Our Staff
Silvia Henriquez | Executive Director
Silvia Henriquez is responsible for the overall management, fundraising and administration of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. Silvia has positioned NLIRH as one the leading organizations working to advance the reproductive health and rights of Latinas. Within the first two years of her tenure, she increased national visibility through the 2004 March for Women’s Lives and the National Latina Summit. Subsequently under her leadership, NLIRH has developed a successful organizing and leadership development training curriculum, a national policy agenda and built coalitions with state and national partners that advance a reproductive justice advocacy effort. Through her work at NLIRH, Silvia has published articles in “Social Policy, Organizing for Social and Economic Justice and Democratic Participation” and “Conscience, The Newsjournal of Catholic Opinion.”
Prior to her leadership position at NLIRH, Silvia worked with various reproductive rights organizations. She was the National Campus Coordinator at the Feminist Majority Foundation, the Outreach Director at the National Abortion Federation and a Policy Analyst with the Latino Issues Forum where in 2003, she co-wrote, “Our Health, Our Rights: Reproductive Justice for Latinas in California.”
Silvia currently sits on the Board of Directors of both the Reproductive Health Technologies Project and the Guttmacher Institute. She has also been recognized by the National Women’s Health Network at their 30th Anniversary as one of 30 activists working on behalf of women’s health. Silvia is also the recipient of the 2005 Young Professional Award from the American Public Health Association. Under her leadership, NLIRH was granted the Alfred F. Moran Public Advocacy Award from Family Planning Advocates of New York State. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in International Affairs and a Master’s in Women’s Studies both from George Washington University.
Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas| Director of Policy and Advocacy
Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas is the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, the only national reproductive justice organization that specifically works to advance reproductive health and rights for Latinas. As a native New Yorker, she is engaged in numerous progressive local and national organizations that promotes social justice advocacy, particularly around immigrant, Latina, and gender issues. Jessica is a Board Member of New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) and has served as its President since 2004. She is also a Board Member of Medical Students for Choice. Jessica is an Advisory Member of the Women of Color Policy Network and serves on the Friends of the National Institute for Latino Policy Committee (formerly the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy). Additionally, she is engaged in a number of city-wide coalitions to increase Latina’s political engagement. From 2002 to 2006, she was elected Female Member of the New York State Democratic Committee for the 39th Assembly District, representing the diverse communities of Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst and Woodside.
At NLIRH, Jessica is responsible for directing and managing all policy and advocacy campaigns, programs and projects. She represents NLIRH at numerous national conferences and has provided expertise during congressional briefings and media inquiries. She has been a guest on National Public Radio, the Lisa Birnbach Show (GreenStone Media) and the Brian Lehrer Show (WNYC-FM), and has been quoted in many print and online news sources. Jessica co-authored "Immigrant Rights and Reproductive Justice" for the "Reproductive Justice Briefing Book: A Primer on Reproductive Justice and Social Change," produced for the 2007 U.S. Social Forum, and contributed "¡Pa’lante! Continuing the struggle for social justice" for Feministing's 'Voices Of' Series. Jessica holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and a Bachelor’s in International Relations from Boston University, where she graduated cum laude.
Aishia Glasford | Senior Policy Analyst
Aishia Glasford comes to NLIRH with experience in community organizing, legislation, and policy analysis, both domestically and internationally. Aishia’s public interest work began as a mentor for African American and Latino youths in Harlem and the South Bronx. Later she worked extensively with Costa Rican women as a Peace Corps community development coordinator focusing on the issues of sexuality and self esteem, domestic violence and HIV/AIDS. While obtaining her J.D. and M.P.P. at Georgetown University Law Center, she worked on international human rights and economic development legislation addressing human trafficking between nations. Additionally, she has worked extensively in contributing to draft legislation to a Divorce Statute and a Human Rights Report on the state of marriage and divorce in Swaziland. She has also studied and worked on policies affecting the Latino immigrant community, addressing issues such as TANF and Medicaid, domestic violence, feminization of migration, as well as social inclusion and economic development in Latin America. At NLIRH Aishia conducts research, analysis, writing and speaking presentations about policies that affect the reproductive health and rights of Latinas. Aishia focuses on emergency contraception, the intersection of reproductive and immigration policies and human rights law. On behalf of the NLIRH, Aishia manages the NLIRH’s role within the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights. Aishia has co-authored, Immigrant Rights and Reproductive Justice, in the Reproductive Justice Briefing Book: A Primer on Reproductive Justice and Social Change. In addition, Aishia has contributed to the NYC shadow Report to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
>Contact Aishia
Miriam Zoila Pérez | Senior Advocacy Associate
Miriam is a Swarthmore College graduate, with a B.A. in Anthropology, and minors in Spanish and Latin American Studies. While at Swarthmore, she was an active member of the pro-choice and feminist movements on campus, as well as a sexual health counselor. She focused her academic study on traditional and alternative birth practices, working both with midwives in Ecuador as well as women in the United States. She has also done work with various Latino community reproductive health organizations in Pennsylvania, helping pregnant immigrant women access prenatal care and health insurance. Miriam is a trained doula, and blogs and writes about birthing rights at radicaldoula.com as well as feministing.com. At NLIRH, Miriam leads the advocacy campaigns as well as assisting to oversee the Latina Advocacy Networks. She also manages the website and online Instantes newsletter, NLIRH's blog and online action alerts.
