María Teresa Kumar

María Teresa Kumar was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and moved with her parents to Sonoma, California, as a child. When her father became seriously ill, her family struggled to make ends meet and suffered from a lack of access to services. This experience planted the seeds of Kumar’s political activism. She received a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of California, Davis, then worked as a legislative aide to California Congressman Vic Fazio before earning a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

At Harvard, Kumar came to understand the importance of technology and information sharing in addressing inequality. This led her to cofound Voto Latino, an organization that aims to educate and empower a new generation of Latino voters. Applying consumer marketing strategies to civic engagement, the organization leverages social media alongside thousands of volunteers on the ground to encourage voter participation. As president and CEO, Kumar has led Voto Latino to become the largest Latino voter registration organization in the United States: Since its inception, it has registered 1.4 million voters.

Kumar’s work is driven by a conviction that America’s diversity makes it stronger. As she told the L’ATTITUDE business conference in 2019, “Our biggest asset is the fact that we come from everywhere with a deep belief that we can make anything happen.”