Meet Irma Herrera

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Irma Herrera. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Irma below.

Irma, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Recently, I came across an oral history conducted by the American Bar Association as part of the Women Trailblazers in the Law Project. I was included in that project. There, I told about an experience that, in retrospect, made me realize how foundational it was in shaping who I am. My purpose is to speak up against injustice. As a civil rights lawyer, my career was spent fighting with and on behalf of people who had been wronged.

When I was in kindergarten or first grade, I told the nun I needed to go pee; she told me to wait. I asked again, and she denied me permission. I peed at my desk. My parents were asked to come pick me up. Was my Dad going to be mad at me? I knew my Dad would be the one to pick me up, since my mother didn’t learn to drive until after my Dad died. But he wasn’t mad at me; he was kind and loving. I later learned he was furious with the nun.

On the way home, he told me that should this happen again, I was to do what I needed to to take care of myself. It was sometimes OK to disregard the grown-ups because they are sometimes wrong. I think this experience taught me to speak up against unfair things. I speak up for myself and others. As a kid, I always wanted to know why things were this or that way, especially things that seemed unfair, I spoke my up even if I had no power to change things. My inquisitiveness and desire to make things right led me to a career as a lawyer. I also have worked as a journalist telling stories, seeking to dispel misinformation and sterotypes about my community. In my latest incarnation, I am a playwright and solo performer using theater and stories to invite people to consider their biases and prejudices and to consider what they could do to help create more inclusive and welcoming schools, workplaces, and communities.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I have been a lawyer and a journalist for the past 30+ years, and this past decade, I became a playwright and solo performer. Five years into my law career, I began writing for publication. I transitioned to a career in journalism, frustrated by the misinformation and lack of knowledge about Mexican Americans and our long roots in the United States. I wrote and published articles to increase understanding and dispel myths and sterotypes about my community. After three years, I returned to lawyering. My love of writing never waned. A decade ago, I took a class at the Marsh Theater in Berkeley, CA, and fell in love with the art of oral storytelling. In a ten-week workshop, I began telling stories. I developed a one-woman show, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? which explores what it means to be American by weaving personal stories, humor, and historical events. The play changes as references current events. I have performed nationwide at theaters, universities, and corporate settings for the past eight years.

I have a new play in development, Class Migrant: De Aquí y De Allá, which explores class mobility and the joy, sadness, and guilt encountered along the way to the good life as a professional class denizen of the San Francisco Bay Area.

I love writing about these topics and produce a blog once or twice a month about my work to advance social justice through storytelling.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Three qualities that have served me well are:

1. Curiosity and interest in learning new things, whether it’s a new language, cooking a dish I’ve never made before, or immersing myself in studying nutrition and health (just because I wanted to know how to be healthier)

2. Willingness to work hard. There is no substitute for time on task for improving ANYTHING == whether it’s becoming a better writer, playing the piano, learning how to act.

3. Gratitude and appreciation for all those good things that have come our way and the folks who have helped us achieve our goals. No one gets where we are on our own. Gratitude coupled with kindness and a desire to pay it forward by opening doors has provided me with a sense of great fulfillment.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

Maintaining our home language of Spanish, and raising us to feel pride in being Mexican Americans, even as society devalued and sought to strip us of our language and culture.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.irmaherrera.com/
• Instagram: @irmadherrera
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IrmaHerreraWriter
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/irmaherrerawriter/
• Youtube: @irmadherrera