Meet Our Guest Speakers
Join us on Saturday, February 28, 2026, for Arizona List’s 22nd Annual Event, a statewide celebration of the women changing Arizona’s future. This year, Arizona List is proud to welcome Maria Teresa Kumar, founding president of Voto Latino, who will lead a conversation with Molly Jong-Fast, Congresswoman Delia Ramirez, and San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones.
Maria Teresa Kumar, founding president of Voto Latino
Maria Teresa Kumar is the co-founder and President of Voto Latino Foundation, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization, and its sister 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, Voto Latino. Voto Latino Foundation and Voto Latino are the largest and most effective Latino voter registration and Latino youth advocacy organizations in the country, respectively. Fast Company named Maria Teresa one of the 100 Most Creative Minds, TIME Magazine named her one of thirteen Latinos reshaping industries and the country, and the Analyst Institute recognized Voto Latino with an Expy Award for expanding the field of voter registration. A sought-after political leader and strategist, she advised President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and she currently serves on the National Task Force on Election Crises.
Molly Jong-Fast
Molly Jong-Fast is a New York Times bestselling author, political commentator, and cultural critic known for her fearless honesty, sharp wit, and unfiltered take on the world around us. As a contributing writer for Vanity Fair and the host of the podcast Fast Politics, she brings clarity, urgency, and humor to some of the most complex issues in American life today. Her latest memoir, How to Lose Your Mother, is a candid, moving, and often funny reflection on caregiving, grief, and the tangled relationships between mothers and daughters—striking a chord with readers across generations. Molly’s writing has appeared in The Forward, The Bulwark, Playboy, and Glamour, and she is a regular contributor on MSNBC, where she offers sharp, on-the-ground political analysis. Whether she’s unpacking national news or reflecting on the messiness of modern life, Molly creates space for honesty, connection, and courage. She reminds us that storytelling isn’t just a tool—it’s a lifeline.
Congresswoman Delia Ramirez
Congresswoman Delia Ramirez is a progressive Democrat representing IL-3 as the first and only Latina Congresswoman in the Midwest. The daughter of working-class Guatemalan immigrants, Delia Ramirez is an accomplished legislator, social service director, community leader, and coalition builder who has dedicated her life and career advocating for working families.
Rep. Ramirez leads in Congress with the same people-centered values that she brought during her leadership as an Illinois State Representative. In her first two terms, she has passed legislation with bipartisan support to help student veterans, is co-leading the Dream and Promise Act, and co-founded the Caucus on Global Migration.
She currently sits on the Committee on Homeland Security and the Veteran Affairs Committee where she serves as ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones
Gina Ortiz Jones is the mayor of San Antonio, which has the 7th largest population in the United States and is one of the nation’s fastest growing cities. She was elected as mayor on June 7, 2025.
Gina, a first-generation American raised by a single mother in San Antonio, was taught early on about the importance of service by her family. She graduated from John Jay High School, and earned an Air Force ROTC scholarship that took her to Boston University.
She served as an intelligence officer in the Air Force and deployed to Iraq. Upon separating from the Air Force, she advised on military operations in Latin America and joined the Defense Intelligence Agency as an inaugural member of U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany. Gina went on to serve in the Executive Office of the President, leading portfolios at the intersection of economic and national security. In 2021, President Biden nominated Jones, and the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed her to serve as the 27th Under Secretary of the Air Force, the first woman of color and first out lesbian to serve as the Under Secretary of any military department.
For her service, she earned the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the department’s highest civilian award. Jones serves on the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Board of Directors, the Asian American Foundation Advisory Council and is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
She has advanced degrees from Boston University, the University of Kansas, and the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies.