Graciela Sánchez, Community organizer and “public servant to all,” was born April 24, 1960, in Texas. The fifth of six children to Enqrique and Isabel Sánchez, Sanchez’s career in public service was influenced by her parent’s involvement in the Chicano pride movement in the late 1960s. After graduating from Yale in 1982, Sanchez returned to her hometown, near the west side of San Antonio, to work within the community. Early in her career, her work included positions in the Southwest Voter Registration Project, MALDEF, aka the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Central American solidarity work and Chicana Health Policy Development project.
In addition to her community work, Sanchez also studied filmmaking in Cuba at the Escuela Internacionale de Cine y Television (International School of Cinema and Television). Her dedication and work in activism, inspired her to produce several films on Cuban LGBT politics. Additionally, she co-founded the San Antonio Lesbian Gay Assembly, San Antonio Lesbian/Gay Media Project, and ELLAs, a Latina Lesbian organization.1 Sanchez also co-founded and is the current Director of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, a cultural arts and education center committed to social justice activism.2