See all stories published in the 25 under 25 special edition here.
For Angela Anzalone, every experience is something worth giving back.
That mantra led the 20-year-old UF entrepreneurship graduate student and her peers to create GiftBack, a nonprofit that collects and converts unused or partially used gift cards into cash donations for local charities. The organization gathers the gift cards by knocking on doors and partnering with student organizations and small businesses to host drives.
Although still a new initiative, the GiftBack team has already completed its first mission at the Ronald McDonald House, where the team bought ingredients and cooked meals for families. They plan to carry out similar projects in the future and expand to other universities, Anzalone said.
“Angela has a really big heart for mission-driven projects,” said Leo Jaramillo, a UF accounting graduate and Angela’s co-founding partner for GiftBack.
Anzalone excels at taking initiative, said Jaramillo. She is constantly one step ahead, strategizing how to make the project more impactful.
In UF’s spring 2024 Web Lab, Anzalone examined how perceptions of women shift depending on whether they choose to forgive or walk away after experiencing infidelity. Her study found women who forgive are often perceived as more neurotic, less self-compassionate and more anxiously attached — results that supported her hypothesis.
“She’s really eager,” said Amy Pezoldt, a graduate student in the social psychology doctorate program, who supervised Anzalone’s research. “I think that’s probably one of her best characteristics.”
At the same time, Anzalone completed a Spanish thesis analyzing Venezuelan adolescents’ perceptions of gender representation in Hispanic music. Her study focused on how male and female adolescent listeners consume genres, such as reggaeton, and the ways their perspectives differ given the genre’s often explicit lyrics.
Her empathy-driven research translated to her work as a legal assistant for Maldonado & Vallejo Immigration Law, a Gainesville-based firm. There, she provided administrative support to attorneys, gaining firsthand experience in client advocacy.
The work, she said, shifted her perspective on applying knowledge to real-world situations, which she now applies to GiftBack.
“In theory, I thought I knew a lot … but then when I arrive and work with clients who are going through a difficult situation,” she said, “it gave me a lot of compassion.”
Her experiences remind her that even small acts of care can make a difference, which drives her involvement in Giftback.
In many ways, GiftBack reflects Anzalone herself — a belief that nothing should go to waste. For her, it is about channeling everything she has learned in the classroom, the lab or the law firm into work that creates meaningful change.
Anzalone hopes to continue research that helps people better understand relationship dynamics and challenge social perceptions. In the future, she envisions herself working in a research lab, continuing to explore human behavior.
Contact Ariana Badra at abadra@alligator.org. Follow her on X @arianavbm.
Ariana is a first-year journalism major and an El Caimán reporter for the Fall of 2025. In her free time, she enjoys reading, spending time with friends and scouring for new songs to play on repeat to an absurd degree.
