Itzel Gabriela Rodriguez Flores is a Class of 2016 Business Marketing major and Political Science minor at San Francisco State University. At the age of five, her parents mustered the courage to emigrate from Guadalajara, Mexico to California in pursuit of the opportunity for a better future for their family.

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Facing financial obstacles and limited resources when she was applying to universities, Itzel witnessed the barriers and stigma associated with her unlawful presence as an undocumented immigrant. She was thankful for the California Dream Act as well as DACA, granting her with the opportunity to pursue higher education.  Itzel’s driving force is ensuring that all the youth who come from similar disadvantaged backgrounds are aware of the resources available to them.

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As a DreamSF Fellow, Itzel is currently placed at La Raza Community Resource Center, a multi-service non-profit, with a focus on the Legal Immigration Program. There, she has the pleasure to assists the attorneys with catering free and reduced-cost immigration legal services to the Bay Area’s neediest families. Post-undergrad, Itzel plans to further her education by pursuing a JD-MBA. Itzel wishes to bring together social entrepreneurship and immigration legal services to help underprivileged communities.