Nika Yellie Soon-Shiong (born February 26, 1993) is an American activist who served as a Public Safety Commissioner of

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...

from September 13, 2021, to October 11, 2022. Founder of the Fund for Guaranteed Income, she is the co-director of the Compton Pledge and Long Beach Pledge programs.

Early life and career

Soon-Shiong was born on February 26, 1993, to

Patrick Soon-Shiong Patrick Soon-Shiong (born July 29, 1952) is a Chinese-South African transplant surgeon, billionaire businessman, bioscientist, and media proprietor. He is the inventor of the drug Abraxane, which became known for its efficacy against lung, brea ...

and

Michele B. Chan Michele B. Chan is an American philanthropist and former actress. She was born in East London, Eastern Cape, East London, South Africa. Chan is currently the CEO of NantStudio, which she founded in 2015. Acting career She was best known for her ...

; she has a brother. She graduated from

Marymount High School Marymount High School is an independent, Catholic, all-girls, college-preparatory high school located in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It sits on Sunset Boulevard across from the University of California, Los Angeles camp ...

in 2011. In 2015, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

with an

Master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in African Studies,

Bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

in International Relations, and minor in creative writing.

Career

After Stanford, she helped with Equal Education, an activist movement in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, and worked in the office of the

President of the World Bank Group The president of the World Bank Group is the head of World Bank Group. The president is responsible for chairing the meetings of the boards of directors and for overall management of the World Bank Group. Traditionally, the World Bank Group presid ...

. In 2018, she started her PhD degree at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. In August 2020, Soon-Shiong founded the group Fund for Guaranteed Income and became the co-director of the Compton Pledge, an initiative by Fund for Guaranteed Income to have guaranteed income program in

Compton, California Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and, on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city in Los Angeles County to incorporat ...

. Soon-Shiong became involved with the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' since 2020, when in June that year, she called out the ''Times'' for their use of "looting" in their headlines during the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...

, with the ''Times'' later limiting itself on its use of the word. That next month, when there were fears of layoffs, Soon-Shiong urged her father to meet with Black and Latino employees; the layoffs were never done. In February 2021, when the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' speculated that Patrick Soon-Shiong was looking to sell the ''Los Angeles Times'', Soon-Shiong echoed told the ''Wall Street Journal'' in a tweet that they were "100% wrong." On June 25, 2021, it was announced that Soon-Shiong joined the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journa ...

's board of directors. On September 13, 2021, Soon-Shiong was appointed to the Public Safety Commission by

councilmember

Lindsey Horvath Lindsey Patrice Horvath (born June 30, 1982) is an American politician, advertising executive, and activist who is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 3rd District, which covers the San Fernando Valley, and is the Chai ...

. As a commissioner, she advised the concerns of the citizens. She questioned the use of police in West Hollywood and pushed back against police in the city. Soon-Shiong was met with backlash, with Horvath responding to the backlash against Soon-Shiong saying it was "rooted in racism." In June 2022, the West Hollywood City Council voted to reduce the number of sheriffs in the city and replace them with unarmed security guards, a move which Soon-Shiong called "pragmatic and fiscally responsible," but said it "could have gone further." In July 2022, Soon-Shiong announced that she would be stepping down as a Public Safety Commissioner in August 2022 to pursue a degree at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, which she had been in her third year of her PhD where she had been remotely enrolled. Columnist and radio host John Phillips wrote of her departure as not being "bothered to stick around and live with the consequences of her reckless actions," criticizing her for the rise in crime in West Hollywood during her tenure.

Publications

# Soon-Shiong, Nika (2020) 'Public Procurement and Implementing Agents: The Middlemen in Charge of School Infrastructure Delivery in the Eastern Cape of South Africa'. Chapter 11: Public Procurement Regulation in Africa # Soon-Shiong, Nika (2020)
Using digital technologies to re-imagine cash transfers during the Covid-19 crisis
, Digital Pathways Paper Series Pathways to Prosperity Commission. # Soon-Shiong, Nika (2022
Enough Audits. Contract Cities Are Paying More for Less LASD Service.
The Knock. # Soon-Shiong, Nika (2022
LASD-Run Inmate Welfare Fund: Another Black Hole of Taxpayer Dollars
The Knock.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soon-Shiong, Nika 1993 births Stanford University alumni Living people 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians Los Angeles Times people American people of Chinese descent Activists from Los Angeles People from West Hollywood, California