31 Maria Fernandez (she/her)

Maria Fernandez was born and raised in Yakima, WA. She graduated from Heritage University and City University of Seattle, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Business in 1998 and her master’s degree in Business Administration in 2004. Although she primarily focused her studies and occupations within the business field, Fernandez recognized the injustices which have been relevant within the Latinx communities for many years and felt compelled to take action.

She was able to combine both of these interests by working and volunteering in many companies like Latinos Networking for Justice and Fernandez Consulting. This allowed her to create and provide workshops and training which taught individuals civic education and diversity awareness. Additionally, from January 2018 to December 2021, Fernandez worked as a research assistant on a study with Michigan State University, tracking women who suffered from domestic violence in Washington State. Through this study, Fernandez became aware how many of these survivors were Latinas and individuals who needed assistance to learn how to achieve independence.

Through Fernandez’s work experiences, she was able to witness and learn about the mistreatment and discrimination that Latinas had been enduring in Yakima. In 2021 Fernandez started the organization Empowering Latina Leadership & Action, ELLA. This organization offers many workshops for women who want to expand their knowledge on leadership, citizenship, and sexism. Not only is ELLA helping Yakima residents individually, but they also offer services to businesses and organizations striving for an inclusive environment or assistance with increasing productivity. As seen, ELLA is an organization that was established to support everyone in achieving success in many areas.

Despite being active for only three years, ELLA has had many achievements within the Yakima community. From 2023 to 2024, ELLA was one of the many organizations focused on encouraging Latinos to vote in local Yakima County Elections. Due to their efforts to educate individuals on the importance of voting, there was a significant increase in the amount of Latino voters in comparison to previous years. They were able to successfully engage a community that had not been fully active for many years. More recently in April of 2024, ELLA was involved in a lawsuit against Sunnyside School district, where it is claimed they have been violating the Voting Rights Act due to the election system they have been using. ELLA and other organizations claim this district’s election system does not highlight the votes of Latinx individuals. This has caused many issues for Latinx students, like not addressing the racism, discrimination, and violence students experience on school grounds.

As seen, the organizations that Fernandez has been a part of have been immensely active in helping the Latinx community in Yakima, WA. Fernandez and others have worked tirelessly to create and provide those individuals a space which allows them to receive proper education on a variety of topics, as well as representation in a system which often ignores and silences them.