Meet Oye Vecino LIVE guest Irma Herrera!
We are so excited to have Irma Herrera join us as a panelist and performer on Thursday, September 21 for Oye Vecino LIVE: Let’s Begin with Our Names. Tickets are still available for the panel, performance, and Patron Party - register today to support Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors!
Irma Herrera is a San Francisco Bay Area-based writer and solo performer. Irma’s writings, including her solo play, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? explore themes of identity and the many ways in which ethnic and racial group members claim their rightful place in the United States. Her one-woman show was enthusiastically received by audiences at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center earlier this year.
Before turning her focus to writing, Irma spent three decades as a civil rights lawyer. At MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund she was a Staff Attorney and later the Director of Educational Programs. A proud feminista, she served almost 15 years as the Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates, advancing the interests of women and girls. Prior to moving to the Bay Area, she spent two years in rural Washington State representing Spanish-speaking farmworkers.
As a lawyer, she had the privilege of working on issues that one reads and hears about in the news. Among them were two United States Supreme Court cases. In Plyler v. Doe, the court ruled that the US Constitution guarantees all children access to a free K-12 public education, regardless of their immigration status. Although the Supreme Court reversed the largest class action in Dukes v. Wal-Mart, this lawsuit brought many changes that improved pay and advancement opportunities for women at Walmart, the largest non-government employer in the country.
Irma has also worked as a journalist and written about race, class, gender, and culture. Her articles have appeared in publications that include the NY Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Lawyer, and Ms. Magazine.
She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Distinction Award, the highest honor given by the American Bar Association’s Commission of Women in the Profession. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Oakland-based Public Interest Law Project (PILP) and the Board of Trustees of the van Löben Sels/RembeRock Foundation.