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Meet Our Team

ALEJANDRA IBAÑEZ

Executive Director

Alejandra L. Ibañez is a passionate bridge-builder, change-maker, community organizer and nonprofit leader. She has spent her entire career creating and facilitating relationships, programs, initiatives, and institutional partnerships that elevate the voice, power, and agency of historically marginalized communities of color, including her Latinx community.

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Keyla Ferretiz

Digital Media Coordinator

Keyla Ferretiz is a Latina graphic design and marketing professional based in Greensboro, North Carolina. She specializes in social media marketing strategies and design for small businesses and entrepreneurs. She has worked with clients who work in a variety of fields including Non-profits, Lawyers, and Podcasts. She graduated in 2019 with a B.A. in Media and Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In her free time, Keyla enjoys painting and spending time with her dog.

Marilyn Ortiz

Community Health Worker

Marilyn Ortiz, drawing on her extensive experience with the Latino Community in Chicago, has become a dedicated Community Health Worker involved in various programs aimed at fostering holistic development—physically, mentally, and educationally. Her role includes organizing conferences, workshops, and talks on diverse topics related to personal and emotional growth. 

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About Alejandra Ibanez

Alejandra L. Ibañez is a passionate bridge-builder, change-maker, community organizer and nonprofit leader. She has spent her entire career creating and facilitating relationships, programs, initiatives, and institutional partnerships that elevate the voice, power, and agency of historically marginalized communities of color, including her Latinx community.

Alejandra started her career as a community organizer at Erie Neighborhood House working with predominately immigrant, Latina mothers building community power and democracy at the grassroots level in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood.  In 1996, Alejandra joined Sonia Silva’s successful campaign as the state’s first Latina to the Illinois’ House of Representatives and served as her Chief of Staff until the end of her term in 2000.  She is most proud of their work to increase free and reduced school breakfast and lunch for Illinois children as well as creating the Illinois Taskforce on Day Laborers in 1998 that helped lay the groundwork for the state’s first Day and Temporary Labor Services Act in 1999.

After spending a few years in the public sector, Alejandra returned to her community roots and became Executive Director of Pilsen Alliance, a direct-action community organization. Alejandra was able to intertwine her commitment to community and systems change at the grassroots level and led innovative and culturally relevant leadership programs and community organizing campaigns that included the creation of the first community housing and zoning board as well as a community-school based partnership that included, multi-generational programming and a parent community organizing campaign.

Alejandra has spent the last ten years in the philanthropic sector bringing her community organizing, nonprofit leadership and public sector experience to her work.  She served as co-chair of the Chicagoland Workforce Funders Alliance and the National Funders Group Funders for a Just Economy.

Alejandra is honored to serve as Executive Director of Illinois Unidos; a statewide coalition of Latino health professionals, representatives of community-based organization, and elected officials committed to the equitable Covid-19 response and recovery for the state’s Latinx population.

About Marilyn Ortiz

Marilyn Ortiz, drawing on her extensive experience with the Latino Community in Chicago, has become a dedicated Community Health Promoter involved in various programs aimed at fostering holistic development—physically, mentally, and educationally. Her role includes organizing conferences, workshops, and talks on diverse topics related to personal and emotional growth. Serving as a crucial link between the community and various health organizations, Marilyn facilitates interaction, volunteers in different committees, and engages in projects that promote team integration and reinforce commitments to providing timely and efficient services to the community, fostering fraternal ties and trust.

A Colombian national and a clinical psychologist by profession, Marilyn has dedicated her career to working in vulnerable communities, focusing on the prevention of mental and emotional disorders. She has successfully developed and implemented projects centered around empowerment and leadership within the community.

Deeply committed to Illinois Unidos, Marilyn values the opportunity they’ve provided her to integrate her knowledge and professional experience as a Health Promoter into active participation in various committees.

Illinois Unidos-Illinois Latino COVID-19 Initiative

Founded in April 2020, our coalition continues to have unwavering determination, driven by our mission: to fiercely champion equitable responses and recovery efforts in the face of the profound impact of COVID-19 within the Latinx community.

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