In The Community
Arely Westley
Photo by arelywestley on Instagram
Arely Westley is a trans-Latina activist originally from Honduras whose work has made her an important figure in the fight for LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights in Louisiana. Recently, she received the 41st annual Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, and serves as the Campaign Director at BreakOUT!, a New Orleans-based organization dedicated to empowering Black and Latinx transgender and gender non-conforming youth.
Through BreakOUT!, Westley helps young people work towards ending the criminalization of LGBTQ+ youth. She’s also building a strong base of youth leaders who receive intensive political education. Westley’s work at BreakOUT! addresses systemic factors leading to health inequalities and focuses on helping young activists develop their leadership skills.
Of course, Westley’s work goes beyond empowering the next generation of activists. She’s also a member of the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition (SDND), which fights for immigrants' rights through legal and community support services.
She’s been a tireless advocate against abuses in ICE detention facilities, having personally experienced the harsh realities of these centers, including solitary confinement. Her firsthand experiences lit a fire in her to shut down abusive detention facilities and advocate for more humane treatment and better access to resources for detainees.
Westley also collaborates with Home is Here NOLA as a detention visitation project coordinator. Home is Here NOLA provides vital support services to newly arrived immigrants. Home is Here NOLA also serves on the boards of the Southeast Immigrant Rights Network and Asheboro Latinxs Services.
Her passionate activism highlights the intersectionality of LGBTQ+ rights and immigrant rights and emphasizes the need for solidarity and support within these movements. She emphasizes the need for all people to support trans leadership of color, vote against discriminatory policies, and provide employment opportunities to trans individuals, guided by the belief that community plays a major role in achieving social justice.
Jamie Margolin
Photo by jamie_s_margolin on Instagram
Jamie Margolin is a Colombian-American climate justice activist who at only 22 years old, has made significant strides in advocating for environmental issues. Margolin also uses her platform to discuss her experiences as an LGBT individual openly. Margolin is the co-executive director of Zero Hour and has been one of the leading voices in the youth climate movement, fighting for action against climate change.
Margolin’s activism is deeply rooted in her personal experiences and she’s proud of her identity as a Latina Jewish lesbian, something that fuels her passion to fight for marginalized communities. She’s also been an outspoken voice against the unprecedented level of violence Israel has waged against Palestinian people.
Her journey as an activist started when she was 15 years old when she witnessed the devastation of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the 2017 Washington wildfires. This moved her to action, and she co-founded Zero Hour that very same year. In 2018, she organized the first Youth Climate March in Washington, D.C., and in 25 other cities around the world.
Since then, Margolin has organized many different campaigns, strikes, and summits to raise awareness about the climate crisis. Her activism goes beyond organizing. That same year, Margolin was one of the plaintiffs in the Aji P. v. Washington case, suing the state of Washington for its inadequate action on climate change. The lawsuit argued that the state's failure to address the climate crisis violates the constitutional rights of Margolin's generation to a livable environment. In 2021, the Court of Appeals of the State of Washington dismissed the claim, but the point was made, despite the courts striking the claim down.
In 2019, she testified before the United States House of Representatives on a panel alongside Greta Thunberg, raising her voice in the global conversation about climate change. She also writes on climate change and activism, with articles featured on HuffPost, CNN, and Teen Vogue. Margolin also authored the book “Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It,” which offers practical advice and inspiration for young activists who want to make a difference in the world.
Chris Melody Fields
Courtesy of Chris Melody Fields
Chris Melody Fields is a Venezuelan-American activist serving as the Executive Director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC), an organization making big strides in the progressive movement. She has led BISC since June 2018, guiding the organization’s vision, strategic planning, and fundraising efforts to harness the power of ballot measures. Fields' work at BISC is driven by her commitment to social justice and her desire to ensure that democracy serves everyone, especially marginalized communities.
Under Fields’ leadership, BISC has become crucial in organizing people, organizations, and resources around ballot measures. These measures have proven to be highly effective tools for passing progressive laws to balance the scales, particularly in states where right-wing politics dominate government. For example, every ballot measure related to abortion rights introduced in recent years has succeeded, with two more anticipated on the ballots in Arizona and Florida this year.
Looking at Fields’ career, her dedication to creating collaborative spaces and building movements that advocate for social justice and equity is crystal clear. As a pansexual, queer woman of color who immigrated to the U.S. at a young age, Fields brings a unique and deeply personal perspective to her work. She believes that ballot measures can be powerful tools for liberation, capable of dismantling oppressive systems and empowering communities that are most affected by them. Fields has been proving that point since 2018 with her work at BISC.
