Karla Vazquez
Karla is the Development Coordinator for the TN Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. T.I.R.R.C. is a statewide immigrant and refugee-led collaboration whose mission is to empower immigrants and refugees through Tennessee to develop a unified voice, defend their rights, and create an atmosphere in which they are recognized as positive
contributors to the state.
She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Management with an International Business Concentration from Lipscomb University in the fall of 2012. She was born in Mexico City and moved to Nashville with her family at the age of 12. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and proficient in Russian. As a first generation student in her family she founded the STUDY Foundation (Scholars in Tennessee Uplifting the Dreams of Youth) in 2010, a program created to help first generation students achieve higher education. STUDY has given over $29,000 in scholarships to local youth in the last 4 years. As the Director of the Program, Karla leads statewide projects such as the creation of a Comprehensive College Guide for first generation students in Tennessee in partnership with the Oasis Center and the TN College Access and Success Network.
Her community involvement includes volunteering with several community organizations including JUMP (Youth United for a Better Present), United We Dream Network, YMCA Latino Achievers, and UNITY (United Network of Immigrant Tennessee Youth). Karla received the Orgullo Hispano/Unsung Hero Award by Conexión Americas in 2010 for her tireless work in organizing and advocating the passage of the DREAM Act a proposed federal bill that will open the path to citizenship for undocumented youth. She actively advocates for tuition equality in Tennessee which will provide immigrant students in Tennessee who graduated from a local high school the right to instate tuition, regardless of their immigration status. Karla is also a formal member of Business Professionals of America, Future Business Leaders of
America, Kappa Iota Theta and LUMA (Lipscomb University Multicultural Association). She formed part of the founding planning committee for Futuro a program of the TN Latin American Chamber of Commerce and served as the President of its Lipscomb Futuro Chapter for the 2011/2012 academic year.
Karla served two years as a Junior Board Member for Tennessee Latin American Chamber of Commerce, worked as the Administrative Assistant from the spring 2011 to the spring of 2013 and currently serves as the Secretary for TLACC’s Executive Committee. Karla has also worked for many local small business including Moreno’s Income Tax and Insurance Agency, Rio Grande, 7 Mares Mexican Restaurant and Fantasy Hall Premiere Banquette Hall. With over 10 years of experience serving the Latino Community in Tennessee, Karla has been interviewed several times by local media and has become a leading face for undocumented Latino Youth in Tennessee.
