LYNN — Yamila Ruiz, the Senior Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, recently became a part of Amplify LatinX’s list of the 100 most influential Hispanic leaders in Massachusetts for 2024.
According to its website, Amplify LatinX is a “Non-partisan, collaborative non-profit with the mission of advancing Latino prosperity and leadership representation.”
Their current goal is “kickstarting a cultural shift towards more open discussions about profit, power, and community as well as advocating for acknowledgment of unique challenges to wealth building and opportunity faced by Latinos.”
Ruiz has done a lot of work for the Latina community through her job.
“At the Latina Institute, we advocate for the nation’s 30 million Latinas for health, dignity, and justice, making sure that we have equal reproductive access for all but specifically focusing on disparate impact where Latinas are most vulnerable,” she said.
According to Ruiz, the group works nationally with state offices in Texas, Florida, New York, and Virginia. It has focused on policy-related work, such as immigrant access to health care, birth control, and abortion.
“We have kind of a tri-prong strategy…We do policy shifts, cultural shifts, and narrative shifts, which mean changing hearts and minds, telling stories about why people deserve healthcare access to influence and impact people’s outlook on federal policy and community-based building,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz’s work focused on economic labor policy, including workers’ rights, labor advocacy, and federal and state minimum wage campaigns. However, she would shift to reproductive health and apply to the Latina Institute.
“I started at a really interesting time. In June 2022 was the decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, and I was actually in the process of interviewing for the job when that leak happened…and I started in July of 2022,” she said.
Ruiz has lived in Lynn for five years but grew up in Swampscott and Marblehead.
When asked what she likes about Lynn, she said, “I really like diversity. I like the fact that you can go down the street and get really good Mexican and Salvadorian food. You can get good Italian food or Irish food…I love that you can go to a city center and get Asian specialty ingredients.”
She also explained how she loved the greenery in Lynn as she lives near Lynn Woods and walks the beach in Swampscott and Nahant.
Ruiz didn’t always picture herself in this role. There was a time when she believed she would be a lawyer, but her time in that field changed her mind.
“It was actually during my internship where I was working in the criminal clerk’s office at South Superior Court. The criminal clerk’s office is where all of the arraignments come through for major felonies,” she said. “One trend I saw disproportionately in the year or so that I interned was that people were coming through the courtroom were disproportionately black, brown, and immigrants, and that really impacted me.”
After that, Ruiz realized she didn’t want to be part of the criminal justice system. Instead, her focus shifted towards fair policies, and she even organized groups on her campus for fair parking wages.
Her early involvement in community organizing made her realize she wanted to do advocacy work instead.
Ruiz also admitted that her line of work faces many challenges as they have had to bust the misconceptions of what people deserve in America.
“Basic access to healthcare, the women’s right to choose, people’s ability to exist in this country…a lot of people think that the people I’m advocating for shouldn’t even be here,” she said.
She said that the core value of their work is advocating for women’s right to exist and make decisions about their bodies, families, and futures. However, all of this work is faced with many barriers.
Currently, Ruiz is preparing to be a mom, and preparing for motherhood is deeply connected with her desire to make things better for the next generation.
“I’m about to be a mom, and I think about creating the world that I want to see for my child…It’s really helped me reflect on what’s important in life, which is my family,” she said.
Ruiz is extremely proud to meet the other members of the Amplify LatinX class of 2024, some of whom are also based in Lynn.
“It’s cool to recognize the unique contributions of Latinos at this time. They’re thought leaders, they’re changing policy, they’re influencing businesses, and they’re doing this with lived experience of a really growing population in America,” Ruiz said.
She congratulates all the other honorees on the list and is excited to see how her community will impact the future.
