“She Says” with MariaJose Sierra
When famously Beyonce sang, in her 2016 hit song Formation, “I dream it. I work hard. I grind till I own it,” she had to have been talking about MariaJose Sierra. The 2023 graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio has big dreams, a hard work ethic, and an undying willingness to go the distance to see her dreams come to fruition. Armed with determination and fearlessness, Maria has been taking leaps of faith since leaving her home state of Texas for Chicago in pursuit of finding opportunities that align with her morals. A move that would pay off in a major way.
Since being in Chicago, Maria has not only joined Women Employed’s (WE) Advocacy Council but is also a 2024 alum of The Pattis Family Foundation Summer Leadership Program. Both have added to her growing list of skills, positioning her for a future in advocacy and activism as she prepares for a career in international relations. She has also expanded her network, gained friends and mentorship, and a newfound belief that she is more than qualified for the work ahead.
In this month’s “She Says,” we talk with MariaJose Sierra about her passion for women’s rights, what she is proud of, and how WE has helped to prepare her for the next step in her journey.
Tell me about yourself.
My parents are immigrants from Mexico. So, I am a first-generation American. I was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and moved to Houston, Texas when I was 12. My parents later separated, so my dad moved to the Chicago suburbs, while my mom stayed in Houston.
I attended the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) for undergrad and majored in Global Affairs, with a minor in Economics. While at UTSA, I was very involved in campus life. I was a Residence Assistant, a Teacher’s Assistant, President of Model U.N., and involved in my honors college. I just loved my school. After graduating, I was looking for professional growth opportunities, but I, unfortunately, couldn’t find anything that aligned with my morals and values. So, I talked with my dad about moving to Chicago and staying with him before going to grad school, and that’s where I came across Women Employed (WE).
How did you learn about our Advocacy Council?
I was researching “women’s rights Chicago” and found quite a few organizations. But I was more interested in the economic aspect of women’s rights. And Women Employed came up. I looked around on the website and loved what I saw and wanted to get involved. So, after looking at both the Marketing Council and Advocacy Council, I decided to go with the latter. Given my background and passion for raising awareness and advocating for various causes and policies, I wanted to do more of that.
Although the Advocacy Council meetings were over Zoom (which I was thankful for), Michelle Schwartz, WE’s Associate Director of Development, did an excellent job of creating a very welcoming environment, and I just kept going back. I enjoyed volunteering with the Advocacy Council so much that I raised my hand to volunteer for The Working Lunch (TWL). And it was amazing. I had already met some of the staff at WE, but at TWL, I got to meet everyone. And then I became a Summer Leader.
Tell me about your experience in The Pattis Family Foundation Summer Leadership Program.
Oh, I loved it and wish it was longer! I became good friends with a lot of my fellow Summer Leaders and really valued my time. When I initially applied for the program, I was looking for an internship to gain experience, but after getting accepted and starting, I kind of forgot about that aspect. I wanted to do more to help WE and find ways to leave my mark on the organization.
At TWL, I met a few Summer Leaders from previous years, and they all told me to make the most out of the opportunity. I kept that advice in mind and am proud to say that I did exactly that. And if given the chance, I would do it again.
Let’s talk about your advocacy work. What are some causes that are important to you and why?
My history with advocacy all started from being a child of immigrant parents. I remember when I was in elementary school, there were days when my mom would come home from work not in the best mood. And then in high school, my parents sat me and my brother down to talk about how Latinos were under attack, and the importance of upholding our values and not letting people bring us down. There were people I went to school with who thought it was okay to say some not-so-nice things to me because I was more outspoken. They took it as I was more open to receiving negative and racist comments. And so, from there, that’s where my passion for advocacy started.
I wanted to advocate for Latino communities because I witnessed what my parents went through. They both would tell me about how they had to brush off racist comments because it was a privilege to be here. But I didn’t want that mentality. I didn’t want it for them, I didn’t want it for myself, and I don’t want it for the generations that came after me. So, I became more involved.
I joined an organization called Girl Up in my high school, and it was about women’s rights. That’s when I started learning more about the intersectionality of women’s rights. There’s so much more to it than one would think. From there, I learned about economic rights, but I didn’t think much about it until I got to college. That’s when I realized how much economics has to do with policy. So that’s been my main focus, women’s economic rights, specifically within marginalized groups. I did my senior thesis on it and anytime I had the opportunity to tie it into any of my classes, I did.