Before joining BISC, Fields held a variety of strategic roles across progressive political and issue-based campaigns nationwide. She developed messaging and communication strategies at ReThink Media, led national programs to expand and protect voting rights at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, campaigned to end the influence of money in politics at Common Cause, and advocated for quality education for DC’s children and families at DC ParentSmart.
Fields has an impressive 20-year career background in political campaigns, grassroots advocacy, coalition building, strategic planning, communications, and fundraising that’s not easily found among Latina impact leaders. She’s known as a charismatic and dedicated leader with a lifelong commitment to advocacy, equity, and transformational change.
Isa Noyola
Photo by @muxerisa on X
Isa Noyola is a trans Latina activist of Mexican descent who is recognized as one of the national leaders in the LGBTQ immigrant rights movement. Noyola was the Deputy Director at the Transgender Law Center until 2019. She then moved on to Mijente, where she served as Deputy Director until early 2024, organizing Latinos and Chicanos for racial, economic, gender, and climate justice. It’s exciting to see what project she’ll focus on next to continue her long career in activism.
In exploring that career, many highlights stand out. In 2015, she helped orchestrate the first nationwide protest against transgender violence, a groundbreaking event that rallied over 100 activists, mostly trans-Latinas and women of color. The protest was a response to the violence that transgender communities had been experiencing and focused on highlighting the urgent need for systemic change in how transgender people, particularly immigrants and detainees, are treated.
Noyola is a fierce advocate for the release of transgender women from ICE detention centers and campaigns to end deportations. Her efforts include educating politicians about the specific issues faced by transgender individuals and confronting oppressive systems directly. She also founded El/La Para TransLatinas, an organization dedicated to supporting trans-Latinas in the San Francisco Bay Area. The organization focuses on violence prevention, advocacy, leadership development, HIV prevention and PrEP navigation, and community building by facilitating safe spaces.
Isa Noyola's activism isn’t just focused on addressing immediate injustices for the LGBTQ community, it’s also focused on building sustainable and empowered communities for all women. She served as a member of the Women’s March board, where she helped expand the organizing footprint of the organization beyond an annual march. During her time on the board, she pushed for the Women’s March to focus on immigration, climate change, and reproductive justice.
Through her diverse work, she challenges the systems that attempt to oppress the expansion of intersectional feminism to include all people who identify as women. She advocates for a world where everyone can be free to define who they are and take their own paths as they see fit.
María del Pilar “Pili” Tobar
Photo by Pili Tobar on X
Last but certainly not least, Pili Tobar is a well-known communications strategist and activist of Guatemalan descent. She’s celebrated for her extensive contributions to political campaigns, government communications, and advocacy work, particularly in support of immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights. As a queer Latina identifying as lesbian, Tobar has consistently leveraged her background and expertise to ensure diverse voices are heard.
Tobar earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Miami. This higher education gave her the skills to start her career in political communications as the Hispanic Media Director and Western Press Secretary for the Democratic National Committee during the 2014 midterm elections. There, she proved her knowledge in managing media relations and outreach to Hispanic communities.
In 2015, Tobar served as Communications Director for Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), where she sharpened her skills in strategic communications and legislative advocacy. Two years later, she became the Hispanic Media Director for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). She also played pivotal roles in various advocacy organizations like America’s Voice.
In 2020, she joined Biden’s Presidential campaign, where she further honed her expertise as Communications Director for Coalitions. In that role, she was responsible for outreach and communication strategies across a variety of media outlets and communities. Including Latino, African American, AAPI, and LGBTQ+ communities, among others, shaping Biden’s inclusive messaging during the campaign.
After that successful campaign, she became the White House Deputy Communications Director. She oversaw communications about domestic policy, immigration, and more, and held this role until 2022. Tobar recently transitioned out of the White House as a partner at Conexión, a consulting firm that specializes in Latino outreach and multicultural communications.
Founded alongside Colin Rogero, Adrián Saenz, and Marsha Espinosa, Conexión advises political campaigns, corporations, and nonprofits on communication strategies to engage diverse audiences. No matter the job title, Tobar continues working towards more inclusive political communications and inspiring leaders in the Latino and LGBTQ+ communities with her deep understanding of how Latinos deserve to be talked with, not at.
Check out the Latinas who Lead first and second installments to discover more Latina leaders who are leaving their mark on a country deadset on erasing them.
