Cristina Jiménez Moreta

Jiménez Moreta was born in Ecuador. At the time of her birth, Jiménez Moreta's mother was a seamstress and her father was a bank security guard.[2] When she was a teenager, she and her family moved to the United States as undocumented immigrants. Jiménez Moreta completed a Bachelor of Arts at Queens College in 2007 and a Master of Public Administration at Baruch College in 2011.[3]

When Jiménez Moreta illegally immigrated to the United States, she became a babysitter and an assistant. After experiencing educational barriers as an undocumented immigrant, she dedicated herself to public service and advancing civil rights, focused primarily on youth activism.[2] Early on in her advocacy career, Jiménez Moreta created multiple activism groups in New York, including Make the Road New York and New York State Youth Leadership Council.[4]

In 2008, she joined Drum Major Institute to work in immigration policy and remained with the institute until 2010.[3] At the same time she started working with Drum Major, Jiménez Moreta became a co-founder of United We Dream, which is an organization that advocates for undocumented Americans. With United We Dream, Jiménez Moreta influenced the enactment of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals in 2012.[5]

In 2017, Jiménez Moreta was one of the recipients of the MacArthur Fellows Program.[6] The same year, she was awarded the Freedom From Fear Award.[7]