Imelda Padilla was born an advocate.
As a young girl, Imelda had rickets, and was frequently called names.
Imelda bravely underwent surgery at the age of 12, and spent six months in a cast. The experience taught her how to take on challenges without fear, and to advocate for what she believed in.
Ever since then, she’s taken on one tough fight after another, never backing down. And all the while, she’s seen the difference that education can make in a young person’s life.
In middle school, she helped take care of her younger brother while her parents each worked 12 hour days, and one of her brothers became caught up in the gangs that are still too common in many communities. In high school, she encouraged her friends to volunteer for local political campaigns and fight the expansion of landfills in the area.
In college, she worked to help victims of wage theft challenge unscrupulous employers, and she interred for the Justice for Janitors campaign in Houston Texas for SEIU.
After graduating, she became a community organizer for Pacoima Beautiful, advocating for environmental justice for local families. She then went to work with the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, to help fight for an increase in the minimum wage and create economic opportunity for every family.
She even started her own non-profit called Together We Do More, which aims to help middle and high school students start to think about higher education and professional development at a young age. Their main event is called Adelante Hombre were over 100 community volunteers help put together a leadership conference for students from all over the North East San Fernando Valley.
Now Imelda is a commissioner for the Los Angeles County Commission on Woman and Girls, and a candidate for the Los Angeles School Board, where she hopes to continue her work advocating for local families, especially young people. She truly is a born advocate.
Imelda grew up in Sun Valley and attended Roscoe Elementary, Byrd Middle School and Polytechnic High School and attended UC Berkeley, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a double minor in Chicano Studies and Philosophy.
She is currently in grad school at the California State University of Northridge where, she is receiving her Master’s in public administration with an emphasis on leadership and nonprofit management.
