Women of color today are contributing to an unprecedented wave of “firsts”: whether they are the first in a family to attend college, the first to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or the first in public office, women of color are reaching new heights of influence.
Cecilia Muñoz was a first, too, and she knows what it means to make her way without exemplars to follow. The first Latinx to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council, Muñoz draws lessons from the challenges she faced both as the senior Latinx official in the Obama White House and as a longtime powerful voice in the civil rights movement. In the book, she shares her insights, along with those of some extraordinary women of color she met along the way, as an offering of inspiration to women of color who are no longer willing to be invisible or left behind.
In conversation with Laleh Ispahani and Stephanie Valencia, Muñoz reflects on how government works and how it falls short, providing valuable lessons for others engaged in advocacy and fighting for social justice.
Cecilia Muñoz, currently a senior advisor at New America, is a national leader in public policy and public interest technology with nearly three decades of experience in the nonprofit sector and eight years of service on President Obama’s senior team.