Our Staff
Silvia Henriquez | Executive Director
Silvia Henriquez is responsible for the overall management, fundraising and administration of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. Silvia has positioned NLIRH as one the leading organizations working to advance the reproductive health and rights of Latinas. Within the first two years of her tenure, she increased national visibility through the 2004 March for Women’s Lives and the National Latina Summit. Subsequently under her leadership, NLIRH has developed a successful organizing and leadership development training curriculum, a national policy agenda and built coalitions with state and national partners that advance a reproductive justice advocacy effort. Through her work at NLIRH, Silvia has published articles in “Social Policy, Organizing for Social and Economic Justice and Democratic Participation” and “Conscience, The Newsjournal of Catholic Opinion.”
Prior to her leadership position at NLIRH, Silvia worked with various reproductive rights organizations. She was the National Campus Coordinator at the Feminist Majority Foundation, the Outreach Director at the National Abortion Federation and a Policy Analyst with the Latino Issues Forum where in 2003, she co-wrote, “Our Health, Our Rights: Reproductive Justice for Latinas in California.”
Silvia currently sits on the Board of Directors of both the Reproductive Health Technologies Project and the Guttmacher Institute. She has also been recognized by the National Women’s Health Network at their 30th Anniversary as one of 30 activists working on behalf of women’s health. Silvia is also the recipient of the 2005 Young Professional Award from the American Public Health Association. Under her leadership, NLIRH was granted the Alfred F. Moran Public Advocacy Award from Family Planning Advocates of New York State. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in International Affairs and a Master’s in Women’s Studies both from George Washington University.
Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas| Director of Policy and Advocacy
Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas is the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, the only national reproductive justice organization that specifically works to advance reproductive health and rights for Latinas. As a native New Yorker, she is engaged in numerous progressive local and national organizations that promotes social justice advocacy, particularly around immigrant, Latina, and gender issues. Jessica is a Board Member of New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) and has served as its President since 2004. She is also a Board Member of Medical Students for Choice. Jessica is an Advisory Member of the Women of Color Policy Network and serves on the Friends of the National Institute for Latino Policy Committee (formerly the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy). Additionally, she is engaged in a number of city-wide coalitions to increase Latina’s political engagement. From 2002 to 2006, she was elected Female Member of the New York State Democratic Committee for the 39th Assembly District, representing the diverse communities of Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst and Woodside.
At NLIRH, Jessica is responsible for directing and managing all policy and advocacy campaigns, programs and projects. She represents NLIRH at numerous national conferences and has provided expertise during congressional briefings and media inquiries. She has been a guest on National Public Radio, the Lisa Birnbach Show (GreenStone Media) and the Brian Lehrer Show (WNYC-FM), and has been quoted in many print and online news sources. Jessica co-authored "Immigrant Rights and Reproductive Justice" for the "Reproductive Justice Briefing Book: A Primer on Reproductive Justice and Social Change," produced for the 2007 U.S. Social Forum, and contributed "¡Pa’lante! Continuing the struggle for social justice" for Feministing's 'Voices Of' Series. Jessica holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a Bachelor’s in International Relations from Boston University, where she graduated cum laude.
>Contact Jessica
Maria Elena Perez | Director of Community Mobilization
Maria Elena is responsible for increasing Latina’s participation in the Reproductive Justice Movement through Latinas Organizing for Leadership and Advocacy (LOLA) Training Series, the Latina Advocacy Networks (LANs), and the institute’s participation in cross-movement initiatives such as the Southwest Partnership. Maria Elena’s public interest work began when she was as young as nine, advocating for family and friends in the public benefits system. In college she was actively involved on campus and her involvement in sexual health and reproductive rights led her to pursue a Master of Social Work degree. Since obtaining her MSW, she has worked in community based organizations in New York City, working with Latinas and their families in different capacities. Additionally, Maria Elena has been involved in organizing against gender based violence. In 2006, Maria Elena was selected to participate in the National Women’s Law Center’s Progressive Leadership and Advocacy Network and was also selected as an Immigrant Advocacy Fellow through an innovative leadership initiative sponsored by the New York Immigration Coalition and the Social Justice Leadership Collaborative. Maria Elena, a native New Yorker, holds a Master of Social Work degree from the Hunter College School of Social Work and a Bachelor of Science degree from New York University. She recently added birth doula to her identity.
Miriam Zoila Pérez | Senior Advocacy Associate
Miriam is a Swarthmore College graduate, with a B.A. in Anthropology and minors in Spanish and Latin American Studies. While at Swarthmore, she was an active member of the pro-choice and feminist movements on campus, as well as a sexual health counselor. She focused her academic study on traditional and alternative birth practices, working both with midwives in Ecuador as well as women in the United States. Miriam has also done work with various Latino community reproductive health organizations in Pennsylvania, helping pregnant immigrant women access prenatal care and health insurance. She is a trained doula, and blogs and writes at radicaldoula.com as well as feministing.com. Miriam is a member of the Causes in Common Steering Committee as well as the Management Circle of the Sistersong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective. At NLIRH, Miriam leads the advocacy campaigns as well as assisting to oversee the Latina Advocacy Networks. She also manages the website and online Instantes newsletter, NLIRH's blog and online action alerts.
