Maria Perez is the co-director of Democracy Rising. Born and raised in Ecuador, Maria immigrated to the United States in the 1990s to pursue her education. She has crafted a career guided by her passion to address social disparities. A seasoned nonprofit leader, organizer, facilitator, advocate, educator, and coalition builder, Maria is a firm believer in the power of people coming together to address complex social problems and that democracy is the ultimate health equity indicator. She spent over 10 years as a healthcare practitioner, before turning to policy, equity, and power-building work, which she has been doing for the past 13 years.
She served as campaign lead and later as interim hub manager for the California Endowment’s project Building Healthy Communities (East Oakland), director of FairVote New Mexico, and campaign manager for Common Cause New Mexico. She and co-director Grace Ramsey launched the national organization Democracy Rising in 2020, an organization that works to ensure implementation of democracy reforms in jurisdictions around the country is inclusive and just, and cultivates a new bench of diverse democracy leaders. Maria lives with her son and dog in Santa Fe, New Mexico.