A 2000 graduate of Piedmont Hills, one of 11 traditional public high schools in ESUHSD, Mer has worked for local and state nonprofits since 2000, choosing to return home to the East Side in 2014. She is passionate about education access, financial literacy, and ending the cycle of poverty through pathways that lead to well-paying careers. Mer recently served as the Executive Director of the Northern California College Promise Coalition (NCCPC). A coalition with over 70 member organizations, she has a network of 300+ community leaders, education administrators, employers, and policymakers across the Bay Area and from Sonoma to the Central Valley. She works in partnership year-round with local and statewide leaders to enable policies, partnerships, and best practices that ensure our students can thrive in high school, college, career, and life. In 2023, Mer was inducted into the East Side Hall of Fame, a testament to her accomplishments since graduating from Piedmont Hills High School. 

A first-generation college graduate, Mer is a product of all three California public higher education institutions. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of California Los Angeles and a Master of Business Administration from California State University Long Beach. Mer was also a student of Evergreen Valley College and De Anza College in Santa Clara County, and Los Angeles Harbor College and El Camino College in Santa Clara County.

As a consultant, she provides services focused on improving college, career, and economic mobility outcomes for students and their families. Mer has served clients since 2018 with Salesforce and nonprofit management consulting. A respected public speaker, she has provided workshops and participated in high-visibility events in Santa Clara County, leading panels and training focused on college access, career development, financial literacy, intersectional leadership, and wellness. 

Before her work at NCCPC, Mer was the Director of Education Partnerships for Moneythink, which launched DecidED (now powered by OneGoal), a free tool for students and advisors to compare college costs, financial aid benefits, and other fit factors. She was the founding Director of Operations of the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI), which manages CaliforniaColleges.edu, the state's official college and career planning platform and an integral part of the CA Cradle-to-Career Data System. As the former Executive Director of the South Central Scholars Foundation in Los Angeles, now the national organization Thrive Scholars, Mer ran scholarship, mentorship, and internship programs while also launching a national alumni association.

A distinguished civic and community leader, Mer is the inaugural Board Secretary (and previously Chair) of LEAD Filipino, an Advisory Council member of the CA Medicine Scholars Program, and a Steering Committee member of the Bay Area K-16 Collaborative covering San Jose, San Francisco, and the East Bay. She was an appointed C2C Community Engagement Advisory Board member from 2022 through 2024 who authored a proposal to codify student leadership on C2C boards which was successfully approved. Mer was also appointed by former Santa Clara County Board Supervisor Cindy Chavez to the Commission on the Status of Women from 2019 through 2022 and served as Chair from September 2020 to December 2021.

Mer's contributions have not gone unnoticed. Her leadership was further recognized with the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 2025 Community Impact Award given to NCCPC while Mer was still the Executive Director, and Global Tassel's 2023 Global Community Innovator Award. In addition, she was a SVBJ 40 Under 40 Honoree in 2021 and a UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative Eudaimonia Society Honoree in 2020.

Raised by her single mother Helena Curry in East San Jose, together they launched the Filipino Parents’ & Students’ Association at Piedmont Hills High, a student group that lasted over a decade.

Today, Mer lives with her husband, Michael, and their four cats in East San Jose, successfully running her consulting business AdvancED Consulting, LLC.