Mony (she/her/ella) was appointed by Governor JB Pritzker to serve as Commissioner on the Illinois Human Rights Commission. She is an experienced human rights advocate, attorney, organizer, and community leader. Before serving as Commissioner, she was a special advisor on immigration and LGBTQ+ issues to the Governor. In that capacity, she helped launch ILPrideConnect.org, the first of its kind direct legal service hotline for LGBTQ+ communities. Previously, she was Deputy Director at Equality Illinois, the state’s most effective and oldest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, where she worked building power alongside LGBTQ+ leaders to promote and implement policies for a more equitable Illinois. For more than twenty-five years, she advanced immigrant justice combining organizing, advocacy, and legal efforts working Alianza Americas, the West Suburban Action Project, and providing legal services to LGBTQ+ folks, women, children, and vulnerable communities at the National Immigrant Justice Center where she served as Legal Director. She is the queer, proud daughter of Mexican immigrants. She is both de aqui y de alla having grown up in Mexico and the South Texas. She lives in Chicago with her wife, Denise, is the mother of three amazing children.