Biography

Carolanne Link (she/her/hers) exemplifies eudaimonia. Born with a congenital disability into a systemically ableist world, after battling insecurities and self-doubt she slowly developed a strong sense of identity and passion for helping others in the disabled community. She joined the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative (HCI) where her passion for community building, healthy living, and societal acceptance for the marginalized blossomed.  After over three years working there as a student and post-graduation, she channeled her disabled experience and activism, culminating in the Semel HCI Accessibility Toolkit which guides individuals through planning more physically accessible campus events. Her love for adaptive sports catalyzed her involvement with UCLA’s LA28 hosting efforts and she is now an internationally classified wheelchair track athlete, ranked 14th in the world in 2024, with Paralympic aspirations. When she’s not traveling for competition or working hard at UCLA accessibility initiatives, you can find her training at Drake Stadium or the John Wooden Center. During the pandemic, while maintaining her full-time position as UCLA’s Web Accessibility Initiative Senior Program Manager, Carolanne earned her MBA, completing five specializations including Technology Management, Social Impact, Global Management, Leadership Development and Marketing. While at UCLA Anderson, she served two consecutive terms as the inaugural FEMBA Council EDI Vice President, advocating for academic equity for vulnerable individuals during COVID. Carolanne has been the Physical Spaces Subcommittee Head for the UCLA Committee on Disability (UCOD) since 2020 and, in 2021, she led a project that documented all of UCLA’s accessible external building entrances. In December 2023, with a UCOD subcommittee Carolanne spearheaded the publication of UCLA’s first ever campus wide monthly disability newsletter called “Spilling the DisabiliTEA” where she organizes interviews, writes feature articles, and sources UCLA-based disability information, resources, and creations that reach an estimated 70,000 ucla.edu email addresses.