Mónica Ramírez (activist)

Born in Fremont, Ohio. Mónica Ramírez is an activist, author, civil rights attorney, social entrepreneur and speaker.[1][2]

Mónica Ramírez (Activist)

She has been specifically engaged in direct service and advocacy on behalf of farmworkers, Latinas and immigrant women.

Mónica employs a holistic, victim-centered approach to her work and she is an ardent supporter of worker-led movements.

She also has a long history of promoting women’s leadership and political power.

Early Life and Education

Monica Ramirez was born in Fremont, Ohio[3]. Ramirez graduated from Loyola University of Chicago in 1999, then proceeded to The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law for her Doctor of Law. In 2014, Monica joined Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and earned a Masters in Public Administration. While at Harvard, Ramirez became involved in many activities and societies, including the HKS Fund (Class Gift Co-Chair), the Race and Public Policy Committee Student Search Team, the Non-Governmental Organization and Non-Profit Organizations PIC (Communications Officer), Harvard’s 1st National Farmworker Awareness Week (Committee Chair), Harvard’s 18th Latino Policy Law and Business Conference (Steering Committee Member), Harvard Latinx Graduation Ceremony (Planning Committee Member), and the HKS Latino Caucus (Member).

Career

Ramirez created the first legal project in the US focused on addressing sexual harassment and other forms of gender discrimination against farmworker women in 2003, which was incubated at the Migrant Justice Project of Florida Legal Services[4]. She later scaled this project and founded Esperanza: The Immigrant Women's Legal Initiative of the Southern Poverty Law Center (which addresses sexual assault and harassment of female farmworkers) in 2006, which she directed for nearly seven years.[1][5][6] In addition, she created the award-winning Bandana Project, an art activism project that raises awareness about workplace sexual violence against farmworker women.

From 2012 to 2014, Ramirez served as Acting Deputy Director for Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc., the first transnational migrant workers’ rights organization based in Mexico[7]. In 2014, she founded Justice for Migrant Women, a national advocacy and technical assistance project focused on representing female farmworkers and other low-paid migrant workers who are victims of workplace sexual violence[8]. In addition to her work for Justice for Migrant Women, Ramirez acted as the Deputy Director / Director of Gender Equality for the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement from 2016 to 2018[9]. While there, she developed a strategic plan for a campaign aimed at assisting and empowering Latina workers in the U.S. Ramirez is also one of the co-founders of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas (the National Farmworker Women's Alliance).[10][1].

In 2019, Monica also co-founded The Latinx House - a gathering space to support the Latinx community and to celebrate Latinx excellence in film and entertainment - with Alex Kondracke and Olga Segura[11]. The Latinax House is set to launch at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Dear Sisters Letter

In November, 2017, while in her role as Alianza’s Board President, Ramirez wrote the “Dear Sisters” letter, published in TIME Magazine[12]. The letter, written on behalf of Alianza members and lending the support and solidarity of Latina farmworkers, went viral and helped spark the TIME’S UP movement[13]. She remains active in the organization.

In 2018 she attended the 75th Golden Globe Awards as a guest of Laura Dern.[2]

Querida Familia Letter

In August 2019, Monica organized the Querida Familia letter, a love letter to the Latinx community and allies, with America Ferrera, Diane Guerrero, Eva Longoria, Alex Martinez Kondracke, Monica Ramirez and Olga Segura after 22 individuals were murdered in a mass shooting in El Paso that was incited by white nationalist rhetoric and following immigration raids that took place in Mississippi. The letter garnered the support of more than 200 Latinx leaders who included actors, activists, civil rights and labor leaders, business people and more who have signed on to demonstrate our love for the Latinx community and our country. The letter was published in English in the New York Times. It was published in Spanish in El Nuevo Herald, El Diario and La Opinion.

The letter was published during a time when the Latinx community was in pain due to the attacks on the community. It was meant to send a message to community members that they are not alone. It was also a call to allies to link arms in support of the Latinx community and the entire country. The letter went viral after its publication. Ramírez, along with the other letter authors and organizers, were presented with the Women and Media Center's 2019 Solidarity Award from WMC founders Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan in October 2019.

The Latinx House

In January 2020, Ramirez announced that she was launching a new initiative called The Latinx House with filmmaker and activist Alexandra Martinez Kondracke, and Mexican actress, producer, entrepreneur and activist Olga Segura. The Latinx House, which is a project within Ramirez's organization Justice for Migrant Women, aims to create gathering spaces to celebrate the best in Latinx culture and bring important societal issues to the forefront. It is also the first Latinx initiative to become an official Sundance Institute associate partner and will serve as the home for the Latinx community and their allies in the heart of downtown Park City from January 24 - 26, 2020.

