Meet Alexandra Leal Silva, IGNITE's 23-24 Southern California Fellow

Alexandra Leal Silva is a second-year Dr. Anne Moses IGNITE Southern California Fellow. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History of Public Policy & Law from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). During her time at UCSB, she served as the co-chair of Lobby Corp, mobilizing hundreds of students in advocacy & lobbying campaigns. Her team assisted in passing California Senate Bill 24, which ensured access to reproductive healthcare for all CA university students. Aside from proudly being the Southern California Fellow, Alexandra also works at California Common Cause as an Operations & Development Associate. Throughout her time there, she has also created two new student programs to continuously engage students and assisted in organizing the Election Protection program that sent over 500 volunteers throughout Southern California. From organizing workshops and seminars for a variety of communities including the Spanish-speaking community to helping oversee a mini-grant program, Alexandra wants to ensure that community voices are heard in every step of the vital Redistricting process. She has also worked as a Basic Needs organizer and managed to raise $20,000 for COVID relief during the start of the pandemic. One of her proudest accomplishments is co-creating and hosting Democracy Is, a podcast dedicated to exploring Democracy issues throughout California and how it affects communities. Alexandra hopes to attend law school and continue her advocacy for Education Equity and access to Basic Needs. Alexandra aspires to one day hold political office at a local or state level. For SoCal inquiries, please connect with Alexandra at alexandra@ignitenational.org.