Julissa Natzely Arce Raya is a Mexican-American writer, speaker, businesswoman, and advocate for immigration rights.
She is the co-founder of Ascend Educational Fund (AEF) and the author of My (Underground) American Dream (2016), Someone Like Me (2018), and “You Sound Like a White Girl” (2022).
[1][2] At age 14, she remained in the United States after her visa expired making her undocumented.
[2] Arce obtained a green card in 2009 after marrying and became a United States citizen on August 8, 2014.
Arce was named as one of People en Español’s 25 Most Powerful Women of 2017 and 2018 Woman of the Year by the City of Los Angeles.