Willa Needham | June 12, 2025

UCLA Labor Studies is proud to introduce Mia Tracy, one of our 2025 commencement student speakers. Mia is a labor studies major and film and television minor. Ahead of Labor Studies Commencement this Saturday, June 14, Mia shared her reflections on her labor studies journey and goals for the future. 

Spending half her childhood in Southern California and half in Las Vegas, Mia grew up surrounded by arts and entertainment. She fell in love with acting and writing while attending a performing arts high school and developed big ambitions to have a career in the entertainment industry. Not only would she act and write–her goal was to run her own production company one day. 

As a student, Mia had positive experiences working on film sets which she felt fostered equal, caring dynamics. She became determined to recreate this model as a leader and ensure all workers on her future sets would be treated fairly and paid what they are worth. 

Before transferring to UCLA, Mia attended a four year university as a business major, where she hoped to learn everything she needed to know about managing a company. But she found the program was not aligned with her values: “[The program] was all like, ‘this is how you squeeze a profit out of this,’ ‘this is how you make the most amount of profit’ …I was really missing the empathy side,” she said. 

Mia was expressing her frustration with her business curriculum one day to a friend who happened to be a labor studies student at UCLA. 

“[My friend] was like, ‘You would love this–everything that you’re telling me that you’re not happy about with your university–we have a program,’” Mia recalled. Mia’s friend told her more about UCLA Labor Studies, and, in Mia’s words, “That was that.” 

Mia transferred to UCLA and found a path that was “perfect” for her in labor studies. Her classes merged her interests in work, labor relations and social sciences with her strong moral values. Additionally, Mia is confident she will be able to apply her labor studies education to her future career in the entertainment industry. 

“I love labor studies because it gave me the opportunity to really dive into what I’m passionate about, combining my two loves of entertainment and equity. I feel like I really got to learn about how to treat people fairly and how to create businesses that are fair to workers.”

Beyond the classroom, labor studies also empowered Mia to appreciate her identity and experience as a student worker. At her former university, Mia often felt isolated and misunderstood juggling work and school while many of her classmates did not have jobs. 

In the UCLA Labor Summer Research Program, Mia joined a cohort of undergraduates that studied working college students in Los Angeles County. Over a six-week period, Mia interviewed workers just like her, analyzed the data and presented it to the public. 

“It was very cathartic for me…but I also felt like I was putting research into action,” she said. Mia went from feeling unseen as a student worker to illuminating hundreds of experiences like hers in a public presentation. 

Through her labor studies education, Mia gained a deeper understanding not only of herself, but also of people whose experiences and identities differ greatly from hers. 

“Labor studies really helped me look at somebody beyond who they are at face value,” she said. “The worst thing is not feeling appreciated…I want every single person to feel valued.” 

Mia plans to carry her values into her future as a business owner and changemaker. She believes that popular media has the power to shift narratives in a positive direction. Through film and television, Mia aims to tell diverse stories that counteract harmful stereotypes to build a more equal world. 

This article is part of a series celebrating UCLA Labor Studies’ 2025 commencement speakers. To learn more about Labor Studies Commencement on Saturday, June 14, click here. 

UCLA Labor Studies is the first major of its kind at the University of California. The program is renowned for its commitment to engaged student learning in community worker settings, rigorous hands-on research and courses that explore topical labor and social justice issues.