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Our Leadership

We have an amazing group of dedicated, passionate individuals supporting this program and the participants in a variety of roles.

MICHAEL ELIAS

Founder & Executive Director

Michael Elias (B.A. Philosophy, New York University) is the Founder and Executive Director of LEAD.Latinoamérica. A Mexican American born and raised in the Bay Area, Michael has garnered extensive experience in social justice advocacy across the government, legal, and nonprofit sectors. Throughout college and as a young professional, Michael has sought to provide mentorship and academic support to students from low-income backgrounds, devoted to closing disparities in access to educational and professional opportunity. He conceived of LEAD.Latinoamérica after participating in educational and volunteer programs in Oaxaca, Mexico; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Santiago, Chile. Following the example of his parents, former Chicano Rights activists who devoted their careers to serving marginalized communities, Michael launched LEAD.Latinoamérica, which will provide a unique opportunity for Latinx students to embark on a transformative service learning trip to Latin America. Michael firmly believes that these students will play a vital role in unifying the Latinx community within a local and global context, as they identify and address the common struggles and issues of all Latinxs, closing cultural, geographical, and socioeconomic divides between the diverse Latinx community.

LUCINA PARADA

Administrative Director

Lucina Parada (B.A. Political Science, UC Berkeley) comes to LEAD.Latinoamérica as the Administrative Director. A daughter of Mexican and Salvadoran immigrants, she is a first generation Latina born in San Francisco and raised in Richmond. While growing up, she vividly remembers her mother reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at her Oath Ceremony and other family members working towards obtaining their residency. As such, immigrant rights became her passion. She volunteered with various immigrant rights groups throughout college, including Graduates Reaching a Dream Deferred – North California (GRADD), and helped them organize their first ever conference for undocumented students aspiring towards graduate school. She currently works as an immigration paralegal in the Bay Area, managing over 200 cases ranging from deportation defense to DACA renewals, and has proudly helped over a hundred people obtain their residency and citizenship in the past two years. She aspires to bring about broader and comprehensive immigration reform to the United States and inspire young Latina women to embrace their stories and be confident in the skills they offer.

RAUL GONZALEZ

Communications Director

Raul Gonzalez (B.A., English Language and Comparative Literature, Columbia University; JD, UC Hastings College of the Law) serves as the Secretary for LEAD.Latinoamerica. Raul was born and raised in Inglewood, California to Mexican immigrant parents. He is a first-generation college graduate and the first in his family to attend law school. Raul spent his childhood active in several organizations in high school, and is spending his time in law school working to ensure Latino students learn that college and higher education are possibilities within reach. As such, Raul served on the Board of the La Raza Law Students Association, which puts on annual events that invite students from elementary schools up to high school to visit law school for a day, sit in on classes, and ask questions about applying to college. Raul graduated from UC Hastings College of the Law in the spring of 2018 and will be joining a law firm upon passing the bar.

Ana Aguilera

Board of Directors

Ana Aguilera is the Managing Director of Programs for the nonprofit organization, Amigos de las Américas, and has herself volunteered with AMIGOS in Paraguay, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. Prior to joining AMIGOS, Ana worked on the Youth Team at Ipas where she focused on increasing access to abortion and other reproductive health care for young people around the world. Ana has a Bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from Boston University, a Master’s degree in Global Public Health from the Boston University School of Public Health and is a Women Deliver Young Leader.

FELIPE FORD COLE

Board of Directors

Felipe Ford Cole (M.Phil. Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge; B.A. History, New York University) is a JD-PhD candidate and Law and Humanities Fellow at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. He studies the legal and economic history of relations between the United States and Latin America across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Prior to graduate school, he earned a BA in history from New York University, and an MPhil in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge. As a law student, Felipe helped write two shadow reports for the UN Human Rights Committee while interning with the Center for International Human Rights, and worked as a Summer Associate at Hogan Lovells in the Infrastructure, Energy, Resources and Projects group.

Raquel Martinez

Board of Directors

Raquel Martinez is an associate at White & Case in the Firm's International Arbitration Group,
where she represents foreign sovereigns and private parties in complex arbitration matters. She
has experience representing clients in disputes before the International Centre for Settlement of
Investment Disputes ("ICSID") pursuant to bilateral investment treaties and the Energy Charter
Treaty. During her time in law school at Berkeley Law, Raquel worked in Singapore as a summer law
clerk to Christopher Lau S.C., one of Singapore's leading arbitrators on major domestic and
international arbitrations. She also served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Paul L. Friedman
of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. During her time in law school, she
served as Co-Chair of the La Raza Law Student Association.

FELIPE FORD COLE

Board of Directors

Felipe Ford Cole (M.Phil. Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge; B.A. History, New York University) is a JD-PhD candidate and Law and Humanities Fellow at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. He studies the legal and economic history of relations between the United States and Latin America across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Prior to graduate school, he earned a BA in history from New York University, and an MPhil in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge. As a law student, Felipe helped write two shadow reports for the UN Human Rights Committee while interning with the Center for International Human Rights, and worked as a Summer Associate at Hogan Lovells in the Infrastructure, Energy, Resources and Projects group. Felipe facilitates the development of LEAD.Latinoamérica’s program curriculum.

PAULINA VERA

Board of Directors

Paulina Vera, Esq. supervises GW Law Immigration Clinic students and provides legal representation to asylum-seekers and respondents facing deportation in Immigration Court. She previously served as the only Immigration Staff Attorney at the Maryland-based non-profit, CASA. Paulina is a 2015 graduate of The George Washington University Law School. During law school, she was a student-attorney at the Immigration Clinic.  Paulina is involved in a number of professional organizations: she is a Board Member of the Hispanic Bar Association of DC (HBA-DC) Foundation, Chair of the Student Affairs Committee for HBA-DC, an appointed member of a D.C. Bar Pro Bono Task Force, and a deputy of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) Region V Young Lawyers Division. Her passion project is an Instagram account called @hermanasinthelaw, where she features Latinas thinking about law school, Latina law students, and Latina lawyers. Paulina is admitted to practice law in Maryland and before federal immigration tribunals. Paulina is originally from Tucson, Arizona and is the daughter of immigrants from Peru and England. 

FREDDY LEIVA

Board of Directors

Freddy is a Nicaraguan-American artist based in NYC. He attended New York University’s Gallatin School where he focused on visual art, philosophy, and marketing. After graduating, he went on to work for chef David Bouley as General Manager of Michelin-starred Brushstroke Restaurant. Freddy is inspired by the native art, and religious imagery of civilizations from around the world, global millennial Internet culture and prehistoric origin myths. Freddy is currently working for world-renown artist Donald Baechler as his Studio Manager.

JOE LORENZO

Tech Lead

Joe lorenzo was born in South Carolina and raised in BX, NY. He moved to San Diego in 2019 to learn to surf and has been in the water nearly everyday since. He has been a software engineer for several startups, and is currently working on creating user-friendly software for business owners and staff in the fitness and well-being industry.

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