People

Co-Founder and Director of Storytelling, Albertina Zarazúa Padilla facilitates MiHistoria’s workshops and curates our online archive. She also performs oral storytelling, is on the board of Luna Dance and Creativity, dances with the Elders Dance Group of Destiny Arts Center and leads storytelling workshops for La Clinica de la Raza’s Cultura y Bienestar Traditional Healing Program. Albertina was born in Monterey, Ca. to Mexican immigrant parents. She was a first-generation college student at Mills College, where she became student body president. 

Co-Founder and Web Media Producer Laurie Coyle is a documentary filmmaker and writer. Her film Adios Amor: The Search for Maria Moreno tells the story of a migrant mother who was an early leader in the farmworker movement. It was broadcast nationally on PBS VOCES and won an Imagen Award. The search for Maria Moreno played a role in establishing MiHistoria as Laurie uncovered the stories of many forgotten “sheroes” working behind the scenes for social justice. 

Social Media Strategist, Jennifer Vasquez  is an LA native and proud daughter of Oaxacan immigrants. A Chicana Latina Foundation scholarship recipient and UC Berkeley graduate in Sociology and Education, she now serves as a mentor to first-generation college students. At MiHistoria, she showcases the stories of others through our newsletters for over 2000 subscribers and social media content. Through storytelling, she gains insight into the intricate lives and histories of others, offering her a deeper understanding of the world as a whole.

Archivist and Project Assistant Ivette Contreras is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Chicanx and Feminist Studies at UCSB. She is investing time into highlighting the forgotten history of the Undocumented community as she navigates through higher education. Her position as the Program Assistant for MiHistoria has sparked her passion to help others use their power through storytelling.

Web Designer and Architect Wendy Bardsley loves straddling the border between art and technology. She has been telling stories on the web since its earliest days, creating many award-winning sites. She has covered the Olympics and mountain climbing expeditions and works with nonprofits, artists, and filmmakers. She was a founding Council member of the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District in San Francisco.

Alicia Orozco has dedicated her life to serving the disenfranchised. She joined Chicana Latina Foundation in 2010.  Before joining CLF, Alicia held positions in the public and private sectors, including the California State Legislature and Business Design Associates. As CLF’s Manager of Administration and Special Projects today, Alicia uses her decades in project management, development, and community organizing to further CLF’s mission to empower Latinas. As a sister, aunt, mother, and grandmother, Alicia enjoys spending time with her family more than anything.

Mily Treviño-Sauceda, M.A. was born into a family of migrant farm workers, and volunteered with the United Farm Workers at an early age. As a widow with a small son, she earned a BA in Chicano Studies with a minor in Women’s Studies from CSU Fullerton and did a groundbreaking study on farmworker women. Mily served as Executive Director of Líderes Campesinas until 2009, when she established the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, whose mission is to develop farm worker women’s leadership into a national movement.

Patricia Zavella, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita of Latin American & Latino studies at UC Santa Cruz. Her books include The Movement for Reproductive Justice: Empowering Women of Color through Social Activism, and I’m Neither Here nor There: Mexicans’ Quotidian Struggles with Migration and Poverty. She has collaborating on Women and Migration in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands; Chicana Feminisms: A Critical Reader; and Telling to Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios. Patricia been instrumental in framing MiHistoria’s storytelling in the context of migration, culture, family, work and gender.