Marisol Jimenez

Marisol Jiménez is the founder and lead consultant for Tepeyac Consulting. She is originally
from Chicago where she began her political education trying to celebrate the Mexican, Irish and Puerto Rican cultures that so influenced her life while also struggling to navigate the strong racial and economic divisions and inequities that demarcated the city. In trying to heal the ways she had internalized these divisions, Marisol found a community of activists, advocates and allies working for social justice and racial equity that welcomed her and all her
intersecting identities. Within this collective, the work became and continues to be as much about personal healing as solidarity in our intersecting struggles. Marisol believes that transformative practice comes through constant self-examination, compassionate conflict, and visionary action by both individuals and communities.

Marisol earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago and her
Master in Social Work (MSW) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of
Social Work. She served as the Advocacy Director for El Pueblo, a NC statewide advocacy
organization that worked on public policy issues at the local, state, and national levels. She was a steering committee member of the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform National Strategy Council (2007); and led statewide efforts to organize mass demonstrations for immigrant justice in 2006 and 2007. Through this work, it became clear that dynamics of power, privilege, and oppression were often replicated within social justice movements. In 2015, Marisol founded her business, Tepeyac Consulting as a way to work with nonprofit
organizations and foundations to be in “right relationship” with frontline communities while also deepening her activism within those movements. Marisol has been able to work on a number of exciting projects, including: building the infrastructure of a WNC sanctuary movement with Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Acción (CIMA) and Nuestro Centro; partnering with the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation to strengthen the statewide infrastructure of the NC Latino immigrant justice movement; and offering racial equity trainings, strategic support, and coaching for community leaders and organizations across the country.

Marisol lives in a house full of noise, laughter, and love with her son, Roan, in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina.