Tania Soto Valenzuela (she/her/ella), of the documentary Tania Monarca, is originally from Mexico, and moved to the US with her family when she was 9 years old. She has been fighting her mother’s deportation since 2009 and this past December 2019 they won a cancelation of removal. She lived as an unauthorized immigrant up until 3 years ago. Her lived experience has always been closely tied with inequity, lack of opportunity, and exclusion. This has led her to working to dismantle inequalities as a researcher and community organizer. She attempts to guide conversations towards positive community change, using tools to assist people to identify their privileged and marginalized identities towards shaping our collective liberation.
She graduated from Regis University with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, where she started her activism on immigration issues. She has led many campaigns on an array of social justice issues and has been part of the activist community in Denver, CO for over 10 years. Besides joining TLC as the Program Manager, Tania is conducting research with the Right2Learn Dignity Lab making the argument of education as a fundamental right of personhood. She serves American Friends Service Committee as the co-clerks the Third World Coalition a space for BIPOC throughout the organization and community to come together to support their efforts.