Wisconsin To Boast First Latina State Rep

Wisconsin is set to have its first Latina legislator in the form of JoCasta Zamarripa, 34, who is Mexican-American and will be serving as the state representative of the eighth assembly district in Milwaukee. Zamarripa, a Democrat, is taking the reins from another historic legislator, Pedro Col Don, who was the first Latino legislator in Wisconsin.

This is a great step forward for Latinas, especially in the Midwest, as we’ve reported recently other Latinas have been taking great strikes forward in recent weeks. We reported about the first openly gay Latina on the Colorado Supreme Court and the first Latina drum major at Notre Dame.

From Zamarripa’s website we learn the following:

• Her friends call her Joey.
• She’s from the south side of Milwaukee.
• She graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and has been working as an Educator and Community Outreach Coordinator at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
• Some pet issues include: winning paid sick days, defeating the ban on same-sex marriage, garnering the Latino vote for President Obama and many others.
• A few of her hobbies are:  attending film festivals, film making and reading, one recent favorite is “The Brief Wondrous LIfe of Oscar Wao.”