Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, First Cuban-American to serve in US Congress (House of Reps.)
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/diverse-public-service/diverse-public-service">Return to Diversity in Public Service</a></h4>
From Biography: Born in Cuba in 1952 and later immigrating to the United States at age eight, Ros-Lehtinen grew up with an anti-Castro activist father and memories of escaping Fidel Castro's regime. Focusing her career in education, Ros-Lehtinen earned both her a bachelor's degree in 1975 and a master's degree in 1985 at Florida International University. In 2004 she received her doctorate in education from the University of Miami. While operating a private school in Miami in the early 80s, Ros-Lehtinen was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, becoming the first Latina to accomplish this. She continued her groundbreaking streak by becoming the first Latina to serve in the state senate and in 1989, the first Latina and first Cuban-American to serve in the United States Congress as a member of the House of Representatives. Starting in 2011, she also became the first female to ever manage a regular standing committee, the Committee on Foreign Affairs. As a moderate Republican, Ros-Lehtinen was considered one of the most popular bipartisan politicians before retiring her House seat in 2017. She was the first House Republican to come out in support of gay marriage and served as a member of numerous caucuses in her 30-year political career, including the LGBT Equality Caucus, the Climate Solutions Caucus and the Congressional Pro-Life Women's Caucus.
US Congress
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Ileana_Ros-Lehtinen_official_photo.jpg
US Congress
2017
US Congress
<a href="https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/R/ROS-LEHTINEN,-Ileana-(R000435)/">History, Art, and Archives US House of Representatives</a><br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ileana_Ros-Lehtinen">Wikipedia</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.biography.com/news/sonia-sotomayor-latina-firsts-pioneers">Biography</a>
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English
Figures
Hispanic-American. Cuba. House of Representatives. LGBT. Women. Florida.
Florida
Jose Andres, Chef and Humanitarian
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/diverse-public-service/diverse-public-service">Return to Diversity in Public Service</a></h4>
From Readers Digest: Critically acclaimed chef JosAndr came to the United States from Spain in 1991 and began a long career of award-winning culinary innovation. After the tragic 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Andr formed the World Central Kitchen (WCK), an organization that provides hot meals to those affected by natural disasters. After Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico in 2017, he gathered 19,000 volunteers to serve 3.5 million meals to distraught residents who had limited access to electricity, clean water, and food. In 2019, Andr fed furloughed workers during a month-long government shutdown. We have shown that there is no place too far or disaster too great for our chefs to be there with a hot plate of food when its needed most, Andr writes on the WCK website. Andr has won the James Beard Award for both Outstanding Chef and Humanitarian of the Year and is a nominee for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize (winners will be announced October 11).
Time
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Jose_Andres_Puerta_2012_Shankbone.JPG
Time
2012
Time
<a href="https://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/5217571/jose-andres/">Time</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Andr%C3%A9s">Wikipedia</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.rd.com/culture/hispanic-americans-who-made-history/">Readers Digest</a>
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English
Figures
Hispanic-American. Chef. Haiti. Disaster Relief. Puerto Rico. Culinary.
United States