Mony Ruiz-Velasco is an experienced human rights advocate, attorney, organizer, and community leader. She most recently served as Special Advisor on immigration and LGBTQ+ matters for the State of Illinois advising state agencies on strengthening protections for immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities.  Previously, she was Deputy Director at Equality Illinois, the state’s most effective and oldest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, where she worked organizing LGBTQ+ leaders and advancing policies for a more equitable Illinois. For more than twenty-five years, Ruiz-Velasco worked to advance immigrant justice combining organizing, advocacy, and legal efforts. She worked at Alianza Americas, a transnational human rights organization and before that was Executive Director at PASO – the West Suburban Action Project where she advanced critical protections for immigrant communities at the state level, including leading efforts to secure the passage of the Trust Act, VOICES Act, and the RISE Act, among other key pieces of legislation. Previously Ruiz-Velasco served as Director of Legal Services at the National Immigrant Justice Center where for more than ten years she oversaw the delivery of legal services to thousands of immigrants and their families in the Midwest and trained hundreds of pro bono attorneys. She worked on national policy efforts including the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. She has served her community on many boards and advisory boards including Equality Illinois, Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois, National Immigrant Justice Center, Chicago Latino Theater Alliance, Define American, and as board president at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English from Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, and a Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University School of Law.  She lives in Chicago with her wife, is the proud mother of three children, and the daughter of Mexican immigrants.