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Person

Maria Teresa Kumar

Nationality:

American
Born:

1974
Organization:

Voto Latino

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Maria Teresa Kumar is the co-founder and CEO of Voto Latino and a long-time MSNBC contributor. Kumar is a member of the National Task Force on Election Crises. 1

Early Life and Education

Maria Teresa Kumar was born in Bogota, Colombia, in 1974. At a young age, she moved to Sonoma, California. Kumar would later get a degree in international relations at the University of California Davis, and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University. 2

Career

After graduating from the University of California, Davis, Maria Teresa Kumar became a legislative aide to then-Democratic caucus chair Rep. Vic Fazio (D-CA). After earning her master’s degree from Harvard University in 2001, Kumar planned to work at PricewaterhouseCoopers, but she refocused on politics after the September 11 terrorist attacks. She worked as associate director of the Advisory Board Company, a healthcare and education consulting firm, for one year. She then worked the following year as a regional director of LawMedia, a lobbying firm. 3 4 5

In 2004, Kumar and actress Rosario Dawson co-founded the left-leaning voter outreach group Voto Latino, with Kumar working as president and CEO. Kumar had met Dawson through a mentor and was inspired by Dawson’s get-out-the-vote campaign with MTV which was also called Voto Latino. 6

In 2009, Kumar became a political commentator on MSNBC. In 2010, Kumar co-created and hosted “Beyond Borderlines,” a televised town hall on Latino immigration, for which Kumar received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding News Discussion and Analysis. In 2015, Kumar hosted the network’s web show, Changing America. 7 8

In 2014, Kumar launched the VL Innovators Challenge which gives grants of up to $500,000 to tech projects designed to help Latino communities. 9

Kumar has sat on the boards of Planned Parenthood, EMILY’s List, and the Latino Leaders Network. 10 She is a “Prime Mover” of the Hunt Alternative Fund, a team member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, 11 and an Aspen Institute scholar. 12

In November 2020, Kumar gave a TED talk at TedWomen 2020 entitled, “How the next generation of Latinx voters could change US elections.” 13

In January 2021, Kumar became a director and a member of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee at the shoe company Steve Madden. 14

Voto Latino

Voto Latino is a left-of-center voter mobilization group targeted at Latinos. The group is best known for partnering with Latino celebrities, including Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, Luiz Guzman, Demi Lovato, Diego Luna, John Leguizamo, Nina Sky, Romeo Santos, Wilmer Valderama, Jeannette Acosta, and Normann Lear. 15 16 17

From 2004-2016, Voto Latino claimed it registered 500,000 voters. 18 In 2018, Voto Latino pledged to spend $7 million to register 1 million voters for the 2020 election. However, as of September 2020, Voto Latino had spent $18 million to register 300,000 voters. Voto Latino fell short of its target despite reporting a surge in registrations after the death of George Floyd and the start of the ensuing nationwide protests. The group set a revised target of 500,000 voters by Election Day. 19

Voto Latino’s board is staffed with numerous government relations professionals. Ingrid Duran is the co-founder and CEO of lobbying firm D&P Creative Strategies. She previously worked as the CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and ran the Washington office of NALEO. Eve Maldonado O’Toole is the leader of Holland & Knight’s Local Government Group and principal of Evolve Strategies LLC. Brian Stansbury is a partner in King & Spalding LLP. Alfredo Vidal is the president of Vidal Group LLC. 20

COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Maria Teresa Kumar worked with the Biden administration to combat vaccine misinformation in the Latino community. 21 In May 2021, Kumar went on a segment on MSNBC entitled, “How I convinced my mother to get the Covid vaccine.” 22

References

  1. “Task Force Members.” National Task Force on Election Crises. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.electiontaskforce.org/members.
  2. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” National Women’s History Museum. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/maria-teresa-kumar.
  3. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” National Women’s History Museum. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/maria-teresa-kumar.
  4. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariateresakumar/.
  5. Ari, Ben. “Maria Teresa Kumar: “The need to ask for help sooner.” Thrive Global. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://thriveglobal.com/stories/maria-teresa-kumar/.
  6. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariateresakumar/.
  7. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” National Women’s History Museum. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/maria-teresa-kumar.
  8. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariateresakumar/.
  9. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariateresakumar/.
  10. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” National Women’s History Museum. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/maria-teresa-kumar.
  11. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” World Economic Forum. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-imDnnXFk5cJ:https://www.weforum.org/people/maria-teresa-kumar+&cd=26&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ro.
  12. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” Latino Justice. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.latinojustice.org/en/maria-teresa-kumar.
  13. “How the next generation of Latinx voters could change US elections.” TED. November 2020. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.ted.com/talks/maria_teresa_kumar_how_the_new_generation_of_latinx_voters_could_change_us_elections.
  14. “Maria Teresa Kumar.” Steve Madden. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://investor.stevemadden.com/board-member/maria-teresa-kumar.
  15. “About.” Voto Latino. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://votolatino.org/about/.
  16. “Rosario Dawson.” Hispanic Executive. Accessed September 22, 2020. https://hispanicexecutive.com/rosario-dawson-voto-latino/.
  17. “Team.” Voto Latino. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://votolatino.org/about/team/.
  18. “About.” Voto Latino. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://votolatino.org/about/.
  19. “Voto Latino Foundation Launches 2020 Impact Council with Chairs Sec. Julian Castro, Rosario Dawson, Selena Gomez, Wilmer Valderrama, Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro, Zoe Saldana, Sec. Alex Padilla, and Maria Teresa Kumar.” Voto Latino. September 15, 2020. Accessed September 23, 2020. https://votolatino.org/media/press-releases/voto-latino-foundation-launches-2020-impact-council-with-chairs-sec-julian-castro-rosario-dawson-selena-gomez-wilmer-valderrama-sen-catherine-cortez-masto-zoe-saldana-sec-alex-padilla-and-mar/
  20. “Team.” Voto Latino. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://votolatino.org/about/team/.
  21. Minutaglio, Rose. “How Maria Teresa Kumar Is Combatting Vaccine Misinformation In Latino Communities.” Elle. March 3, 2021. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a35681821/maria-teresa-kumar-covid-vaccine-misinformation-latino-communities/.
  22. “Maria Teresa Kumar: How I convinced my mother to get the Covid vaccine.” MSNBC. May 11, 2021. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/maria-teresa-kumar-how-i-convinced-my-mother-to-get-the-covid-vaccine-111738437726.
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