Maria Fernandez
Executive Director of ELLA
Sunnyside, WA
September 10th, 2025
“He would come home drenched in chemicals”, Maria Fernandez tells us, the founder of Emerging Latina Leadership and Advocacy (ELLA). " To this day, we’re still seeing the same thing”, she continues, which is why ELLA is one of the most prominent advocates of environmental justice in the Yakima Valley. We’re in the ELLA headquarters, in the small agricultural town of Sunnyside, Washington, and Maria is sharing how her father used to spray pesticides on crops all day, without his employer giving him personal protective equipment that would have shielded him from the chemicals. Her father died of melanoma cancer when Maria was in college, a disease she attributes to his cumulative years of pesticide exposure.
Maria cites the early loss of her father and the lack of representation of latinos in her history classes as her inspiration for political involvement. She initially founded ELLA to be an advocate for women fleeing domestic violence, and has since expanded the organization to educational and advocacy branches with the purpose of getting more Latina women in positions of power. Maria personally developed these courses and their curriculum to help women gain leadership skills for the home and workplace. This training, called the Latina Leadership Circle, has helped multiple women be voted into office at the municipal level in Sunnyside. This was a major and long-overdue accomplishment, considering that the community is 80% Latino, but the city council was entirely white.
Maria and ELLA are deeply committed to advocating for clean air and drinking water for the families of Sunnyside. They are fighting politicians and major dairy corporations to advocate for these basic rights. Specifically, Sunnyside is located in what is called a “dairy cluster”, where there is an extremely high concentration of dairy farms. There are more than 100,000 cows in the area. The air quality is in the 96th percentile for the worst in the nation. Hundreds of families’ wells are polluted with ammonium-nitrate, a chemical found in fertilizer known for causing cancer and birth defects. In a community that’s primarily Latino, the government’s lack of protection and regulatory action against the dairy industry is environmental racism. Clearly, this work is a steep uphill battle, but through political action, litigation, and community education, ELLA is providing crucial support for people that have been historically marginalized.
In my notes from the end of the presentation, I wrote, “the world needs to be filled with Marias”. My classmates and I left very inspired by her dedication to fighting for her community and deeply appreciated the opportunity to learn from her.
by Liza Lebo