Marielena Hincapié is the Executive Director of the National Immigration Law Center, the main organization in the U.S. dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of low-income immigrants. She began her tenure at NILC in 2000 as a staff attorney leading the organization’s labor and employment program. Marielena has served on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration and is currently a member of the Welcome.US and Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) boards of directors  and she serves as board chair of the Indivisible Project. Among the awards she has received are Univision’s Corazón Award for 2013, in honor of her commitment to the Latino community and, in 2014, the National Public Service Award from Stanford Law School. Ms. Hincapié serves as a resource for and is often interviewed by media outlets such as Univisión, Telemundo, CNN en Español, MSNBC, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. Ms. Hincapié immigrated to the US as a child from Medellín, Colombia. Ms. Hincapié immigrated as a child from Medellín, Colombia, to Central Falls, Rhode Island. She is the youngest of 10 children.