Badass Of The Week: Abi Zapote

Abi Zapote was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States in 1997 at the age of 6.  Since then, she has proudly called Texas home and has committed herself to bettering the lives of the Latino community by getting involved in social justice issues across the state. Her passion for civic engagement and government led her to enroll at the University of Texas at Dallas where she received a B.A. in political science. During her time at UT Dallas, Abi got involved with LULAC and began advocating for the rights of DREAMer students on campuses across Texas.

In 2015, Abi was elected as the National Vice President for Young Adults and is currently helping expand the mission of Collegiate LULAC to reach more college students across the United States. In this role, Abi testified at the Texas Legislature in opposition to SB 4 and helped rally hundreds of college students to participate in LULAC advocacy days on Capitol Hill.

When not tirelessly fighting for college students and young adults, Abi is the National Executive Director for Latinos for a Secure Retirement, where she provides guidance to Latinos on retirement issues and is a voice for disenfranchised elderly Latinos. Although she now lives in Washington, DC, Abi will return to Texas and join LULAC at the 88^th annual National Convention in San Antonio, Texas July 4^th-8^th. For more information, visit LULAC.org/convention.