Maria Oceja (she/her) is a community organizer, skilled artist and visionary based in Memphis, TN. She is the community outreach manager for general sessions court clerk, Tami Sawyer. Through her previous work with the Leaders of Color Fellowship, Maria trained at least 50 Black and Latinx leaders to be civically engaged community advocates. She also led the Shelby County Youth Council and supported the Bridge Builders CHANGE program. She has trained high school youth to facilitate and host youth town halls and summits and supported the Shelby County Youth Council. Maria co-founded Vecindarios 901, a local rapid response team responding and intervening with ICE raids to combat ICE intimidation in and around the city. Maria also supported the founding of NTV Rites, a local non-profit supporting local Indigenous/Native American communities. Maria is a graduate of Wellesley College, an alumna of the Leaders of Color Fellowship and an Emerging Leaders Fellow with the City University of New York. She is the eldest of five and has a sweet pitbull named Luna.