Maria Teresa Kumar

María Teresa Kumar is the founding CEO of Voto Latino (c4) and Voto Latino Foundation (c3) and an Emmy-nominated on-air analyst for MSNBC. Kumar deeply understands and is personally part of the fastest growing demographic group in America.

About

Maria Teresa Kumar brings more than 25 years of experience reaching people where they are, both on social media and mainstream media, and appealing to the most important values that unite us all.

Kumar began her career as a Senior Legislative Aide on Capitol Hill where she worked on appropriations and trade policy. She is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, an international affairs graduate of the University of California at Davis, a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a publicly traded company and Emily’s List, and a visitor to more than 40 countries on 5 continents. Maria Teresa is also the co-chair of the Latino Anti-Disinformation Lab, a collaborative effort between Voto Latino and Media Matters to understand and strategically combat misinformation aimed at Latinx individuals.

Kumar was born in Bogota, Colombia and immigrated to the United States when she was 4 years old. She grew up in California and took up her first job when she was eleven years old at Sonoma Developmental Center, a state hospital for people living with disabilities. Kumar lives in Washington, DC with her husband Raj Kumar and their two children ages 6 and 8.

Find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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photo of Maria Teresa Kumar

Agenda

Oct
19
Panel 3 - Finding Belonging in a Climate of Loneliness, Conspiracy, and Mistrust in Government
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the very real threat that disinformation, entrenched individualism, and low trust in institutions pose in tackling a deadly global crisis. While the arrival of multiple Covid-19 vaccines earlier this year seemed to suggest a hopeful resolution to the crisis, low rates of vaccination—driven in large part by both political leaders' strategic public skepticism and targeted disinformation online—revealed a much deeper problem around lack of faith in government and the enormous reach of conspiracy and fake news more broadly. In this panel, we will explore...