Ep 250: The Power of Neighbors: A Leadership Story from Minneapolis with Emilia Gonzalez Avalos

Now let's jump in.

Please welcome to the show, Amelia Gonzalez-Avalos, the executive director of Unidos Minnesota.

Amelia, we'll include your bio in the show notes, but for our listeners, can you just share a little bit about how you got to where you are right now? How did you wind up in Minnesota at Unidos and doing the important work that you're doing?

Well, thank you so much, Glenda and Joan, for having me.

I am truly what we can call a Mexisodan.

I was born in Mexico City, and I arrived to Minnesota when I was 12 years old.

My father had been a migrant worker in different places in the USA.

And my neighbors in Mexico City next door said, you know, you should come to this place in Minnesota.

There's work.

It's super cold.

There's snow.

There's work, but it's super cold.

But you're able to do this through a winter.

You're going to enjoy because people are really nice and there's so much green.

There's so much water.

It's so beautiful.

You're going to love it.

And so my dad from working in California or Texas or Colorado.

decided to head to Minnesota after my mother gave birth to my baby brother in 1992.

And then this is where we settled.

And I joined him later when we could afford it.

And we made that decision.

So I was educated in the state.

I arrived in a time where the border and the policy on immigration was very different.

We didn't have a militarized border.

Now let's jump in.

Please welcome to the show, Amelia Gonzalez-Avalos, the executive director of Unidos Minnesota.

Amelia, we'll include your bio in the show notes, but for our listeners, can you just share a little bit about how you got to where you are right now? How did you wind up in Minnesota at Unidos and doing the important work that you're doing?

Well, thank you so much, Glenda and Joan, for having me.

I am truly what we can call a Mexisodan.

I was born in Mexico City, and I arrived to Minnesota when I was 12 years old.

My father had been a migrant worker in different places in the USA.

And my neighbors in Mexico City next door said, you know, you should come to this place in Minnesota.

There's work.

It's super cold.

There's snow.

There's work, but it's super cold.

But you're able to do this through a winter.

You're going to enjoy because people are really nice and there's so much green.

There's so much water.

It's so beautiful.

You're going to love it.

And so my dad from working in California or Texas or Colorado.

decided to head to Minnesota after my mother gave birth to my baby brother in 1992.

And then this is where we settled.

And I joined him later when we could afford it.

And we made that decision.

So I was educated in the state.

I arrived in a time where the border and the policy on immigration was very different.

We didn't have a militarized border.