Liza Fuentes | Senior Research Associate
Liza has worked in health advocacy and research in several capacities. She was a medical interpreter at La Clínica del Pueblo in Washington, DC and a hotline worker and case manager at the National Abortion Federation. She was also a summer intern at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health working with LAN advocates on the EC campaign and helping to deliver the LOLA trainings. She has worked on several research projects regarding reproductive health and rights, from a study looking at the attitudes and opinions of women in the Bronx regarding abortion services, to a survey of the knowledge, attitudes and practices of pharmacists in Puerto Rico regarding emergency contraception. Liza sits on the board of directors of the National Network of Abortion Funds and the New York Abortion Access Fund. She has an MPH from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She is currently earning her Doctor of Public Health degree from the CUNY Graduate Center.
Cesarina Paula | Development Associate
Cesarina graduated from Hunter College with a B.A. in Political Science and Women’s Studies. Since the age of 16, she has volunteered and worked at non-profit organizations such as NOW-NYC and the V-Day College Campaign. Her primary focus has been on women’s rights, particularly reproductive and sexual rights, both at the national and international level. Cesarina has also focused on adolescents’ right to comprehensive sexuality education. Before coming to NLIRH, she worked at the International Women’s Health Coalition as the Program Assistant for the Latin America and Africa Programs. She is currently undergoing graduate studies to earn a Master's in Public Administration. At NLIRH, Cesarina is primarily responsible for coordinating development and fundraising activities.
Claudia Espinosa | Office Administrator
Claudia migrated to the United States eight years ago from Colombia. Throughout her life, Claudia has always been concerned and often disappointed, about the way women have been treated in our society and has always longed for a drastic change. Claudia’s desire to become part of this solution started during the course of her academic career. She became conscious about women’s rights as a social issue and decided that she wanted to help create paths of change for them. Currently, Claudia is enrolled in the BA/MA program in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and since 2005 she has been an active member of the National Organization for Women (NOW). In addition through the John Jay Women’s Rights office, she has learned about all the different organizations that work every day promoting and defending women rights around the nation and has contributed to their amazing work by being a generous donor. Presently, she works at the NLIRH as program assistant and is fulfilling her dream of being an advocate for women’s rights. Claudia’s plans for the future include a career in politics with the purpose to become an influence and help create the change that women and that the community in general needs.
Part-Time Staff and Interns
Verónica Bayetti Flores | Research Assistant
Verónica comes to the Latina Institute with a wide range of experiences in reproductive justice, including direct services, research, and advocacy. She worked as an HIV and sexual health counselor during her time as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – where she received her B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Women’s studies – and as a counselor at Planned Parenthood after graduating. Verónica also served as the Vice-President of the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Organization for Women in 2006, and is currently obtaining her Master’s degree in the Sexuality and Health program at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Raquel Namuche | Community Mobilization Intern
Raquel Namuche got her first first-hand glimpses into feminism and grassroots activism while attending Radical Women meetings and distributing issues of the Freedom Socialist Newspaper with radical activist Emily Woo Yamasaki in her early teens to weary passersby in New York City’s Cooper Square. She has been greatly influenced by a lot of the activism that came out of the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the late '90s and protested the eviction of CHARAS/El Bohio Cultural and Community Center along with other supporters. Raquel was an active and dedicated member of the first incarnation of the Street Harassment Project, an organization that focuses on fighting the harassment of women by men in public spaces. Through her involvement with the Street Harassment Project, she started to connect the dots of sexism in a much deeper way, learning how issues like street harassment, sexual assault, and all other women’s human rights issues are all interconnected.
Currently, Raquel volunteers as an ER advocate to survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence through Mount Sinai’s Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program. At NLIRH, Raquel will assist the Community Mobilization Department with their campaigns and projects. Through her internship, she hopes to learn all about reproductive justice issues affecting Latinas.
Edith González | Policy and Communications Intern
Edith González is originally from the sunny Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas. She like many other individuals/families of the region has spent the majority of her life traveling to northern states as a Migrant Farm Worker. In the process thereof, she has gained an understanding of the issues facing the marginalized community like health risks, sexism, immigration, and improper wage distribution. She is currently a senior at New York University studying Culture and Communications. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Edith has volunteered and participated in numerous programs throughout NYC like: Visiting Neighbors, New York Cares, Rivington House, and a Gift of Life project. She is a member of the President’s C-team and the Rotaract Club. As a strong and passionate advocate for justice, equality, and women’s progression she is excited to contribute and be a part of the National Latina Institute of Reproductive Health. While interning at NLIRH, Edith will be assisting with research on a variety of issues impacting the reproductive health of Latinas. In addition, she will be supporting the Communications Team and contributing weekly to NLIRH’s blog.
Ana Luisa Santacruz | Rio Grande Valley Texas Field Intern
Ana Luisa is a senior at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg , TX and a Gates Millennium Scholar. She previously attended Yale University where she became very active as a staff member of La Casa Cultural, the Latino cultural center. There she helped start a tutoring program for pre-med Latinos struggling in the basic sciences. As a result of her work at La Casa, Ana Luisa became interested in the health disparities of Latinas living on the Texas-Mexico border. Along with studying biology and chemistry at UT-Pan Am, Ana Luisa continues to study the health of the Latino population in this region. She is particularly focused on the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. This semester she has the opportunity to work as a field intern in the Rio Grande Valley where she will be working to strengthen the organizing efforts of the Latina Advocacy Network Coalition in collaboration with our partner Migrant Health Promotion. In the fall, she plans to begin an eight year trek towards obtaining her MD/Ph.D and as a physician hopes to further help these same women gain access to the health care that she believes is a fundamental human right.