Irasema Garza, Esq.

Irasema Garza is an attorney with extensive executive-level experience within two federal administrations at the U.S. Department of Labor and the nonprofit sector. Based in Washington, D.C., she works as an independent consultant, providing clients with strategic advice, policy, and legal analysis across a range of issues, including gender, Latino core civil rights, labor, and immigration.

In 2008, Ms. Garza served on President Obama's transition team. Then, in 2010, President Obama appointed Ms. Garza to serve as Senior Counselor to the U.S. Secretary of Labor. Ms. Garza brought a broad range of experience to the Department of Labor during an intense national focus on labor and employment policy. In her position, she oversaw the execution of a diverse set of high-priority projects and programs and provided strategic advice to the Secretary on a wide range of policy issues. She also served as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy within the Department.

Earlier, in 1993, President Clinton appointed Ms. Garza the first Secretary of the U.S. National Administrative Office, the office charged with implementing the labor provisions of NAFTA. She successfully managed the creation of the agency, building coalitions between U.S. labor groups, businesses, and government agencies. She is credited with effectively using domestic and international media interest to increase public awareness of NAFTA labor disputes and public opinion to pressure resolutions.

President Clinton later nominated her as the fourteenth director of the Women's Bureau within the Department of Labor, the only federal agency office mandated by Congress to represent America's wage-earning women in the public policy process. After receiving a unanimous Senate confirmation, Ms. Garza set to work ensuring that economic security for women was a policy priority for the Department of Labor. She established innovative programs that expanded the organization's reach beyond the U.S. Borders, assisting the government of Costa Rica in establishing a women's bureau within its own Department of Labor.

Ms. Garza has extensive experience advocating for and reaching out to large, diverse populations of constituents.
Before joining the Obama Administration, from 2008 to 2011, Ms. Garza served as President of Legal Momentum, the Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund. Under her leadership, the 40-year-old national advocacy organization was transformed into a women's rights organization for the 21st Century, pressing for policy reforms to advance gender equality and ensure women's and their families' economic and personal security.
From 2003 to 2006, Ms. Garza was the director of women's rights for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. She later served as the national political director of Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

Ms. Garza earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School.