Was it manifestation? Did she will this into being? Lariza Johnson couldn’t help but wonder.
Her years at UC Santa Barbara left her enamored by the Central Coast — small but just big enough, a vibrant community in which to raise her kids. Yet Johnson’s professional heart was situated further south with UCLA Health, where she’d landed her first job as a 19-year-old. Newly arrived from the Philippines, with only $500 to her name, she worked first as a medical records clerk, then rose through the ranks on the business end of patient care, and was invited to return after earning her degree in business economics and accounting.
If only she could work for UCLA, but live near UC Santa Barbara, she remembers lamenting to her husband. She chose the job. Staying with UCLA Health through graduate school at Cal State Northridge and beyond, Johnson served the system in myriad roles, including, at one point, managing a very busy primary care and integrative medicine clinic in Santa Monica. And then …
“In 2019 they announced they were expanding their clinics to the Central Coast, targeting medically underserved communities. And they were looking for a director,” recalls Johnson. “I put my name in the hat and in 2020, I got the job. It’s been almost four years now, and I’m still amazed how my wish from 2010 actually came true.”
As regional director of operations for UCLA Health, Johnson has overseen the opening of clinics in Ventura, Montecito, Santa Barbara and Goleta, with further expansion in San Luis Obispo on the horizon. For her leadership in helping to expand access to medical services, she was honored as a 2023 Central Coast “Champion in Health Care” by Pacific Coast Business Times.
“The ability to give care to others is really what drives me,” says Johnson, who grew up in a family full of healthcare workers and from a young age told her mom she wanted to work in hospitals. “Giving care, giving access — it’s very satisfying, and it’s important. I always want to pay it forward, because we all benefit from that.”
While UCLA Health’s expansion may have been serendipity, Johnson’s hiring to help lead that effort was no stroke of luck. It was a result of hard work and determination — the same hard work and determination she’d used to support herself when she moved to California on her own, to put herself through Santa Monica College, then UC Santa Barbara, then CSUN, and having two children along the way.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s doable,” she says, reflecting on her journey. “I tell that to young people who are looking for people to help them the way that I looked for people to help me: It’s doable. And if I can do it, anyone can. A boss said to me once, ‘The things you lose are the shots you didn’t take. So you shoot your shot.’
“It hasn’t been easy for me,” she continues, “but the UC system and a UC education is the best equalizer. It gives people like me a platform to do well. In both my education and my work life, the UC system has given me everything.”
