Emanuel Pleitez

EMANUEL PLEITEZ is a progressive Los Angeles native committed to uniting, serving, and inspiring his community.

His strength and inspiration come from being raised by a single mother in the Eastside neighborhood of El Sereno. Emanuel has always taken initiative to promote social change, and with strong moral values and limited opportunities, he founded non-profit organizations such as Latinos on the Fast Track (LOFT) Institute, and the Latino Legacy Weekend, aimed at providing opportunities and mentorship for innovative young leaders.

Emanuel's story is familiar to many Angelenos. Son of Mexican and Salvadoran immigrant parents, born in South Central Los Angeles, and raised in an underserved and underrepresented neighborhood, Emanuel soon learned that it took hard work and academic diligence to get ahead. He earned 19 varsity letters at Woodrow Wilson High School and eventually became the first member of his family to graduate college—Stanford University—on scholarships.

Between 2003 and 2005 he twice worked for current Mayor Villaraigosa, first as a field aide in El Sereno and later as his personal assistant. He went on to learn about business at Goldman Sachs until the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition team selected him to serve as a member of the US Treasury Review team. Shortly thereafter, Emanuel ran for California's 32nd Congressional District Special Election in 2009.

The Obama Administration subsequently appointed him as a special assistant to Paul Volcker and the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) in 2009. Here he worked on workforce development, infrastructure financing, and tax reform programs. Emanuel was later employed by McKinsey & Company as a management consultant for a variety of industries, and most currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Spokeo, a growing Los Angeles-based technology company.

Emanuel continues to commit himself to public service within and beyond Los Angeles communities by serving as Board of Directors Chair for both the Hispanic Heritage Foundation and the Salvadoran American Leadership and Education Fund (SALEF). As a citizen leader for No Labels, a movement of Democrats, Republicans, and independents, he is dedicated to solving municipal problems rather than political gamesmanship.

Emanuel is the founder and executive producer of INSPIRA, an ongoing web series featuring the stories of inspiration from Latinos across the country.