MEET THE TEAM
Lorena Quiroz
Founder/Director
Lorena Quiroz, is a 22-year Mississippi resident. Born in Ecuador, by way of New York, she’s an organizer and mother of three amazing girls; first generation Afro Latinas born in the beautiful Delta flatlands. She is the founder of the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, an organization whose purpose is to amplify the voices of marginalized, multi-racial, and immigrant communities by active participation in civic engagement in deconstructing barriers that perpetuate racial, xenophobic, socio-economical, and gender identity and sexuality disparities and oppression
Yudenia Tiza Rodriguez
Promotora Manager
Yudenia graduated from Cuban Medical School in 2021. With experience in family medicine for over 10 years in Cuba & Venezuela (2004-2007). She became a first degree specialist in Comprehensive General Medicine in 2005, a teacher since 2009, and graduated as a 1st degree specialist in Intensive & Emergency Medicine in 2015 in Havana. Her experiences as an immigrant linked her to OTCC's bilingual tutoring program for the Latino community in Ridgeland. She joined the Madison county school's system as an ELL tutor during 2018-2021. In 2022, she joined IAJE as a preventive medicine consultant, where she currently manages the "Promotoras de Salud" program, a health prevention platform with educational interventions aimed at the family.
Isela Gonzalez
Lead Promotora
Hello, my name is Isela Gonzalez; I am the Community Health Worker (Promotora) Lead of IAJE. I really like helping my community, that they learn about their rights in this country and to be valued as the great human beings that they are. My work with IAJE obeys in particular because I want to empower more women like me, so that their rights are respected and they are treated with dignity.
Jenny Rivas
Labor Organizer
Jenny Rivas recently moved to Mississippi from New York. A graduate from Florida International University with a focus in History and Anthropology/Sociology, she is interested in community outreach, research and education. Jenny is a certified English teacher and native of Miami, FL. Her family hails from beautiful Nicaragua. As a Labor Organizer, Jenny's goal is to empower the immigrant community of Mississippi by providing education, resources and support during trying times. It is her mission to see a better Mississippi for all, not just for some.
Lauren Lewis
Operations & Rapid Response
Lauren is a 23 year old Delta native with experience in advocating and around public health safety, herbalism, reproductive justice and healing as abolition. As an organizer, Lauren has interviewed for MS Black Women’s Roundtable, Top of Mind Podcast, and was a panelist at the Yale School of Public Health at the height of the Jackson Mississippi Water Crisis. Lauren has affection for youth and in the future hopes to have her own afterschool space to teach growing minds. She believes children are entitled to a calm, safe space where they can simultaneously learn the value of imagination, music, critical thinking, and books while also applying social and comprehension skills.
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Newest Team Members
Team Member | Name | Role | Email |
|---|---|---|---|
Sasha Lewis | Youth Organizer | sasha@iajems.org | |
Veronica Ponce Deleon | Cultural Organizing | cultura@iajems.org | |
Crystal Lopez Salinas | Youth Organizer | crystal@iajems.org |