Co-Founder and President, Voto Latino | Innovator of a New Era of Civic Engagement Traditional voter outreach wasn’t connecting with young Latinos. María Teresa Kumar pioneered a new approach, using technology, cultural insight, and grassroots organizing to change how young Latinos engage in civic life. In 2004, she co-founded Voto Latino with actress Rosario Dawson to bring that approach to a national platform. What began as an effort to engage young Latino voters grew into

If you’ve spent enough time in Washington, D.C., chances are you’ve enjoyed Arepa Zone. Its growth reflects both the staying power of the business and the appetite for international cuisine that makes the region’s food scene so distinctive. But in a restaurant market as expensive and competitive as Washington, building a business is one challenge. Sustaining it, expanding its reach, and keeping customers coming back for more than a decade is another. For co-founder Gabriela F

A great mission doesn’t speak for itself. People need to understand what it means for them, why it matters, and how they can be part of it. Pamela Nieto has spent more than 17 years helping organizations translate complex ideas and worthy causes into messages that move people to engage and act. Her career spans public health, economic development, business advocacy, and community development. The challenge in each was the same: bridge the gap between what an organization offe

Few people have shaped Washington’s Latino community as profoundly as Beatriz “BB” Otero. Before Latino leadership in this city had the infrastructure or a playbook, BB was helping to build it. Born in Bolivia, Otero was 10 when her family moved to Washington and then Montgomery County. She attended the University of Maryland before returning to Washington, where she began a career focused on expanding opportunity for children, families, and the communities she called home. I

In 1881, the Arts and Industries Building opened as the Smithsonian’s first U.S. National Museum, showcasing inventions that would reshape American life, including Edison’s lightbulb and the first telephone. On August 31, 2026, the Smithsonian gave the building a new chapter: it will become the permanent site of the National Museum of the American Latino. What stands on the National Mall shapes what a country remembers. Congress authorized the Latino museum in December 2020.

Every year, the region’s largest institutions spend billions of dollars. Where that money lands can determine who gets to grow. Victor Burrola knows what access to opportunity can mean. Raised in Greeley, Colorado, as the son of migrant workers, he became a first-generation college graduate after finding his way to Colorado State University through the TRIO Upward Bound program. More than two decades later, he has built a career around creating those kinds of pathways for oth