Liza Fuentes | Senior Research Associate
Liza has worked in health advocacy and research in several capacities. She was a medical interpreter at La Clínica del Pueblo in Washington, DC and a hotline worker and case manager at the National Abortion Federation. She was also a summer intern at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health working with LAN advocates on the EC campaign and helping to deliver the LOLA trainings. She has worked on several research projects regarding reproductive health and rights, from a study looking at the attitudes and opinions of women in the Bronx regarding abortion services, to a survey of the knowledge, attitudes and practices of pharmacists in Puerto Rico regarding emergency contraception. She has an MPH from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She is currently earning her Doctor of Public Health degree from the CUNY Graduate Center.
At NLIRH, Liza carries out research projects that support the Institute’s policy, advocacy, and community mobilization work and contribute knowledge that advances reproductive justice.
Cesarina Paula | Development Associate
Cesarina graduated from Hunter College with a B.A. in Political Science and Women’s Studies. Since the age of 16, she has volunteered and worked at non-profit organizations such as NOW-NYC and the V-Day College Campaign. Her primary focus has been on women’s rights, particularly reproductive and sexual rights, both at the national and international level. Cesarina has also focused on adolescents’ right to comprehensive sexuality education. Before coming to NLIRH, she worked at the International Women’s Health Coalition as the Program Assistant for the Latin America and Africa Programs. She is currently undergoing graduate studies to earn a Master's in Political Science. At NLIRH, Cesarina is primarily responsible for coordinating development and fundraising activities.
Verónica Bayetti Flores | Policy Analyst
Verónica comes to the Latina Institute with a wide range of experiences in reproductive justice, including direct services, research, and advocacy. She worked as an HIV and sexual health counselor at a community clinic during her time as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received her B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Women’s studies. Verónica has also worked as a reproductive and sexual health counselor for Planned Parenthood, and she served as the Vice-President of the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Organization for Women in 2006. Verónica recently obtained her Master’s degree in the Sexuality and Health program at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. At NLIRH Verónica conducts research and analysis of national policy that affects the sexual and reproductive health and rights of Latinas, as well as writing and speaking about these issues.
Interns
Karen Velasquez | Research Intern
Karen is currently an M.A. student in Anthropology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and she received her B.A. in Anthropology and Sociology at Fordham University in May 2008. She is interested in political anthropology (specifically the politics of knowledge), as well as social justice issues involving Latino/Latina populations in the United States (education, health, immigration, labor). She is also interested in Latin American studies with a focus on Mexico and Colombia, the teaching of history and peace education in post colonial, post-conflict regions and the study of border cultures and border identity.
Karen is a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar and has been involved with the United Nations Millennium Development Goal committee at Fordham University through the United Nations Leadership Development Initiative, promoting awareness on college campuses about the MDG’s and human rights. She has experience with the Human Rights Campaign in New York City as a grassroots organizer and spent the summer of 2007 in Mexico City attending lectures and conducting an independent study on social movements, student protests and urban/academic communities at UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She hopes to continue onto the Ph.D. program in Anthropology and Education at Columbia University with the goal of becoming a University professor and conducting Anthropological research.
Dominique Diaz | Community Mobilization Intern
Dominique is currently a sophomore at Touro College, majoring in Human Services. She has been a member of The Brooklyn Young Mothers’ Collective (BYMC) since January 2008. In that time, she has learned the importance of Reproductive Health and Reproductive Justice. She has completed the Power Sisters Academy, which is a comprehensive sexuality education program for young mothers, and also the Great Expectations Leadership Development Institute (GE). As a GE leader she organized a Town Hall Meeting where the area of focus was creating healthy families. She recently became a doula/birth assistant through the BYMC and is currently a youth advisor and board member there as well. She is interested in working with young mothers in changing the way they’re perceived by society. Dominique has also gained an interest in the public fairness issues involving Latinos/Latinas communities all across the nation (education, wellbeing, immigration, manual labor, etc.).
Angela Donadic | Policy and Advocacy Fellow
Angela Donadic is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Public Health at Hunter College. Her focus is on health education, but she also hopes to learn more about policy and international public health. She has worked on broadening her knowledge in international public health by working as a short-term intern in Humjibre, Ghana on a deworming program for children, and volunteering in an orphanage in Xi’an, China during the summer of 2007. Angela spent the last year working as a Health Coach Program Coordinator at EHE International, and also interned with the NYC Coalition for a Smoke-Free City.
Prior to her Masters program, Angela graduated from the State University of Albany with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, focusing in marketing & finance. After graduating, she worked at a marketing research company, followed by a three year marketing position with Random House Publishing. Angela hopes to learn more about public health policy through her coursework and the opportunity she has been given to work with the NLIRH.