Isella Ramirez
About Isella's Work
Isella Ramirez (she/her/ella) is a Chicana urban planner, a seasoned facilitator, and capacity builder with 17 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Prior to joining the Moving Forward Network, she was the Director of Community Engagement & Capacity Building Hester Street, an urban planning, design, and community development nonprofit that worked to ensure neighborhoods and cities are shaped by the people who live in them, where she worked for nine years. Isella grew up in the City of Commerce; a community overburdened with industrial pollution a few miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. She began her career at East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (EYCEJ), a community-based organization fighting for a healthy and safe environment in Commerce, East Los Angeles, and Long Beach as an organizer. She is passionate about environmental justice and committed to lifting and implementing equitable and just policies and initiatives to effectively center and amplify the health and quality of life of low income communities of color. She holds a B.A in Latin American & Latina(o) Studies from Vassar College (2007) and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA (2014). She is happiest in nature alongside her three children and husband.
