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TRUE COLORS How Marian Zapata-Rossa’s Latina roots drive her success BY ALISON BAILIN BATZ PHOTO BY MARK MORGAN
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arian Zapata-Rossa, who was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and raised in the Midwest, was a college freshman when she got her first taste of racial discrimination. “Some small-minded freshman shouted that I should go back to where I came from,” says Zapata-Rossa, who technically grew up only miles away. “But I knew what he meant.” Undeterred, today Zapata-Rossa is a partner at Quarles & Brady, one of the few Latinas in the U.S. that serves as a partner at a large national law firm. “Embracing diversity is a must in order to succeed in today’s business or civic communities,” she says. Passionate about inclusivity, ZapataRossa served as a long-time member of the executive board of Los Abogados – Arizona’s Hispanic Bar Association – and is a past co-chair of the Minority Bar Convention. In 2012, she was appointed to serve on the Commission on Minorities in the Judiciary. And most recently, she joined the board of Xico, Inc., which is focused on nourishing a greater appreciation of Latino and Indigenous peoples of the Americas through the arts.
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Your advocacy began even before your law career. How so? Before I entered into law school, I interned for the Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, which led to a nine-month public policy fellowship with the U.S. Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and eventually work at the National Council of La Raza, the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization. Can women, Latina or otherwise, really have it all? Yes, but not without support, a strong work ethic and the ability to multi-task. Last year I chaired Los Abogados’ signature fundraising gala, was named partner at my law firm and gave birth to my second child ... all in the same month. UPTOWN |
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| SEPTEMBER 2016