guidance, resources, or a sense of connection, the Center is often a trusted place we can turn to for support.”

She is quick to point out that The Center’s impact extends far beyond direct services. What it offers, she says, is something many people spend their entire lives searching for: belonging.

“The Center helps build a stronger, more compassionate community where people feel seen, connected, and valued,” she says. “Through its programs, events, advocacy, and safe spaces, it creates opportunities for young people and families to build relationships, find belonging, and experience joy.”

Then she adds something that lands with force.

“For some young people, those connections can truly be life-saving.”

That understanding sits at the heart of this year’s Luminaries Luncheon — an event that celebrates leaders while also recognizing the urgency of protecting LGBTQ+ spaces and voices during an increasingly hostile political climate.

“Now, more than ever, it is important that we advocate for LGBTQIA+ youth and their allies,” Dr. Bagula says. “Our rights are being dismantled. We must always protect and defend.”

She speaks candidly about the challenges many LGBTQIA+ students continue to face: bullying, isolation, anxiety, and the emotional toll of feeling unsafe in spaces where they should be able to thrive.

“When students feel that they are safe and belong at school, their level of engagement, success, confidence, and connection increases,” she says. “School should be a place where all students feel valued for who they are.”

Even amid those challenges, Dr. Bagula’s outlook remains grounded in hope built through collective care and action.

That philosophy is captured in the phrase she chose to represent her work within San Diego’s LGBTQ+ community: “We, us.”

It is also the title and heartbeat of a poem she shared while reflecting on allyship, advocacy, and community responsibility.

“In my search to be a better ally/ Accomplice, friend, partner, kin,” she writes, “My immediate most instinctual response to the question/ ‘What are your pronouns?’/ Is/ We, us.”

The poem reads as both a meditation and a call to action, centering the idea that lasting change only happens when people choose to move together instead of apart.

“The answer is usually community,” she says.

Dr. Bagula imagines a future where schools, organizations like The Center, educators, families, and young people work collectively to create spaces where “safety is not a slogan but a practice” and where “belonging is not an initiative but a birthright.”

There is a tenderness in the way she talks about this work, but also resolve. She understands that advocacy is not only about policy battles or public statements. Sometimes it begins in small moments: listening to a student, showing up consistently, creating space for someone to exist fully as themselves.

“As we see each other/ Hear each other/ Protect each other/ Fight for each other/ Dream with each other/ Love each other,” she says, “Until there is no other/ Just we, us.”

That spirit is what the Luminaries Luncheon ultimately honors. Not simply achievement, but humanity. The people willing to stand beside others and help build a safer, more compassionate community for everyone.

And for Dr. Fabiola Bagula, a lifelong San Diegan who has dedicated her career to uplifting others, the recognition feels especially fitting.