Luis Cazares

Background

About Luis Cazares

Growing up in a barrio in the poorest city in the country has taught me one thing: being scrappy gets you far. A scrappy attitude means you have a constant yearning to move past your obstacles with confidence. This mentality helped me become the first person in my family to graduate from college, earning my Bachelors in Business Administration from Texas A&M International University.With the context of my upbringing never far from my mind, I worked with Battleground Texas, a progressive organization created to bring in more Latinos into the voting process. As Regional Field Director, I used my scrappiness to start a new program called 'Happy Hour,' which focused on specific Latino neighborhoods to elect then-candidate Philip Cortez to the State House. This drive allowed us to register enough voters in the district, which eventually led us to win the race by votes. I then earned a role as Latino Programs Manager, where I test drove a study to determine Latino voting patterns. I recruited, trained and managed a small team to identify 50 volunteer leaders that led to over new contacts. The study eventually revealed information that changed the way we target Latino voters.The fire kept burning, and I wanted to try something different –– fundraising. In my two years at Grassroots Campaigns, I have led the office to be ranked #1 in the nation with over $1 million in funding for political and humanitarian organizations. As Canvass Director, I help bring in activists and connect them to the issues they're passionate about.Working with volunteers, paid staff and donors has helped shape the person I am today. Scrappy is not a bad word. It shapes the way a person sees the world, the way they handle obstacles, and how they grow from their mistakes.