Luz Meza immigrated to Detroit at the age of 13 and quickly became an active and engaged volunteer in political campaigns, city revitalization efforts, and the local immigration reform movement. In 2013, she earned her undergraduate degree in economics and international studies at the University of Michigan. During college, she served as a founding member of the Coalition for Tuition Equality, a member of Detroit’s youth-led immigrant rights group, a member of the University’s task force on undocumented students, and a leader in the successful movement for in-state tuition for undocumented students at U-M.

Meza is now serving as a Teach for America Fellow and bilingual educator in Dallas, Texas and will matriculate at the Ford School in the fall of 2015 to pursue a master’s degree in public policy. Her hope is to expand the influence of Latino communities in policymaking circles. The goal: to positively impact the social, civic, and economic wellbeing of minorities in the United States.