Victoria De Leon, Founder
Victoria De Leon is the daughter of immigrants and a first-generation college graduate from Denver, Colorado. She has been fueled and inspired by the BIPOC women in her life who take back their power and share their stories on their own terms to persist through environments that have often invalidated her intersecting identities. From here Woke Lit Women was born, as a safe space for BIPOC women to share in community, educate each other, and celebrate their multifaceted identities. Victoria oversees everything from social content, fundraising, partnerships, writing submissions, graphic design, and more for WLW.
Victoria earned a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish with a concentration in Latinx, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies at The College of the Holy Cross. She interned at the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition in the Detained Unaccompanied Children’s Program in Washington, D.C., where she supported the defense of unaccompanied minors. Victoria wrote her thesis, “Protecting the Human Dignity of Migrant Children: Trauma-Informed Policies Rooted in a Needs-Based Approach”, during her time in D.C. Victoria’s ultimate goal is to implement legislative change that honors and respects human dignity and allows for a safe and fair legal process for immigrants.
She’s held multiple roles toward this goal, including Advisor for a Colorado Youth Campaign, a Legislative Intern for Colorado Representative Leslie Herod, and leadership roles at Holy Cross’ HCF1ST and Passport, which supports first-generation college students.
Currently, Victoria is an English Language Development and Social Justice teacher at a Denver Title I school – teaching courses focusing on immigration. A bilingual student herself, she is dedicated to giving students who likely have direct experience with immigration the space and confidence to feel proud of their culture and language, build their dual-language skills, and the skills to address social issues. She will complete her Master’s in Teaching in 2024.