Our Leadership
Stephanie Valencia
Stephanie Valencia is a national leader and innovator at the nexus of politics, technology, and leadership development. She is the co-founder of Equis, a set of organizations working to create a better understanding of Latino voters and investing in new approaches to reach and engage them while building the infrastructure and leadership bench to advance this important work.
She has spent her career working in Congress, the White House, Google, and advised entrepreneurs like Reid Hoffman and Penny Pritzker.
She serves on the boards of Planned Parenthood for America Action, Community Change Action, and is a founding member of Poderistas, with Eva Longoria & America Ferrera.
Carlos Odio
Carlos oversees the research and overall strategy for Equis.
Previously, Carlos an advisor to progressive funders on strategies around civic engagement, advocacy and politics. For more than five years, he acted as Executive Director for the Florida Alliance, a state donor collaborative that fund campaigns for democracy reform, civic participation, and legislative accountability, among others.
Formerly, he was Director of Special Projects for New Organizing Institute, leading experiments on candidate recruitment and online campaign training. He was a member of the DNC Platform Drafting Committee in 2012.
Carlos served in the White House Office of Political Affairs, acting as a liaison for Latino leaders and an advisor on political issues in the southern and western regions, after working as Deputy Latino Vote Director for the 2008 presidential campaign.
Before joining the campaign, he managed communications for AlleyCorp, a group of New York-based internet start-ups that included Business Insider and Gilt Groupe, and GALA, an arts non-profit in DC.
At American University, he majored in Spanish studies, focusing on Latin American literature. Carlos is from Miami, FL and currently resides in West New York, NJ with his wife and two daughters.
Jess Morales Rocketto
Jess Morales Rocketto is a civil society leader, community organizer and media entrepreneur. Jess is Co-Founder and Chief of Moonshot Strategies at Equis, leading their efforts on new, bold, and long-term efforts to build Latino power and influence in the US.
Previously, Jess was honored to serve America’s domestic workers at the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Care in Action, establishing and leading the movement's political efforts, turning it into one of the largest women of color political organizing programs in the country and introducing the first federal legislation for domestic workers in history. She is a leader in immigration reform, most notably against Trump’s Muslim Ban and family separation policies as the Co-Chair of Families Belong Together, and the fight for comprehensive immigration reform.
As a champion for gender equity, Jess is also the co-founder of Supermajority and Poderistas. Jess stuffed her first envelope in a campaign office at 14 and hasn’t stopped since, with a distinguished career working for President Obama’s re-election campaign, Hillary Clinton’s historic presidential campaign, at the Democratic Party, and for America’s unions at the AFL-CIO.
.jpeg)
