OUR TEAM

José Luis Vallejo Jr. was born in San Diego and is the eldest of four children. His mother was born in Tijuana, Baja California and his father in Guadalajara, Mexico. José was raised in a trailer along with his siblings in the Barrio Logan neighborhood, where he witnessed gang violence and drug abuse at an early age. Deeply motivated to succeed and with the support of non-profit organizations, José received a scholarship to The Bishop’s High School in La Jolla and attended Yale University, graduating in three years with a BA in Economics.

God led him back to San Diego after college, and he joined UrbanLife staff in 2013 as both the Director of Finance and the Director of UrbanLife College Achievement Network (UCAN). He and his beautiful wife Gina have two boys, Gael and Joseph, who support and make part of his ministry.

Kathy hails from Little Saigon in Orange County, where she grew up with an older brother, divorced parents, and a HUGE, loving extended family. While attending CSULB, she had a tutoring business and was in leadership on campus and in church. After graduation, she was a retail executive for a few years. Eventually, she responded to God's call to go on missions and full-time ministry which landed her in City Heights. Now, as the Director of Spiritual Development at UrbanLife, she is living her calling: to love students and to help students know and love Jesus! Kathy is down for youth transformation, Enneagram chats, strategic planning and execution, and banana eating races - not in that particular order. Sidebar: if you know a God-fearing, single man, you should introduce him to Kathy.

Gina is a native San Diegan and lives in Southeast San Diego, and she loves being a wife and mother of two wonderful boys. Some of her favorite things to do include going on road trips, camping and visiting new places with her family. She was introduced to UrbanLife in 2013 when her husband, José Luis Vallejo, (current Executive Director) joined staff. Early on, Gina was a volunteer with several UrbanLife initiatives, like UrbanLife’s after-school tutoring program, UCAN, and helped launch UrbanMic Night at the Southeast farm site. In September 2018, she joined staff to support the efforts of UrbanLife Cafe. Gina is honored and excited to be part of the team, and has loved engaging with students every day and seeing them flourish and grow within UrbanLife Cafe.

Josue Misael Rendon Guerrero was born and raised in San Diego, California, the third of five children. His mother immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 with his two oldest siblings. Josue learned independence and maturity early, as he had to help his older siblings take care of his younger brothers. He was introduced to UrbanLife through City Heights Runners at the age of 11 and started working at UrbanLife Farms at 14; after 3 years he worked himself up from crewmember to site manager. During Josue’s time with UrbanLife he has gained leadership and networking skills. He graduated from high school in 2018 at the age of 17 and continued his education at Cuyamaca Community College. Josue will transfer to San Diego State University to receive a bachelors in Business Administration, with the eventual goal of creating a social enterprise program in UrbanLife Farms.

Destenie is an UrbanLife and City Heights Runners alumni. In Spring 2021, she graduated from the University of California San Diego, receiving her degree in Political Science. Motivated by social causes and the improvement of her community, she joined UrbanLife as Horace Mann Middle School’s Head Cross-Country Coach. Destenie hopes to share her knowledge and skills developed in college with middle and high school students. Her interests include social justice reform, immigration law reform, and spiritual development through meditation. If she is not meditating or working on schoolwork, she is probably with her dog at a park or sitting outside staring at birds and moving clouds. Destenie loves coffee, she loves reading, she loves learning, and she loves living. She is grateful to be a part of the UrbanLife team and looks forward to sharing all the wonderful things she can offer! Pura Vida!!!

Chris met his wife Anastasia as high school teammates on the cross-country and track team in the Phoenix suburbs. They married in 2000, after Chris graduated from Azusa Pacific with a B.A. in Sociology in 1999. He began working for Neighborhood Ministries in Phoenix, and discovered his love for youth development.  In 2007 Chris and Anastasia moved to City Heights, working in both church and nonprofit contexts, and Chris became the Hoover High School Head Cross Country and Track and Field coach. In 2008, he completed his Master’s in Theological Studies from Bakke Graduate University. Chris joined UrbanLife staff in early 2011, where he is currently the Director of City Heights Runners, a youth development through running initiative.  He will join Tlaloc Venancio as Co-Head Coach at Crawford High School in Summer of 2021.  He and Anastasia have two children, Madeline Grace, born in 2006, and Tobias Scott, born in 2008.

Kenia Jasmin Rendon Guerrero was born in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, as the eldest of five children. She immigrated to the United States at age 9 and found a home in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego. She attended Hoover High School where she was introduced to UrbanLife in Summer 2010 by Chris Brewster. During that time she had many difficulties juggling her school work, running, and relationships and realized she needed a change of scenery. After graduating from high school in 2013 she moved out of her home because of the difficulties she was facing. In 2017 she was given the opportunity to coach cross country and track at Crawford High School, and to be the Tutor Coordinator for UCAN. Since then, Kenia has become Director of Academic Development, and in August of 2021 she will receive her Master’s in Education in Counseling from SDSU.

Tlaloc Venancio and his wife Rachel have 4 kids: Eva, Emiliano, Panchito, and Adela. Tlaloc and Rachel met at Concordia, where Tlaloc still holds 5 school records in the distance events along with a National Championship in the marathon and two combined-team national championships. In January 2020, Tlaloc was inducted in the Hall of Fame at Concordia. After the departure of he and Rachel’s first child, Tenoch, they prayerfully joined Chris Brewster to start City Heights Runners. As a coach, Tlaloc was part of the boys and girls league championships at Hoover High in 2015. In 2016 he led Crawford boys to a league championship and in 2019 to a Division 4 CIF Championship, the first since 1975. Tlaloc has devoted his life to serving God by serving others in City Heights. He hopes to leave a legacy for his children to follow through his service to others.

Caleb Rendon Guerrero and was born and raised in San Diego, California. Like most first generation Americans, he faced many challenges. However, he has learned to enjoy challenges and discomfort, because that is when he feels most connected to God. Not only does he grow as a person, but his faith in God also grows when overcoming these challenges. Caleb’s life motto is: “We do 99% of the work, and God does that 1% that seems impossible to reach.” Caleb is a student at San Diego State University finishing his Bachelor's Degree in Business Management with an emphasis on Entrepreneurship. His goal is to have his own business one day and invest in his community like people invested in him. Caleb also wants to share his faith with others in the process of blessing his community through entrepreneurship.