- Books Are Inherently Political: It's Why They Are Burned and Banned ›
- Sylvia Rivera: The Unstoppable Force Behind the 'T' in LGBTQ+ ›
- 5 Latina Activists Disrupting the Political Status Quo ›
- Top 8 Things Latina Activists Do: Are You One of Them? - Luz Media ›
- 8 Ways to Celebrate Pride and Be a Good Latino Ally - Luz Media ›
Juleyka Lantigua
Photo by Juleyka Lantigua
Juleyka Lantigua is a journalist and entrepreneur, Founder and CEO of award-winning digital media studio, LWC Studios, which focuses on making podcasts for clients who highlight stories that matter. LWC Studios also produces original podcasts, many of which are focused on Latino experiences and stories. Lantigua is the producer of the “Latina to Latina” podcast hosted by Alicia Menendez, a TV commentator, host, and author who also works on MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” a show that provides analysis of the big events of the week. “Latina to Latina” showcases remarkable Latinas in business, politics, arts, and more, giving a platform to Latinas making an impact across industries.
Her body of work is as diverse as it is award-winning. She also produces the “70 Million: One Jail at a Time” podcast, which focuses on the effects local jails have on people and communities, and sheds light on how communities across the country are addressing jail reform. The podcast was nominated in 2020 for a Peabody Award and won Best Narrative/Documentary Podcast at the New York Festivals Radio Award in 2020.
LWC Studios also recently launched “100 Latina Birthdays,” a documentary podcast that focuses on Latina health. It’s a narrative investigative series that reports on the key health issues Latinas face in the U.S. at every stage of their lives. The first season focuses on issues starting in utero to age 20. The following seasons will continue exploring different age groups through age 100.
Lantigua was born in the Dominican Republic, and her family moved to the U.S. when she was 10 years old. She grew up in the Bronx, went to Skidmore College, and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship, which provides grants for U.S. citizens to go abroad and citizens from other countries to come to the U.S. to study, teach, research, and share their talents and skills. Lantigua holds a Master's in Print Journalism and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, which she has used to create platforms that the Latino community can benefit from for over 20 years, and in many ways, this is only the beginning for Lantigua.
Dr. Carmen Rojas
Photo by Dr. Carmen Rojas
Of Venezuelan and Nicaraguan descent, Dr. Carmen Rojas is the President and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, which works for a healthy democracy and a just economy. She has had this role since 2020 when she became the youngest Latina to lead a nationally endowed philanthropic foundation. The foundation’s mission is to help create a country where underrepresented communities are no longer ignored by the government. To achieve this goal, they fund organizations, initiatives, scholars, and leaders who work on shifting the power balance to communities that are constantly excluded from having any say in society.
Under Dr. Rojas’ leadership, the foundation launched the prestigious Freedom Scholars award, a program designed to support scholars with a one-time $250,000 award to further research in areas like feminist prison abolition, Indigenous erasure, global urbanism, alternatives to movement capture, and militarized policing. Since 2020, the program has granted over $130 million in funding to a variety of organizations and individuals including Angélica Cházaro, J.D, co-founder of La Resistencia, a grassroots organization focused on ending immigrant detention, deportations, and the Northwest Detention Center; Lorgia Garcia Peña, PhD, a scholar on Latinx studies, global Blackness, and Dominican diaspora studies; Sarah Haley, PhD, whose work focuses on gender and women’s history, prison abolition, Black feminist history and theory, and more; among others.
Dr. Rojas has dedicated her entire career to working with foundations, nonprofits, and financial institutions to make a difference in the lives of working people all over the U.S. She’s also a member of the boards of Nonprofit Quarterly, Blue Ridge Labs, San Francisco Federal Reserve's Community Advisory Council, and the Confluence Racial Equity Initiative Advisory Committee. It’s not easy being one of the few, but Rojas is an advocate who dreams boldly, is a passionate philanthropist, and is an inspiring figure in the world of philanthropy where systemic change is hard to come by.
Rachel Carmona
Photography by Kisha Bari
Rachel O’Leary Carmona is the current Executive Director at both Women’s March and Women’s March Network. Women’s March is one of the largest political platforms for women and the most impactful grassroots organization on the progressive spectrum. Carmona is a first-generation Mexican American, and she’s dedicated her career to inspiring, mobilizing, and empowering people to have a say in the actions and policies that affect their communities.
Carmona began as the Chief Operating Officer of Women’s March in 2018 and transitioned into her current role in 2019. She helped transform the organization by overseeing the creation of its infrastructure and the incorporation of the Women’s March Network. Carmona also established Women’s March Win, a Super PAC dedicated to empowering and mobilizing women politically.
