Juanita Zerda Honored as Latinx Trailblazer
State Representative Michael S. Day (D-Stoneham) recently announced Juanita Zerda, of Winchester, as his district’s Latinx Trailblazer nomination. Latinx Excellence Day, presented by the Massachusetts Black and Latino Caucus, is part of the month long celebration of Hispanic Heritage that aims to commemorate the contributions and legacy of Latinx individuals. The ceremony will be held on Thursday, October 29th.
“Juanita Zerda is a community leader known for her empathy and her unique ability to address the personal, interpersonal, systemic and ideological complexities of diversity, equity and inclusion issues, “said Representative Day. “She has devoted countless hours to improving programming and diversity in areas ranging from education to housing and community development, health and human services and workforce training. We are rightly recognizing and honoring Juanita for all of the important work she has done and continues to do for the Winchester Community.”
Juanita is the present Clerk and past President of the Winchester Network for Social Justice, whose mission is “to foster a movement for systemic change to advance equity and inclusion in the town of Winchester and beyond.” Juanita earned her J.D. from Los Andes University in Bogota, Colombia and her Master of Arts in Philosophy from Boston College. After gaining American citizenship, she immediately joined the league of Women Voters, where she brought a valued and trusted perspective and voice. Constantly working to improve our world, Juanita served on the board of directors of the Winchester Community Music school, and now serves as a Director at The Collective Change Lab, a nonprofit seeking to increase the use of transformational change practices in mainstream social and environmental problem solving.