About Irene Franco Rubio

Irene Franco Rubio was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, in a working-class family shaped by migration from Guatemala and Mexico. Growing up during Arizona’s SB 1070 “show me your papers” era, Irene learned early how immigration policy and policing affect daily life. Community spaces became places of organizing and collective care, shaping her early commitment to storytelling as a way to document the experiences of Black and Brown communities, including immigrant youth and families navigating criminalization, injustice, and exclusion.

In college, Irene worked as a community-engaged journalist and organizer in Arizona. Her writing and reporting, focused on immigration, justice, and identity, appeared in outlets such as Teen Vogue, Refinery29, Forbes, and Youth to the People. Her early journalism was supported by fellowships from ProPublica, the International Center for Journalists, and the National Association of Broadcasters. Through this work, Irene saw journalism not just as a profession but as a tool for movement building, accountability, and collective power.

Irene attended the University of Southern California as a first-generation college student, graduating with honors in sociology and earning a minor in race, ethnicity, and politics. She was a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and worked as a research assistant at the USC Equity Research Institute, contributing to research on racial equity, economic justice, and community-driven policy change. Her academic training enhanced her ability to link structural analysis with community storytelling.

During college, Irene expanded her work through national media, podcasts, and coalition building. She received a Soros Justice Fellowship from the Open Society Foundations to develop a multimedia project and podcast, named #SchoolsNotPrisons, examining the US criminal legal system through the voices of directly impacted youth and community members. In Los Angeles, she became involved in multiracial movement spaces, including a Black and Brown-led coalition called the Beloved Community, which focuses on healing, political education, and collective care as the foundation for multiracial solidarity and intersectional movement building.

Irene is pursuing a PhD in ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, with designated emphases in gender, women & sexuality studies and new media. Her research examines multiracial coalition-building and immigrant justice, using critical ethnography, participatory action research, and public media engagement. Through her scholarship, Irene seeks to support grassroots movements and promote justice, belonging, and collective liberation for all historically oppressed communities.