Deputy Director for Institutional Advancement
Pronouns: She/Her/Ella
Denise Diaz is the Deputy Director for Institutional Advancement at Jobs With Justice. A long-time organizer and movement leader, Denise has led strategic organizing and policy interventions for the organization over the last 2 decades. Prior to taking up her current position with the organization, Denise served as board chair in her position as Co-Executive Director of Central Florida Jobs With Justice, leading statewide organizing, collective bargaining and political campaigns that centered workers. Denise was a founder and board member of Florida for All, a long term collaboration dedicated to forming strategic alliances and deep organizing towards an equitable Florida. A Chicago native of Afro-Puerto Rican descent, Denise sought to build power and support for her LatinX community, becoming an organizer with local community organizations like ACORN after graduating from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
She has been recognized and submitted to the Library of Congress twice. Once in 2013 for her work as a civil rights activist, and most recently for Black History Month 2023. Representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost representing Florida’s 10th congressional district submitted Denise among a group of black luminaries from Central Florida into the Congressional Record, memorializing her achievements in the district into history.
Denise is based between Orlando and the Washington, DC area, living with her partner, 3 children, and multiple pets.