Emilia Gonzalez Avalos
Emilia Gonzalez Avalos (She/Hers) is an immigrant born in Mexico City and raised in Minnesota. She joined her father years after he left their town looking for a better future for his family. Family separation, border consciousness and transnational economy shaped Emilia to dedicate her career to work with the low wage worker community and organize people's power towards social, racial and economic justice.
As Executive Director, Emilia transformed Navigate MN from an undocumented student network to a statewide multi-entity Latino powerhouse in deep relationship and accountability to meatpacking, service, construction and janitorial workers and their families now known as Unidos MN. Born out of the DREAMer movement and with a tradition of youth organizing, Unidos MN continues to cultivate young people's leadership through powerful campaigns and programs that not only aim at reducing structural harm but deploy an abundant vision for a multiracial democracy that works for everyone.
Emilia is recipient of the 2022 Bush Fellowship, the 2020 Ohtli Award (an honor the Mexican Government gives to Mexican citizens living abroad), the 2017 OutFront MN Innovator Award and the 2016 MLK Distinguished Service Award by Governor Dayton’s Council on MKL. Emilia is an alumna of the Hubert H. Humphrey Public Policy Fellows Program and attends the University of St Thomas for a BA in Theology and Individualized Studies in Public Health and Finance.