POMONA, Calif. —  Choosing to be happy has been life-changing for Angela Young. One way she has done this is by learning to play the ukulele. It’s one of the best decisions she’s made so far.

“Everything sounds high pitched and happy,” she said.

Happiness was not something she knew as a kid. Young grew up in south central Los Angeles, and started in the foster system at the age of three.

She recently graduated from Cal State Poly.

Young always thought she would go into a career in music because it helped her through the emotional turmoil of her life. Instead, she discovered she could help more people like her if she chose a different path in corporate social responsibility, or CSR.

Fate intervened in the form of the Television Academy Foundation internship program for Los Angeles foster youth, in collaboration with the Alliance for Children's Rights.

Now Young is the corporate social responsibility intern at Walt Disney Television.

“Getting into the entertainment industry is so difficult. I always had these ideas, but I was never in a space that could actually bring them to fruition,” she said. 

During her virtual summer internship, Young has been doing one-on-one visits with professionals, online panels, and getting all the resources she needs, such as check-ins with the Television Academy Foundation.

Young hopes to keep working for Disney, or a large company like it, after her internship so she can help allocate their massive resources to make social change for people from disenfranchised communities.

For Young, it's important to help others from similar backgrounds find their own happiness.

“It’s my mission to inspire people to achieve their dreams, empower people to accomplish things they never thought were possible," she said.