Julieta Garibay is a movement leader with 15 years of experience organizing immigrant youth. Julieta is a focused, driven and passionate strategist with experience running and winning issue campaigns at the local, state, and federal for systematic change that is rooted in community engagement with directly impacted folks leading. She is an accomplished communicator and strategist using both traditional and social media with expert ability in shifting narrative integrating the voices of impacted communities. Julieta is elated to contribute to the building of people’s power with and for organizations of people of color to thrive in the place they call home through her role as Groundswell Fund’s Senior Capacity Building Director.
Julieta began organizing in her hometown of Austin, TX in 2005 to help undocumented youth like her get to college and has since become a fearless defender of her community and advocate for the rights of immigrants and women. Julieta is the living embodiment of transforming personal adversity into personal power and hope that has inspired thousands into action. As the Co-Founder of United We Dream – the largest immigrant youth-led network in the country – she fulfilled multiple roles, and served as UWD’s chief strategist in Texas and nationally, planning and implementing the network’s work to build power for immigrants and people of color.
For the past eight years, Julieta has been coached by Universal Partnership’s principal, Rusia Mohiuddin. As a student-apprentice of Warrior’s Embodied Liberation (WEL), Julieta has strengthened her practice of meditation, journaling, and jo kata in her path to liberation while embodied in the values of humanity, love, and courage. Julieta aims to co-learn and co-create with changemakers the world we live in to ensure immigrants and people of color can thrive in their full authentic selves.
Originally from Mexico City, Mexico, Julieta migrated to the U.S. at the age of 12 with her mother and sister and lived in Texas for 20+ years. She co-founded the University Leadership Initiative (ULI) at the University of Texas- Austin, one of the first undocumented youth-led organizations in the nation. She holds a Master’s degree of Science in Public Health Nursing and a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Texas.