Odilia Romero
Odilia Romero is the co-founder/ executive director of Comunidades Indigenas en Liderazgo (CIELO); she is also an independent interpreter of Zapotec, Spanish, and English for indigenous communities in Los Angeles and throughout California. She has two decades of experience organizing indigenous migrant communities. Her organizing knowledge and experience are held in high regard, with multiple academic publications, awards, and lectures in universities across the United States, including John Hopkins, USC, and UCLA. Ms. Romero has published on the challenges of organizing in indigenous communities, developing women’s leadership, and preparing a new generation of youth. Her work has also been featured in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Vogue and Democracy Now.
Janet Martinez
Janet Martinez is the co-founder/ Vice executive director of Comunidades Indigenas en Liderazgo (CIELO). She is a Bene Xogsho (Zapotec) born in Los Angeles. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Janet has engaged issues facing Indigenous migrant communities through her writing; she has published articles on topics including new approaches to gendered leadership in Indigenous communities, and the challenges facing youths in Indigenous migrant communities. She Co-led the We are here map which is the first map of the linguistic diversity of Indigenous Los Angeles, and she oversaw the development CIELO Zapotec Loteria. Additionally, she developed and launched the We Are Here billboard campaign to create visibility of Indigenous migrant communities in the U.S. Ms. Martinez created the Indigenous Literature Conference and Weaving Words and Rhymes. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Ozy, Vogue, and Telesur. Currently, she is a host on the podcast Tu’un Dali, a podcast for and by Indigenous people.
Luis Lopez Resendiz
Luis López Resendiz is currently CIELO’s program director; he is a Ñuú Savi. He is committed to taking the struggle for the respect of the rights of indigenous peoples to spaces where indigenous peoples are not represented and to make visible their migration to the United States. Mr. Lopez Resendiz is a graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a B.A. in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies. He is a poet whose work has been presented at the Center for Race and Gender at UC Berkeley. Mr. Resendiz has been featured in La Jornada, la Trinchera , KPFK, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and El Excelsior. Currently, he is a host on Tu’un Dali Podcast, a podcast for and by Indigenous people.
Genesis Ek
Genesis Ek is the Administrative Director for CIELO. She is Yucatec Maya born in Los Angeles. She received a B.S. in Anthropology and a B.A. in Economics from UC Riverside. In college, she was part of PPGA, a club dedicated to advocating for reproductive rights. She conducted research in Yucatan studying the Indigenous traditions still practiced by the people of the region, including her family’s. She started volunteering with CIELO this past year by helping coordinate the Maya Ta’an language, revitalization class. Genesis has also worked in finance administration earning her the experience to operate and oversee financial aspects of CIELO.