Originally from Morelia, Michoacán, Laura Rubio, 48, is a Mexican activist on behalf of the most vulnerable in East Palo Alto who, a couple of decades ago, 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 vocation as an activist for the rights of the most needy in East Palo Alto, a city located in San Mateo County, California, where she lives.
It all began, as she herself says, 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 the rights of these workers 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 seeking advice on how to obtain support from government programs that they have mostly left out, due to the biases of the aid programs themselves.
Thus, Rubio's activism is dedicated to reviewing the official documentation of the aid programs to translate not only the information into Spanish, but to analyze the content and propose to the State of California the necessary modifications, 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 and see if my neighbors needed anything. And they did," she noted during an interview in the Bay Area Portraits section of Peninsula 360 Press.
Precisely, his help with food distribution, integration of the most vulnerable into housing assistance programs and, later, the organization of vaccines in the county where he lives, has made a difference among the members of his community.
Language, he said, "is not a barrier for me. When I give talks at board meetings I have a monitor for everything, one for the transmission, one for the translation and one for knowing 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 Cultural Board of Directors.
"It's not just me. I join and go with youth organizations where I get energized and call my colleagues to go out and do activism, we spend late nights knocking on doors. The councilors also go out with us to support and distribute hot meals, we help fill out applications or knock on neighborhood and governmental doors, because there are a lot of resources in our community," she said.
One of the barriers she might have as a woman is perhaps not knowing the mechanic's trade, she joked, as she affirms that one can achieve to be anything she sets her mind to.
At the beginning I had many fears, I remember that, around me, friends and neighbors told me "no, you don't have to go out and talk to people because you can get kicked out of the country!" to which Laura, instead of responding with fear, did it with actions.
Another of Laura's passions is to feel connected to Mexico through her roots during the celebration of Mexican traditions such as the Day of the Dead, especially celebrated among the youth of the Casa Círculo Cultural organization.
This tradition, he said, contributes to his belief that in order to bring about change among the youth, it is necessary to sensitize them through culture.
For Laura there are no limits, and she is already planning to design a website, where she will try to help people find the necessary information for a fair advocacy. In the meantime, she keeps her digital networks open so that anyone who needs help can reach 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 has been honored by East palo Alto organizations with the 2019 "Community Hero" award for "her formidable work as an activist."
Don't miss "Portraits of the Bay Area" with Constanza Mazzotti, where each week she interviews a personality who makes a difference in the community, every Thursday at 5:30 P.M. Pacific Time.