Under Carmona’s leadership, the Women’s March has grown exponentially, mobilizing thousands of marchers every year, with 2018 boasting an estimated 300,000 marchers across the U.S. The Women’s March voter mobilization efforts played an important role in a national coalition that led to Trump’s loss in the 2020 elections.
Moreover, Carmona spearheaded a change in approach: the Women’s March isn’t just about an annual march in Washington D.C. They expanded their on-the-ground organizing efforts to take action throughout the year, with efforts focused on stopping abortion bans, standing against gun violence, rejecting white nationalism, demanding dignity for survivors, and more. Women’s March has mobilized tens of millions of individuals to work for a more feminist future, and they’re now consistently on the front lines of transformative social change.
Liz Alarcon
Photo by Liz Alarcon
Liz Alarcon is a Venezuelan American communicator, facilitator, social entrepreneur, political analyst, and speaker. She has held a variety of roles in her career, including Director of Strategic Partnerships for The Children's Movement of Florida, Producer and Reporter at Univision, Miami Director of the Leadership Program for the Millennium Campus Network, Debate Teacher at Archimedean Upper Conservatory, and Analyst at Bendixen & Amandi International. There doesn’t seem to be much this powerhouse can’t do.
Alarcon is a proud alumna of the University of Miami and Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and is another Fulbright Scholarship recipient. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Pulso, a non-profit media outlet dedicated to sharing news and stories for and about Latinos. Pulso reaches a subscriber base of over 2 million Latinos across their media platforms, across the U.S., and is committed to building community for a population that rarely sees their history told accurately or their experiences reflected authentically.
Alarcon has written and provided commentary for publications like The New York Times, MSNBC, & The Atlantic, among others. One of the main focuses of her work is increasing people’s understanding of Latin America and empowering Latinos in the U.S., making them feel seen while also engaging them so they can increase their political power through civic participation and advocacy.
Irene Godinez
Photo by Vote Run Lead
Irene Godinez is a force in the world of activism, particularly within the non-profit sector. With almost 15 years of dedicated service to her community, she’s left a mark on various organizations at local, state, and national levels. Of Mexican descent, Godinez is committed to causes close to her heart, including immigration, women's health and reproductive rights, civic engagement, and community outreach.
As the founder and executive director of Poder NC Action, Godinez is leading the fight for reproductive and economic justice in North Carolina. With a decade of experience in the abortion rights space, she anticipated the challenges that have now arisen in the space of abortion rights, and she sees them as a rallying cry for action. She’s determined to elect leaders who uphold and champion the rights of women to be whole and independent humans with full bodily autonomy.
Poder NC Action is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building people's power, investing in leadership development, and educating the public about critical issues and elections. At its core, Poder NC Action strives to cultivate a sense of belonging and efficacy among Latino individuals, challenging historical distrust of government and fostering a community rooted in shared values. Godinez envisions a world where political leadership reflects the diversity of its constituents, so she advocates for justice and equality, especially when it comes to reproductive rights for the Latino, Black, and LGBTQIA+ communities.
- 5 Latina Activists Disrupting the Political Status Quo ›
- Latinas in the Chicano Movement: From Dolores Huerta to Today's Activists ›
Marisa Franco
Photography courtesy of Marisa Franco
Marisa Franco is a prominent Latino rights advocate and community organizer based in Phoenix, Arizona who fights for immigrant rights. She’s known for organizing campaigns and protests against deportations, detention centers, and discriminatory immigration policies, such as the #Not1MoreDeportation campaign back in 2014. She’s also the co-founder of Mijente, an online organization that serves Latino and Chicano activists, helping them organize their efforts to dismantle systems of injustice and inequity.
The organization has achieved some significant gains against the prison industrial complex, which makes billions of dollars a year through the mass incarceration of Americans and immigrants. Their #notechforice campaign addresses the predatory ways tech companies are making millions of dollars by violating civil rights and allows communities to support the efforts through petitions and other easy actions. They also have a petition tool where anyone can start their own petition for a cause they want to support.
Alejandra Gómez
Photography shared by ywcaaz.org
As a daughter of Mexican immigrant parents, Alejandra Gómez realized very early on how broken the U.S. immigration system is. This planted the seed of passionate activism that eventually led her to become one of a cadre of highly effective and dedicated Latina community organizers in the state of Arizona.
In the wake of the disastrous SB1070 law in 2010, known as the “show me your papers” law, that allowed Arizona law enforcement to stop and detain anyone at all just for “appearing” to be in the U.S. without proper documentation, Gómez joined thousands of activists who refused to allow her community to be terrorized by the state. The law was partially struck down just two years after then-Governor Jan Brewer signed the bill into law.
