Tania Chairez (she, ella) is an undocumented immigrant who was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. For the past decade, Tania has prioritized her passion for the intersection of immigration and education as a grassroots community organizer and educator in secondary and post-secondary spaces.
Tania is the Founder & CEO of Convivir Colorado, a nonprofit that uses the power of storytelling, artistic expression, and community building to engage 6th through 12th grade immigrant, refugee, and first-gen students in self-empowerment and leadership development. Watch her TedX Talk on being Undocumented and Unafraid, share her journey in the local documentary Five Dreamers, and uplift her monologue titled “Listen to Your Heart” in the Shoebox Stories podcast from Motus Theater.
Tania received a B.S. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and M.Ed. from Grand Canyon University. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Joy as Resistance, Keeping the Dream Alive, and Free Migration Project.
“I am looking forward to re-imagining what it looks like to lead through a social justice lens alongside a cohort of radical people committed to collective liberation!”