Meet 13 Young Latinos Working on Hillary Clinton's Campaign

His role in the campaign:

"My job is to ensure we translate the campaign messaging in a way that every Spanish speaker understands, working with the challenges of Spanish, which has more than 25 differences between each country. We acknowledge that many Latinos prefer to hear things in their native language. That's why we have this humongous challenge to translate almost everything that this campaign produces."

His story:

"I'm from Puerto Rico. Even though I am a US citizen, I feel like an immigrant. I just came here two years ago. This is for me like another county, because we speak only Spanish in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico and New York have a very strong relationship, so for me I feel very connected."

"Being Puerto Rican in this campaign has shown me how significant it is to have diversity. I think that having people from different background enriches the campaign. Just being here and raising issues related to Puerto Rico is very powerful and speaks volumes about the commitment to diversity in this campaign."

How he stays connected to his Puerto Rican roots:

"I always speak in Spanish. It's not that I don't know English, but for me, it's a way to keep connected to my community. I'm friends with the Latinos in the campaign. I think it's because I can connect deeper with the Latino staff, and I feel so proud and excited about that. We created a sense of community: the Latino family. We always nurture that sense of community within the campaign."

Her role in the campaign:

"It's basically all over the place. One, because that's the nature of it, and two, I never stay in my own lane. My primary job is to make sure that Hillary Clinton's and President Clinton's longtime friends are all happy [as they join the campaign trail] — so that means her friends from when she was a girl and all the way up through high school, Wellesley College, Arkansas, first lady. The 'Clinton friends,' we call them."

Her story:

"I am Blaxican — African American and Mexican — and have a very mixed family. The Mexican part is what always anchored us. My family's from St. Paul, MN, on the west side, where all the Mexicans live. My great-grandmother was a migrant worker and the matriarch to our family. I was born into a family of activists."

What working with a large group of Latinos on the campaign means to her:

"I feel blessed to work with these phenomenal people. We make her a better candidate when we have diversity of thought. On the other hand, I feel a personal obligation to all the people of color who work on the campaign: making sure that they have the experience that is reflective of the principles and values that Hillary Clinton holds dear. I try to make sure to give people the space so that they can give their opinions and they can feel supported."

"We have this one mission, and everybody is working as hard as they possibly can and with the best intentions to make that happen. Sometimes we get on each other's nerves, and sometimes we have our own implicit biases that come out, but we're a family now. How do we work through these things and make sure that we're all OK and performing the best for her? Because she's out there every effing day working so hard. By the way, she's dope."

Her role in the campaign:

"I vigorously relay print and TV election coverage to several departments on the campaign. I applied to be an intern my senior year of college. Upon graduation, I was beyond blessed to have been offered my current position on the campaign."

Her story:

"I'm first-generation American. My dad is Dominican. My mom is Peruvian, from Lima — accidentally; my grandma went on a trip and just happened to go into labor. My family is originally from Trujillo. My mom and grandma, aunts and uncles, and everyone from my mom's side lives in New Jersey. My dad still lives in the Dominican Republic, and I have a little brother who lives over there, too."

How she stays connected to her roots on long campaign days:

"Food. Almost every day I pack food from home. My lunches range from lomo saltado to pollo a la brasa to arroz y habichuelas con chuleta frita and tostones. When I heat up my food and that sweet aroma of rice and beans circulates through my department, I know that my meal is uniquely distinct from anyone else's plate. My lunches take me back to the coasts of Huanchaco, Peru — while sipping on pisco sours — and to the rural countryside of the Dominican Republic, where my father's family gathers to eat chivo almost every Sunday."

Her role in the campaign:

"I lead efforts to reach out to key voters through the media, including African Americans, Latinos, women, millennials, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders."

Her story:

"My family is from Brownsville, TX. My mom actually came here [from Mexico] when she was 3 years old and was undocumented; she became a US citizen later. My father is a US citizen, born and raised in Texas; he still lives there. He is probably about five to seven blocks away from the border fence, so it really hits home when Donald Trump says he wants to build a wall."

