As the Towards Justice Policy Director, Nina coordinates the organization’s Policy Program, expands organizational partnerships, participates in state and national coalitions, and serves as a lawyer for the movement to build power and advance economic equity. Nina also strategically engages the media and assists with fundraising for the Policy Program.
Nina came to Towards Justice in 2014 as the organization’s first Executive Director. Nina built a talented staff team and strategic board of directors to collaboratively define organizational priorities for combating workplace injustice through litigation, access to justice, education, and advocacy. After four and a half years leading Towards Justice, Nina stepped back from her role to spend more time with her family but continued to consult with Towards Justice and even lead the organization’s push to revise the Colorado Wage Order in 2019-20. In 2021, Nina returned as the organization’s Policy Director.
Prior to leading Towards Justice, Nina served as Special Counsel to the Secretary of State of the state of New York. In that capacity, Nina worked to create the New York State Office for New Americans, the Empire State Fellows Program, and the Regional Economic Development Councils Opportunity Agenda. Previously, Nina was a litigator at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, a research fellow focused on institution building and human rights in Argentina, and a high school teacher in rural Puerto Rico. Nina received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in government and Latin American studies from Wesleyan University. Nina is fluent in Spanish and English, and grew up between upstate New York, Puerto Rico, and the Turks and Caicos.
Board Service:
• DENVER IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE COMMISSION Denver, Colorado: Commissioner, July 2018-October 2020
• TOWARDS JUSTICE Denver Colorado: Board Member, May 2014-October 2021
• COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER Denver, Colorado: Board Member, January 2016-May 2017; Finance Committee Member April 2016-May 2017
• HER JUSTICE New York, New York: Junior Advisory Board Member, June 2011-March 2014; Co-Chair Volunteer Connection Committee, March 2013-March 2014
Selected Presentations:
• Wage Order Worker Roundtable, Moderator, October 2019
• Harvard Law School, Unrigging the Labor Market Convening, July 2018
• Detention Watch Network, Plenary Session Speaker, June 2018
• Boulder County District Attorney’s Office, Fighting Wage Theft and Workplace Abuse in Colorado, June 2018
• United Brotherhood of Carpenters Western District Payroll Fraud Conference, May 2018
• Freedom Network Conference, Immigrant Detention and Labor Trafficking, April 2018
• AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee Conference, Workers Center Roundtable, May 2017
• Curious Theatre Community Panel, Building the Wall, April 2017
• The Center on Human Rights Education’s 18th Annual Symposium, Colorado Case Study of Informal Labor, April 2017
• Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition 2016 State Assembly, Wage Theft and How to Fight Back, July 2016
• Colorado Anti-Trafficking Task Force, May 2016
• Southwest Bar Association, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment Wage Claim Process, March 2016
• Colorado Women’s Legislative Breakfast, February 2016
• Plaintiffs Employment Lawyers Association, Wage Theft & the New CDLE Procedure, March 2015
Bar Admissions:
• New York State
• Colorado
• District of Colorado
• Southern District of New York