Él Martinez
student | community organizer | consultant
A Brief Introduction...
Él Martinez (they/elle pronouns) is a student activist based out of Worcester, MA. Possessing a background in grassroots, academic, legislative, and non-profit settings, Él's approach to community organizing is informed by years of experience.
Common themes in their past work include trans liberation, white privilege, harm reduction, and more. They continue to organize on a local level and provide DEI-centered consultant services as they pursue their undergraduate degree in Community, Youth and Education Studies at Clark University.
Consulting Services:
My consulting jobs vary greatly and have included speaking engagements, panel organization/facilitation, training/workshops, restorative justice dialogues, ambassadorship for high-profile events/fundraisers, public school and workplace policy audits, and personal consultations with newly-out transgender youth and their families. My approach to all my contracts is holistic, multi-faceted, and community-oriented as I pull from my experiences in a variety of different fields.
While attending Lesley University, Él utilized their organizing skills to demand basic human needs from the administration after serious issues with heat, plumbing, and food insecurity affected the student population. Projects included the establishment of a food pantry, a drive for warm clothing/ blankets, a petition with over 2,000 signatures, several sets of student demands, and a protest on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge. Read more about the protest here.
Él was a member of GLSEN's National Student Council from 2018 to 2020. In their position on the NSC, they produced student-authored content, and traveled across the country to model in campaigns with partners such as Hollister and Morphe. They also and acted as a representative for high-profile fundraisers and various media opportunities. Él to keeps in contact with their fellow NSC grads to this day.
Él was a pioneer of what became known as the "Gender X" Bill in the state of Massachusetts. The goal of this series of legislation was to cement “X” as a designation under the sex classification on documents in the state of Massachusetts. After almost 3 years of lobbying inside and outside the legislature, the DMV instituted the “x” option in late 2019. Click here to read more about the legislation.