What working with a large group of Latinos on the campaign means to her:

"It's just important to keep the culture alive. A lot of us aren't from New York, a lot of us are coming from all over the country, even outside of the country, and a lot of us are away from home, and it's tough when you're away from your loved ones. My husband and I have been living apart for over a year. He's in Washington DC. We have a Latino family that's here and they are family in every sense; we're able to have dinner together, or when someone does a great job on a project, you'll see our Latino server list just completely blow up. It's all over the country; it's not just here at headquarters. We take pride in the work we do and in making sure that we are there for each other."

How she stays connected to her Latina roots on long campaign days:

"So it started as a joke for my birthday, but for the past two years my coworkers have sent me a twerking chicken because of my love of pollo frito. It's a complete joke to cheer everyone up and make everyone in the campaign laugh. It's just a way to keep things light."

His role in the campaign:

"I help with allocating campaign resources across the country to best reach our target orders via TV, radio, and digital, the paid media side."

His story:

"My parents are both from Mexico; they moved when they were young, to South Texas, so that's where they reside. They were undocumented until a certain point and then they became citizens. They were farm workers, then went into construction. We are a big family: I am the fourth of six, and all my siblings, besides my little brother, are parents now. For me, it's about defending my parents, defending a lot of people that look like my family, but also for my nieces and nephews . . . I don't want them hearing those hateful words being said about Mexicans and Latinos."

How he stays connected to his Mexican roots on long campaign days:

"There's a picture of my mom, her sisters, my aunts, going to vote for Hillary during the primary. I want these photos to remind myself why I'm here. I also have a photo of Christmas, all of us together, those good moments I want to remember."

Her role in the campaign:

"My region mostly consists of Nevada, Colorado, Florida, and North Carolina, so that's super fun. I help them get their digital programs up and running, support them with their strategy."

Her story:

"I arrived to Brooklyn by way of DC after spending some time working for Senator [Cory] Booker and cutting my teeth at a Latino voter engagement nonprofit. I'm originally from Phoenix, AZ, but I've adapted to the East Coast humidity thanks to the Summers I spent visiting my family in Dominican Republic. Growing up in a family where strong women ran the show, Hillary was the quintessential role model, embodying the values we were raised with: work hard, no excuses, never lose your cool."

How she stays connected to her Dominican roots on long campaign days:

"We started a desayuno club. We were working a lot so we decided we should just start ordering food in the morning. It was a pretty basic idea, a couple people bringing in cereal, which was fine, but then it got pretty boring so I had talked about this Dominican restaurant that's next to my house and everyone was really pumped about it. I started ordering — mangu, queso frito, salami, and eggs — and it became a thing. The Latinos in the campaign don't really work that closely together. Our jobs are totally separate, but we kinda always catch up over food, which is nice."

Her role in the campaign:

"It's really making sure that the secretary's vision, her policy agenda, and her record is resonating in Latino communities across the country. That entails doing national interviews, but making sure that we're reaching the small local radio stations, small local TV stations, and small local print outlets."

Her story:

"My dad [journalist Jorge Ramos] is Mexican. The main reason he came to the United States is because of the censorship that wouldn't allow him to do his job as a journalist. My mom is Cuban, and her family came to Miami because of the same thing. My grandfather from my mom's side is a journalist, too, so they had to leave the Castro regime because they didn't have freedom of speech. That was me growing up, right? It's always about advancing equality and the voices of those that are never heard."

"I was born in Miami, but I grew up in Spain. Something that really impacted me was I came to Spain after the dictatorship, so it was post [Francisco] Franco. It was a very liberal environment. I think it was being young in Spain and having that liberty to express yourself, and also my parents' family, that naturally drove me to politics."

Her reaction to Donald Trump kicking her dad out of a press conference in August 2015:

"That was the one day that I took off. He was in Iowa, and I was out of the office, and everyone kept texting me 'Wow, did you see him?' My dad texted me right after it happened, he said 'I'm OK.' I'm like what do you mean? And then I started hearing everything and seeing everything, but I was so proud of him."

"The Trump effect is a real thing. His narrative is creating a very palpable hatred in our communities. The secretary has talked about this publicly: there are kids in school that are chanting, 'build a wall,' 'speak English.' There is a rise of hatred."

How she stays connected to her Latino roots on long campaign days:

"If I'm having a bad day, I turn around and Karely [Hernández] is there, Sammy [Olivares] is there, and it feels like home. Having that sense of home in the workplace is incredible and uncommon. And my mom and my grandma and my dad are always FaceTiming me."

Her role in the campaign:

"We grab all of the election coverage and send it around to the campaign. We also send out tweets, mostly from reporters and major political commentators, about events that are going on. We send around news articles. "

Her story:

"My mom is from Colombia and my dad is from Venezuela. I was born in Venezuela and grew up there. We moved in 1999, right around when [Hugo] Chavez took power. My dad had grown up half in Venezuela and half here in New York, so he was a citizen, and my grandma was here at the time, so we had a place to come. We came here to Queens."

How she stays connected to her Latina roots on long campaign days:

"Politics have always been a part of my life. My parents, even when we came to the States, were involved and raising awareness about Venezuela and everything that's going on there. It's nice that they are really close [to headquarters]. When I talk to them, they're interested in the election, and I know that they support me and they care."

"[Having a large group of Latinos here] has been one of the best parts of the campaign for me, especially because this was my first job and I didn't really know anyone when I started. Obviously, I met people in my department and made friends, but it was so nice to have the other Latinos in the campaign and people in the cena club. It's funny because in college, the Latino community was such a big part of my experience, and in the campaign that has also been very similar. I really value a lot of friendships I've made with other Latinos, and I love that we do things together and keep up even across department lines. Even across state lines."

Her role in the campaign:

"I run the translation program for the digital team. I also write for the blog, both in English and in Spanish. I also run social media in Spanish."

Her story:

"I'm a first-generation American, and my dad is from Uruguay. I grew up with my grandparents literally in the house next door. I am very bicultural and I am very much used to having a lot of Uruguayan influence. My mom became a citizen recently. She's really excited to vote. My dad has not become a citizen yet. We'll see. He is holding onto his Uruguayan citizenship."

Why she became involved in the campaign:

"I've been in politics for almost 10 years now. I have a younger sister who has a tough disease, and her medications cost $29,000 a month. Because it's a really rare disease, there is a company called Valeant Pharmaceuticals that bought the rights to the medication. They price-gouged my family. For me, the defining moment of the campaign was when Hillary was backstage and a woman who had had the same experience as my family told her about it in a letter. Hillary has been on the front line of the healthcare fight for decades, so she was appalled. Hillary read this letter and then got on stage and totally called them out. I was like, this is why I am here."

How she stays connected to her Latino roots on long campaign days:

"I started cena club. It came about last year, as the Latinos in the team grew in numbers, I just sent out an email. I was in the mood to do a no-frills roof BBQ in Brooklyn. We all got together and did this crazy awesome potluck. Now we do it regularly. It's also open to everyone and anybody, not just Latinos, of course. We've gone to a few different places: a Uruguayan place, a Colombian place, a Haitian place. It's about taking a second to get all of us in a room and chat over food. It's cool to have the opportunity to get to know each other in a social setting."

"Especially this past year, it's so insane to listen to Donald Trump directly attack our people. This is a safe space where all of us can get together and say 'This is so horrific and a direct attack on us and our families and our communities.'"

Her role in the campaign:

"My job is to connect technology and digital and old-school [campaign] organizing. I use digital platforms and help build and guide the technology for traditional grassroots organizing — all the phone calls and door knocking — but in the 21st century."

Her story:

"My family is from El Paso, TX, and Gallup, NM. I'm a fourth-generation American, but I often tell folks I'm not sure when we became Americans. One day we lived in Mexico and another day we lived in America."

"Part of why I am doing this campaign is because of my family's story. My grandfather was a United States citizen, but he was deported when he was 4 years old during the Great Depression under a program called Operation Wetback, which was a government-sponsored program to give back jobs to 'real Americans.' Donald Trump has said that he would like to reinstate this program if he becomes president. That is one of the most motivating things that I have in this election — that this person is talking about something that directly affected my family."

What working with a large group of Latinos on the campaign means to her:

"I grew up in LA in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, but we were mostly Mexican. Being able to meet Puerto Ricans and Colombians and Dominicans and hear their stories — it's incredible. I'm very used to being the only one in the room; the only woman and definitely the only Latina. On campaigns, usually all the Latinos are in Latino outreach, but not here. We're in travel and digital and tech and in the field."