Ramirez, Martinez Kondracke and Segura met through the TIMES UP Movement due to Ramirez's role as the author of the Dear Sisters letter. Martinez Kondracke and Segura are founding signatories and members of TIMES UP, an organization that seeks to achieve a "safe, fair and dignified work for women of all kinds." The trio began organizing events and programs together in the spring of 2018, including creating TIMES UP Latinx within TIMES UP. They decided to formalize their work together by founding The Latinx House in hopes of fostering unity, bringing together diverse individuals from within the Latinx community and creating a bridge between the Latinx community and its allies.

Awards and Distinctions
  • Spirit of The Rani Award, Cayenne Pepper Productions
  • BlogHer, 2019 Voice of the Year Award
  • 2019 MAFO Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Harvard Kennedy School’s inaugural Gender Equity Changemaker Award
  • The Feminist Majority’s Global Women’s Rights Award
  • Mexico’s 2018 100 Powerful Women (Forbes Magazine)
  • AT&T’s 2018 Humanity of Connection Award
  • Alliance for Justice’s Champion for Justice Honoree
  • Equal Rights Advocates’ Champion of Justice Honoree
  • U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Birmingham District Office’s

Champion of Equal Employment Opportunity

  • National Crime Victim Law Institute’s Victims’ Rights Partnership Award
  • Moritz College of Law Public Service Award
  • Recognized as one of “100 Buckeyes You Should Know” by the OSU Alumni Association

Diamante Award

  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major Award

Personal Life

Monica currently resides in her hometown of Fremont, Ohio, where she is married to Scott Derome.[3] They are the parents of a son.

gollark: Without those I think you get really bad speeds if you have multiple things trying to transmit and receive simultaneously.
gollark: Since unlike with wired networks, it has a fairly small "bus" which all devices ever have to use.
gollark: I think WiFi now has a bunch of AP-side coordination mechanisms for higher throughput, which might be hard to decentralize.
gollark: Oh, wait, there is another issue, actually.
gollark: We have experimental self-organizing mesh networks already, and modern networking hardware is fairly powerful and cheap. Although I don't know how good the mesh stuff is at dealing with really fast re-peering, which is necessary in practice.

References
  1. "Monica Ramirez – Netroots Nation". Netrootsnation.org. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  2. CNWN Collection. "Golden Globes 2018: How to Support the Activists' Causes". Allure. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
  3. "Fremont, Ohio", Wikipedia, 2019-12-30, retrieved 2020-01-05
  4. "Florida Legal Services". Florida Legal Services. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  5. Cindy Marroquin (2009-08-27). "The Bandana Project: Raising Awareness about the Exploitation of Farmworker Women". Calcasa.org. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  6. "Latina Impact Fund - About". Facebook. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  7. "Home". Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  8. Women, Justice for Migrant. "Justice for Migrant Women". Justice for Migrant Women. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  9. "LCLAA - Labor Council For Latin American Advancement". www.lclaa.org. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  10. "Who Is Monica Ramirez? Laura Dern's Golden Globes Date Is An Advocate For Women". Elitedaily.com. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  11. "Time's Up Partners For Latinx House Launch With America Ferrera, Gina Rodriguez". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  12. "700,000 Female Farmworkers Say They Stand With Hollywood Actors Against Sexual Assault". Time. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  13. "Time's Up (movement)", Wikipedia, 2019-10-24, retrieved 2020-01-05
  14. "NHCOA". Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  15. "Leadership". Hispanic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  16. October 01; Steinem, 2019 | Gloria; Fonda, Jane; Media; Morgan, Robin. "Announcing 2019 Women's Media Awards Honorees - Women's Media Center". www.womensmediacenter.com. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  17. "YWCA USA Honors Extraordinary Women Leaders at National Conference Awards". YWCA USA. 2019-06-08. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  18. "Smithsonian Ingenuity Award Winners: Mónica Ramírez and Mily Treviño-Sauceda". www.smithsonianmag.com. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  19. super (2018-09-10). "2018 La Tardeada". California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  20. "celebrating 35 years of latina leadership". Casa de Esperanza. 2018-01-12. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  21. "Monica Ramirez - LCLAA BLOG". www.lclaa.org. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
  22. "Moritz College of Law - Alumni Relations: This Month @ Moritz". moritzlaw.osu.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
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