The daughter of two garment workers, growing up Mariela (Mar) witnessed the harm that the garment industry creates due to low wages and unsafe working conditions. But Mar’s interest in organizing began as a youth organizer with South Central Youth Empowered through Action where Mar participated in educational justice and racial justice work to bring resources and attention to South Central’s failing school system. Mar attended Brown University where she became involved in the Student Labor Alliance and United Students Against Sweatshops, which advocates with workers on campus and internationally. Labor organizing connected Mar’s passion for justice with the working class home that Mar grew up in. She has traveled to Central America, Bangladesh and even Bolivia learning from social justice movements there, exposing labor exploitation in local factories, and building relationships between on-the-ground organizers and student solidarity groups. Mar’s organizing style emphasizes leadership development that places the most marginalized groups at the center and tries to build spaces that facilitate collective liberation. Mar is excited to begin the hard work of empowering garment workers to hold brands responsible for the working conditions they produce.

• mmartinez@garmentworkercenter.org
• 213.748.5866