Originally from Morelia, Michoacán, Laura Rubio, 48, is a Mexican activist for the most vulnerable in East Palo Alto. A couple of decades ago, she migrated north, like the Monarch butterfly, to seek better opportunities for herself and her children outside of her country, Mexico, to the United States.
Laura never imagined that she would find her calling as an activist for the rights of the most needy in East Palo Alto, a city located in San Mateo County, California, where she resides.
It all began, as she herself tells it, during her experience as a domestic worker, a job that fills her with pride, because thanks to it she has been able to raise her children.
This work allowed her to realize how many of these workers' rights are undermined by their employers. She experienced this situation firsthand, after seeing her days off restricted, or even being forced to work during the COVID-19 pandemic, because she said her clients wanted to see their houses clean.
Laura is not only dedicated to assisting immigrants but also Americans who seek advice on how to obtain support from government programs that have been largely left out due to the biases inherent in aid programs.
Thus, Rubio is dedicated to her activism by reviewing the official documentation of aid programs to translate not only the information into Spanish, but also to analyze the content and propose the necessary modifications to the state of California, just as she did in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic so that everyone who needed it could have access to public benefits.
“During the pandemic, I didn’t want to stay home because I would go out to see if my neighbors needed anything. And they did,” she said during an interview in the Bay Area Portraits section of Peninsula 360 Press.
Specifically, her help with food distribution, integrating the most vulnerable into housing assistance programs, and later organizing the application of vaccines in the county where she lives, has made a difference among the members of her community.
Language, he said, "is not a barrier for me. When I give talks at board meetings, I have a monitor for each thing, one for the transmission, another for the translation and another to know what I am going to say."
In this way, she has overcome the obstacles she herself faced as an immigrant, and now, her experience serves to support others.
He is a member of several organizations, including the Latino Caucus Board of Directors; the Rent Stabilization Board; and the Tenant Board of Directors, made up of three East Palo Alto organizations.
Another passion of Laura's is advocating for women domestic workers through the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the National Domestic Workers Alliance Pop Culture Board of Directors.
"I'm not alone. I join and go with young organizations where I get energized and call my colleagues to go out and do activism, we spend late into the night knocking on doors. The councilors also go out with us to support and distribute hot food, we help fill out applications or knock on neighborhood and government doors, because there are plenty of resources in our community," she stressed.
One of the barriers that I might have as a woman is perhaps not knowing the trade of a mechanic, she joked, because she affirms that a woman can achieve everything she sets her mind to.
«At the beginning I was very afraid. I remember that friends and neighbours around me would tell me, 'No, you don't have to go out and talk to people because they might throw you out of the country!'» To which Laura, instead of responding with fear, responded with actions.
Another of Laura's passions is feeling connected to Mexico through her roots during the celebrations of Mexican traditions such as the Day of the Dead, especially celebrated among young people from the Casa Círculo Cultural organization.
This tradition, he said, supports his belief that in order to bring about change among young people, they must be sensitized through culture.
For Laura there are no limits, and she is already considering designing a website, where she will try to help people find the information they need for fair advocacy. In the meantime, she keeps her digital networks open so that anyone who needs help can find her.
On Facebook, interested parties can find her as /laura.rubio.545.
In recent years, Laura's role within her community is so important that she was awarded the "Community Hero" award by East Palo Alto organizations in 2019 for "her formidable work as an activist."
Don't miss "Bay Area Portraits" with Constanza Mazzotti, where each week she interviews a personality that makes a difference in the community, every Thursday at 5:30 PM Pacific Time.
