María Zavala is a social justice activist, changemaker, and visionary. But the title she holds most dear is being the proud mother to her three amazing daughters: Hermila (Mila), Estrella, and Mayeli. She is in a lifelong partnership of love, respect, mutual understanding, lifelong activism, and continuous spiritual and mental growth with prison and social activism Efren Paredes Jr.  She is also a graduate of Michigan State University (MSU) where she earned a BA in Communication with a specialization in Xicano/Latino Studies.

She has appeared in various media outlets, and featured on a number of blogs and websites, proudly discussing Xicano/Latino issues. She has also been a speaker and presenter at numerous conferences across the nation. Her activism is featured in the book “500 Years of Chicana Women’s History in Pictures” written by the iconic Dr. Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez.

In 1994 María founded the Día de la Mujer Conference (DDLM), which is hosted annually on the MSU campus. The idea of having a conference arose from María’s vision to create a space for Xicanas/Latinas to be recognized for their relentless efforts and selfless contributions at home, school, work, and in their community.

The conference also spawned from the desire to celebrate the genius and indomitable spirit of Xicana/Latina women that had been ignored and underappreciated far too long. María endeavored to shatter negative narratives and stereotypes about Xicana/Latina women and create a monument recognizing their boundless potential, dignity, and sacredness.

Prior to the inception of the DDLM Conference María vociferously expressed her disdain of the invisibility, misogyny, and marginalization of Xicana/Latina women. As a young, former migrant farmworker Xicana who trekked the MSU campus daily amid throngs of her privileged counterparts, she quickly became acutely acquainted with the myriad inequalities and struggles endured by her brown sisters.

The DDLM conference serves as a platform to empower, validate, and connect Xicanas/Latinas by providing them with resources to improve the quality of their lives and communities, and inspire their upward mobility. It is also a space designed to help them foster purpose, cultivate self-awareness, and discover their intrinsic gifts and beauty.

The conference has grown exponentially from an evening reception, which acknowledged the achievements of MSU Xicana/Latina faculty and staff, to a sprawling one-day statewide Xicana/Latina conference. With the help of hundreds of Xicana/Latina MSU student committee members and volunteers over the past two-and-a-half decades, the DDLM conference has blossomed into the largest Xicana/Latina women’s conference in the Midwest.

Today the conference offers a multi-faceted series of workshops focusing on education, health, the legal system, finance, business, interpersonal relationships, self-empowerment, socially engaged work, culture and identity, the arts, and how to advance their personal and career goals.

María has made a remarkable impact on the lives of women and their families, and tirelessly invested her time, talents, and service to advance the Xicano/Latino community. We wish to recognize her and her enduring legacy with the continuation of an award that is representative of her vision, accomplishments, and selfless contributions.

As such, it is an honor to commemorate her through the María Zavala Award. The María Zavala Award is bestowed to a Xicana/Latina who has also demonstrated the same commitment and fortitude to progressing Xicana/Latina women and their community.

María developed her passion for activism deep in the Texas Rio Grande Valley at an early age with the help of her loving parents, Hermila and Adalberto. Through their labor organizing work with the United Farm Workers (UFW) they modeled how to harness the power of the people to protect the rights and dignity of farmworkers and create durable social change.

While at MSU María served as Chair of Movimiento Estudiantil Xicano de Atzlan (MEXA), a student Xicano organization. She also served as Secretary of Chicano Hispanic Students of Progressive Action (CHISPA), now known as Culturas de las Razas Unidas (CRU), and in 1994 inception of the conference, she was also a Minority Aid, now known as Intercultural Aide.

In 1996 she organized a team of students who coordinated a four-year United Farm Worker (UFW) grape boycott and an indefinite water-only hunger strike at MSU. In six days, the event forced administrators to acknowledge and honor the UFW grape boycott. It also resulted in Xicano/Latino students successfully receiving a number of historic demands from the university.

Among them included an increased hiring and retention of Xicano/Latino professors, increased enrollment and retention of Xicano/Latino students, as well as the creation of the Xicano/Latino Studies Department, the Cesar Chavez Memorial Library, and the TOCE Scholarship for underserved Xicano/Latino MSU students.

During the mid-1990’s she was part of a group of student and community activist that formed the Xicano Development Center, a nonprofit committed to provide education, advocacy, and policy development to enhance the lives of Xicano/Latino communities and to build power within those communities. She helped mobilize communities in Detroit and Lansing to amplify their voices and combat the injustices of police brutality, racial profiling, and unlawful arrests.

From 2003-2009 she provided sponsorship for the cultural organization Latin American Spanish-Speaking Organization (LASSO) at a prison in Jackson, Michigan. She has also been a popular lecturer invited to speak at various Michigan prisons during LASSO and Hispanic Americans Striving Towards Advancement (HASTA) for Latino Heritage Month and Cinco de Mayo events.

As a LASSO sponsor María taught incarcerated people about the value of Xicano/Latino culture, history, and identity; hosted poetry events; and brought an array of MSU Xicano/Latino professors, students, artists, and community leaders to prisons to speak to the membership about the value of education, developing respect for themselves and others, and to inspire them to transform their lives.

For nearly two decades she has been a staunch advocate of criminal justice reform as a founding member of The Injustice Must End (TIME). She has also been a towering figure in the movement to end mass incarceration and its devastating impacts on families, the poor, and communities of color.  She did so long before Hollywood entertainers made it popular and it became socially acceptable.

Since 2004 María has been actively engaged in the campaign to abolish the inhumane practice of imposing death-by-incarceration sentences on juvenile offenders. This advocacy has led to her appearing before state legislative bodies and city councils to deliver remarks, speaking truth to power, and opposing unconstitutional incarceration practices.

Today María is employed in a management capacity with a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to provide educational service that lead to better jobs, better lives, and better communities. She serves on the boards of various service organizations in Southwest Michigan and remains committed to her social justice advocacy.

She also continues her important community engagement work developing digital and grassroots coalitions and providing services for underserved communities.

If you wish to contact Maria she is open to communicate with you. Please contact her at ometeotl30@gmail.com.

Previous Maria Zavala Award Recipients

1994 – Herminia Garcia-Ortega
1997  – Maria Velasquez
1998 – Gloria Gordillo
1999 – Belda Garza
2000 – Lupita Reyes
2001 – Idali Felicano
2002 – Diana Rivera
2003 – Connie Navarro
2004 – Penny Burillo
2005 – Maria Rita Enriquez
2006 – Elva Revilla
2007  – Emily Diaz-Torrrez
2008 – Dorothy Gonzales
2009 – Elba Santiago Labonte
2010 – Lucinda Briones
2011 – Alejandra Zuniga
2012 – Marylou Olivarez Mason
2013 – Olga Hernandez-Patino
2013 – Honorable Judge Patricia Perez Fresard
2014 – Aida Cuadrado
2015 – Heather A. Hathaway Miranda
2016 – Alex Lozada
2017 – Danielle M. Lopez
2018 – Leslie D. Gonzalez
2019 – Lupe Ramos-Montigny
2020 – Isabel Galaviz
2021 – Maria G Van Core
2022 – Andrea Rodriguez
2023 –
2024 –