Sylvia Ruiz

she/her/ella

Network Strength Director

Sacramento, CA

Sylvia Ruiz builds up the leadership, capacity, and geographic power of our affiliate network to advance our vision of a multiracial feminist democracy dedicated to improving the lives of working people and our communities.

Shaped by her immigrant and working class background, Sylvia has spent her 20+ year career empowering and advocating for low-income working people, immigrants, and BIPOC folks and communities through advocacy, policy, civic engagement, electoral, and union organizing campaigns.

Prior to joining PowerSwitch Action, she led the Roosevelt Institute’s Power Building Initiative, where she collaborated with organizers, movement leaders, and academic researchers to generate and disseminate new learnings about the theory and practice of power building. She fought for immigrants rights at Community Change/Community Change Action, ACLU, and SEIU. While directing SEIU’s immigration campaign, Sylvia led the Fast for Families, a 30 day fast located at the National Mall which focused on the moral need for immigration reform and highlighted the harm that our broken immigration system creates for immigrants and for our country. At Let America Vote, she worked alongside Secretaries of State, Attorneys General, Senators, Members of Congress and local elections officials to defeat efforts to undermine our democracy. At SEIU and SEIU-USWW (United Service Workers West), she helped increase wages, improve working conditions, win union rights, and build up the political power of janitors, security officers, airport workers and other property service workers in California and across the country. Sylvia has also led, developed, and implemented paid media strategies including television, radio, mail, and digital advertising to engage and mobilize Latino voters.

An immigrant from Guatemala, Sylvia was the first in her family to graduate college, receiving her undergraduate degree in Government from Harvard-Radcliffe College. She also served as an elected county school board member in Sacramento. When she’s not working to build power for working people, Sylvia can be found cuddling up with her dog, Bombón, trying out a new baking recipe, or enjoying a good laugh over a meal with family and friends.