Jonas Royal Corona, Founder and Chief Changer
“Every child should look in the mirror and love what they see” Jonas Corona
Jonas Corona was born in Torrance, CA and has been a resident of Long Beach, CA for 8 years. He is the oldest of two boys in the Corona house and has a dog named Frida. Jonas founded Love in the Mirror at the age of 6 after witnessing children in line for food during one of his monthly visits to Skid Row. In his spare time, while he is not inspiring others to create change, he plays tennis and wants to be a tennis champion when he grows up. In 2010, Jonas was named one of Lily’s Hero’s from Kidsareheroes.com and was a 2012 recipient of the EverGive Award from Everloop.com. He was also selected as one of the 2012 48 People of Character for the Character Counts School Agendas and was recently recognized as one of Long Beach, CA’s 40 Under 40, by lbpost.com. Jonas has also been honored to be named as one of the 2013 Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes finalists and was selected as a 2013 Special Recognition Grand Marshal for the Annual Long Beach Pride Parade. Jonas is a vegetarian and loves to cook. He also is learning how to play the piano. Jonas loves reading and science and playing video games.
Renee Corona, Executive Director
“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. ” Lao Tzu
After receiving a BA in Business Administration, Renee entered law school. During her first year of law school, she and her 6 year-old son Jonas started Love in the Mirror, with the idea of eradicating homelessness among the youth population in Los Angeles. During the past 3 years, Renee has done everything she can to help her son achieve his dream and realize the idea behind Love in the Mirror. While working at New City Public School, and as a parent of two of the students, she was recruited by Charter School Management Corporation and joined their Data Integration Services team in downtown Los Angeles. Throughout her adult life, Renee has volunteered for several non-profit organizations, by feeding homeless on Skid Row and delivering food donations to local shelters with her son Maximus, and currently volunteers at the Aquarium of the Pacific with both of her sons. Renee also wants to help the fight against cancer, which claimed the life of her father in 2008. She recently accepted a nomination and ran as a candidate for the 2012 Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Man & Woman of the Year Campaign for the greater Los Angeles chapter and helped LLS raise a record-breaking $700,000 in 10-weeks for cancer research and patient services. Along with being active in the community, Renee is an advocate of healthy eating for children and enjoys spending time with her husband and sons, traveling, listening to music and cooking.
Maximus Jupiter Corona, Change Maker
“All you need is love” John Lennon
Maximus is 8 years old and a 2nd grader and was born and raised in Long Beach, CA. He is the younger brother of Jonas. Maximus began volunteering with his Mom, Renee when he was 4 years old by helping her pick up and deliver donated food to local shelters. He loves helping his older brother out and is always on the frontline with Jonas, sorting donations, delivering them to those in need, helping organize drives and create new projects and programs. Along with helping people, Maximus loves the ocean and all of its inhabitants, boxing and the cello. He is a vegetarian and loves to cook. Maximus has started his own project called Ocean Maximus to help teach other children how they can keep trash out of the ocean.