But I’m also interested in women’s health rights, women breaking the glass ceiling, and immigration rights, but that’s a broader aspect of human rights. I’ve worked with a human trafficking group where we researched vulnerable groups within a region of San Antonio. So mainly, ranges of human rights, but with a focus on women specifically, because that’s what I saw, and that’s what spoke to me the most.
When I joined the Advocacy Council, I was very interested in everything they were doing. The first meeting I attended was when Sarah Labadie, WE’s Director of Advocacy and Policy, was in Springfield trying to pass the Work Without Fear Act and she had us sign witness slips. I had never done anything like that before and it spoke to me a little bit more. It’s what kept me going back to the Advocacy Council meetings because I was still getting involved in these things, but it wasn’t the direct service that I had been used to. The Advocacy Council worked behind the scenes, rather than up front, and it opened my mind to the different ways advocacy looks. And that made me want to be part of Women Employed even more.
In all of your work as an advocate, what is something that you’re the proudest of?
I’d have to say the research I’ve done because that is such a huge part of it. You can present something to organizations and propose legislation, but if you don’t have the research to back it up, there’s not much that can be done. For example, I’ve done research projects on vulnerable groups with the Institute to Combat Trafficking. There, I researched adult shops, low-income margins, the number of children and schools within a specific area, and the number of sex offenders that were nearby. That information was important to human trafficking research because it helps the district and government with what to be aware of.
I’ve also done research for national parks, where I interviewed different Indigenous people on how the policies have impacted the preservation of their Tribe, land, and their culture. That helped with presenting policies that impact their lives and shows how they’re left out when it comes to national parks policies.
Research is the backbone of advocacy because people don’t believe it if there are no facts to support it. So, researching those facts, interviewing people, and being involved with organizations is something that I am very proud of.
What does the future hold for you? How has your involvement with Women Employed’s Advocacy Council and being a Summer Leader helped to prepare you for it?
I have a sticky note on my desk that says, “I will get into George Washington University’s Masters of Arts in International Affairs fall 2025 program with plentiful financial aid.” That is the future. I would really like to be in Washington, D.C., and study international relations. To apply this work on a global scale is really hard. So, my work with Women Employed has helped me to see how it’s done locally. Being a Summer Leader, specifically working on the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub (WE HUB), gave me further insight into the different barriers that women face.
For example, I worked on language accessibility and translation. It’s something that I thought of but never researched because I thought since it was such a widespread issue, more people were working on it. But what I learned was the opposite. And so having that involvement, doing the research, and learning presentation skills, teamwork, time management, and working with a nonprofit is going to help me in the future because it aligns with my morals of working with the community, women who are behind the scenes, entrepreneurs, and low-wage workers. That and, when I get to the U.N. or the Foreign Service, I can look at what WE is doing in Chicago and figure out how that same model can be successful in countries like Ecuador, or Ghana, or Nigeria, or wherever they send me.
Anything else?
It can be hard going into new places. Chicago was a new place for me. I didn’t know a single person here other than my dad and stepmom. So that transition has been a bit difficult. And a year from now, I plan on being in D.C., so I’ll be starting all over again. But I want to thank WE because when I came here, I was searching for a place where I could make friends, have mentorship, and just be a constant wherever I go. And WE did that for me.
I’m very grateful for having the opportunity to be a part of the 2024 class of Summer Leaders. Once I learned about the Summer Leadership Program, I brought it up whenever I could and asked questions about it because I saw it as an opportunity to grow and learn a lot, which I did. And just taking that leap, doing that work really paid off. Especially now, as I’m preparing to apply for graduate school. I sometimes get a lot of imposter syndrome, thinking I don’t have what others have, but then I’m reminded of how I wanted to be a Summer Leader and I worked for it, and it’s something that I am very proud of. It serves as a constant reminder that if I can do it for WE, then I can do it for other places too.
Being a part of WE was what I needed. It came along at a time when I was really lost and didn’t know where I was going. And now, as I prepare to take an even bigger leap, it gives me even more hope that I’m qualified for this work and that I am meant to go in this direction.
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You, too, can make advocacy and activism a part of your life, by doing what MariaJose Sierra did and join Women Employed’s Advocacy Council! This group of dedicated volunteers meet once a month to organize and advocate to advance WE’s mission to improve the economic status of women and remove barriers to economic equity. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, September, 18th. To learn more about the Advocacy Council, visit https://womenemployed.org/advocacy-council/. And click here to register for our upcoming meeting.
