Tenacity is in Gabriela Parra’s DNA. At eight months pregnant, her mother crossed the border from Mexico, landing in Los Angeles, to give her family a better life. Until her teen years, Parra grew up in a humble neighborhood, where many of her peers dropped out of school and joined gangs. “By middle school, I was hanging out with gang members, but deep down, I knew there was a greater calling for me,” she says.

Part of that calling was relocating to Wisconsin. Parra’s mother had heard Sturgeon Bay was ripe with work opportunities – and no gangs – so Parra and her father moved there and worked until they could save enough to relocate the whole family. While Wisconsin was a safer place to live, attending a predominantly white school proved challenging. “My classmates were told they could achieve whatever they wanted, and I was barely [getting] by,” Parra says. “That drains your self-esteem, no matter how hard you work.”

Parra persevered. She not only graduated from high school and earned a four-year degree from UW-Green Bay but went on to attend law school at UW-Madison. She wasn’t considering immigration law – it felt too intense and close to home – but she fell in love with the field working at an immigration justice clinic in Madison.

Now, she co-owns the Milwaukee-based immigration firm Layde and Parra, where she helps immigrant families just like hers navigate the system as they adjust to their lives in the United States – all in their native language. Her work extends beyond Cream City: Parra co-created and leads an organization called NEWLET (Northeast Wisconsin Latino Educational Task Force) – which advocates for Latino families in their school districts and works to foster inclusive spaces. She also speaks regularly in K-12 schools and colleges and mentors young Latina women, inspiring them to take up space, to own their identities.

For Parra, immigration law isn’t just about the logistics and legalese. Bearing witness to her parents’ journey, and her own experience as a first-generation Latina, helps her approach her work with empathy. “I’m sometimes the first person people tell about these horrible things they’ve experienced,” she says. “I just want to help make them feel safe, seen and supported during a terrifying transition.”

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