As an active member of the LGBT community for over 20 years, Karina Samala has been actively involved in campaigning for human rights and transgender equality.

Born in the Philippines she is a graduate of Mapua Institute of Technology Philippines with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering. She worked for the aerospace industry for 13 years.

After holding the pageant titles for several Transgender Beauty Pageants (Queen of the Universe 1991, Queen of the World 1995 and Miss California Continental) she became the producer of the "Queen of the Universe" and "Queen USA" transgender beauty pageants held annually in Los Angeles.

Karina has been actively involved in numerous LGBT organizations including the West Hollywood Transgender Task Force (which she co-chairs), the Los Angeles County Sheriff's GLBT Advisory Council and the chair of the Los Angeles LAPD Human Relations Commission Transgender Working Group. Karina also chairs the committee drafting the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department recommended policies for contacts with Transgender Individuals.

Karina was elected three times the Empress of the "Imperial Court of Los Angeles and Hollywood" and is currently the president of their Board of Directors. She has been a board member of the Asian Pacific Islander Pride Council for the past 4 years.

Karina's past achievements have been recognized with the 2006 Christopher Street West "Connie Norman Award", the 2006 Transgender Trailblazer Award for the Gay and Lesbian Center and the 2007 Trans-Unity Pride 8 Trail Blazer Award.

Karina has helped organize fundraising efforts for the Christ Chapel AIDS Food Bank of Long Beach and for the K6-G Smart Program at the Los Angeles Men's County Jail. She was also instrumental in establishing the "Nicole Ramirez Scholarship Fund" which offers yearly scholarships to students without partiality to gender, ethnicity, sexual preference or lifestyle.