Gómez continued to focus her efforts on immigration rights and community justice and helped organize large-scale efforts to empower Latinos to vote and understand that when enough people come together, their collective actions are powerful and influential.
As the Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Empowerment and LUCHA, she’s been involved in many high-profile community wins, including the ousting of controversial Sherrif Joe Arpaio. More recently, through organizing efforts, she helped get abortion protections on the 2024 ballot and helped secure 150 million dollars for the Arizona Trust Fund to address the affordable housing crisis.
Ana María Archila
Photography courtesy of Ana María Archila
Ana María Archila, of Colombian descent, got a lot of national attention back in 2018 during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when she confronted Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator about sexual assault. She’s a dedicated advocate for women’s rights, immigrant rights, worker justice, and LGBTQ rights. She leans heavily on political engagement and grassroots organizing to empower immigrant communities, low-income communities, and women of color.
She’s led several national organizations, including the Center for Popular Democracy and Make the Road New York, where she significantly increased the influence and presence of their members across the United States. As if that wasn’t enough, she ran for Lt. Governor of New York in 2022.
Archilla is now the Co-Director of the New York Working Families Party, where she’s focused on building a multiracial working people’s political party that can enact an agenda that creates real material change for working people in the U.S.
Carmen Perez
Photography shared by gatheringforjustice.org
Carmen Perez is a Chicana feminist and a devoted activist fighting for civil rights, women’s rights, gender equity, community policing, violence prevention, and more. She’s the CEO of The Gathering for Justice, a nonprofit focused on ending child incarceration and the racial disparities that plague the criminal justice system in the U.S. Perez was also one of the co-chairs of the 2017 Women’s March, the largest single-day protest in the history of the country for women’s rights. Women’s March continues to this day, organizing events around the country to create change.
Raised in Oxnard, California, she frequently returns to her roots to help lead or participate in community events that empower local youth and adults alike. She recently told the VC Star, “Good trouble is when you are out there with people that you love making sure that justice prevails.” She punctuated the words with a laugh. “I find myself getting into good trouble often.”
Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez
Photography courtesy of Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez
As the co-founder of the Workers Defense Project and founder of Jolt, Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez has been a tireless advocate for the rights of immigrant workers and Latino youth her entire adult career. Her activism is focused not only on immigrant rights but also on voting rights, universal healthcare, climate change, economic justice, fair wages, fair working conditions, and more.
She’s led successful campaigns for workers’ protection, immigrant rights, and voter mobilization, driving positive change at a local and national level. Many of these campaigns are notable for their creativity and focus on culture. While at Jolt, she helped lead the #PoderQuince campaign, which helped young quinceañeras use their 15th birthday parties as a platform to register and mobilize Latino voters. It’s well known that quinceañera parties are steeped in culture and community, and by leveraging these gatherings, they were able to register and activate tens of thousands of new Texas voters.
To expand her activism Tzintzún Ramirez co-authored a book, “Presente! Latino Immigrant Voices in the Struggle for Racial Justice” in 2014, and ran for the U.S. Senate in 2020 in her home state of Texas. She’s currently the Executive Director of NextGen America, the nation’s largest youth voting rights organization.
These five Latina activists are contemporary examples of resilience, passion, and dedication. Their efforts are a source of inspiration and empowerment in the Latino community, and they’re leading the next generation of Latinas fighting for justice and equality. Keep an eye out for the next installment in the series and join us in getting to know more of these impactful Latinas.
- Pride and Power: LGBTQ+ Latinas Leading Change ›
- Celebrating Dolores Huerta’s Lifetime of Advocacy on her 94th Birthday ›
- Latinas in the Chicano Movement: From Dolores Huerta to Today's Activists ›
- 5 Latina Activists Achieving Transformative Change - Luz Media ›
- 5 Queer Latina Activists Fighting for Social Issues - Luz Media ›
- Top 8 Things Latina Activists Do: Are You One of Them? - Luz Media ›
- Poder NC Taps into Culture to Inspire Latine Voting - Luz Media ›
- National Latina Day Started With This Latina - Luz Media ›
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- Velázquez and AOC Challenge Puerto Rico’s Colonial Party Duopoly - Luz Media ›
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- What Puerto Rico Can Expect If Electoral Fraud Occurs in 2024 - Luz Media ›
- Defectors: Paola Ramos Dissects the Latino Far Right - Luz Media ›
- Why Does Ballot Counting Take So Long? - Luz Media ›
- Jenniffer González Colón: Puerto Rico’s Next Governor - Luz Media ›
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