Jade Mora Gutierrez (she, her, ella) is a transfemme born from the farmlands of Cuquio, Jalisco, Mexico. Growing up as a youth in Milwaukee, WI, she and her migrant family experienced how the U.S. government oppresses undocumented economic refugees.

She immersed herself in activism from a young age, participating in all of the early 2000s immigrant rights marches and protests. As a teen she joined the fight for in-state tuition for undocumented students at any age, and organized for access to drivers licenses for people without a Social Security number. In her early 20s, Jade joined the rise of intersectional conversations amongst undocuqueer and trans asylees. Within the local Milwaukee community, she worked at the grassroots level, outside the non-profit industrial complex, pushing against narratives of the “good immigrant”, and organized for the freedom of migrants facing deportations with criminal background charges.

Jade came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016 to work for the Transgender Law Center as a Bilingual Helpline Associate. Currently, she works as a language justice consultant for a variety of nonprofits and foundations, and as a barista for Hasta Muerte Coffee Cooperative in Fruitvale.

She is currently pursuing a Bachelor in Fine Arts Degree, and hopes to one day be an educator at the college level. She utilizes drawing and printmaking to document the lives of trans and/or queer, migrant, and working-class people to showcase their struggles, joys, and resilience.

Jade is a DreamSF Fellow with Communities United Against Violence (CUAV). Founded in 1979, CUAV works to build the power of LGBTQI2S communities to transform violence and oppression. She will be supporting their SAF-T (Survivors Advocating for Freedom Today) program. She’lll be engaging their membership, creating community connections, and advocating for systemic change toward the larger goals of decreasing deportation, homelessness, and incarceration rates.

Follow Jade on Instagram: @chanclazul