This Powerful Abortion Story Isn’t The One You Might Expect — and That’s The Point
January 22, 2022
A new series from The Meteor reveals the reality of this hot-button issue.
How This Women’s March Co-Founder Is Uplifting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ Voices
June 11, 2021
Paola Mendoza is fighting to promote inclusive feminism through storytelling on The Meteor platform.
‘Death stole everything’: A vivid reminder of immigrant lives lost to covid appears blocks from the White House
June 5, 2021
Seven brightly colored portraits cover the windows of the Roost on Pennsylvania Avenue. Each image features the face of an immigrant who died of COVID-19 and offers passersby a chance to learn about their lives.
Paola Mendoza on Her Activism, Artistry, and Being Unordinary
June 3, 2021
Mendoza talks to Shondaland about her work, which highlights the plight of immigrants.
These Vibrant Portraits in SoHo Honor the Lives of Undocumented Immigrants Lost to COVID-19
April 29, 2021
Activist-artist Paola Mendoza on the "Immigrants Are Essential" installation, public grief, and the power of art.
This moving street installation honors immigrants who died during the pandemic
April 26, 2021
These giant colorful portraits are paired with oral histories of their lives.
Sanctuary on Terrible, Thanks For Asking
November 20, 2020
We all have to find our way to our adult selves. As an author, filmmaker and co-founder of a mass movement — the Women’s March — Paola’s adult self is very impressive! But even the most impressive among us can struggle with belonging, especially in the systems that are set up to reject us.
Amid Record-Breaking Lines at Polling Places, Early Voters’ Spirits Buoyed by Pizza, Live Music
October 27, 2020
On Saturday, Joy to the Polls sent local artists and performers to seven different polling locations across Philadelphia to cheer on voters, several videos of which later went viral...
An Artist-led Vigil for Coronavirus Victims Mourned the 212,000 Dead
October 8, 2020
As the president continued to downplay the dangers of the virus, a group of artists and activists gathered on Tuesday to mourn the thousands of lives lost and urge the country to vote. On Tuesday evening, around 50 people...
Paola Mendoza Has Told Thousands of Stories in Her Career—And in 2020, She Wants You To Hear This One
October 1, 2020
Paola Mendoza has spent her career telling stories—on paper, on the screen, in the streets. Most recently, the activist, artist, and co-founder of the Women’s March has co-authored Sanctuary: a powerfully-rendered...
“Sanctuary” Is a Dystopian YA Novel That Feels All Too Real
September 29, 2020
Like classic dystopian novels 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, newly released young adult novel Sanctuary feels all too real in today’s oddly apocalyptic world. Although the novel takes place in 2032...
Young Adult Dystopian Fiction That Feels Pretty Real
September 19, 2020
We first meet the 16-year-old Colombian immigrant Valentina González Ramirez in 2032 as she watches a livestream of a teenage girl in a burnt-out field between Tijuana and San Diego...
In Honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Here Are the 20 New Fall Books From Latinx Writers
September 10, 2020
Hispanic Heritage Month is annually celebrated in the United States from September 15th to October 15th. The honorary month is a time to commemorate the histories, cultures, and contributions of Latinx people whose ancestors...
9 new books to read in September
September 1, 2020
Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher. Available September 1. Paola Mendoza, who served as creative director for the Women's March, makes her young adult (YA) fiction debut with writer and performer Abby Sher...
‘I see you’: Artist celebrates immigrant mothers working during pandemic
May 10, 2020
This Mother’s Day, an artist has displayed images in Queens, the hardest hit borough in New York City, to show appreciation for the immigrant women working essential jobs that help keep this country moving forward...
Filmmaker Paola Mendoza to speak on her journey from L.A. gang member to organizing the Women’s March
February 27, 2020
As a young child growing up in Los Angeles, Paola Mendoza didn’t think she would make it to the age of 18. She’d arrived in the country from Bogotá, Colombia, at age 3 with her mother and older brother to be reunited...
How A Chilean Chant Became The World’s Most Powerful Feminist Anthem
February 13, 2020
As prospective jurors shuffled into a Manhattan courthouse last month for Harvey Weinstein's rape trial, 150 women outside erupted in a resounding chorus: "It's not my fault! Not where I was, not how I dressed!...
Meet the Resistance Revival Chorus, Where You Can Sing Out Your Political Frustrations
February 6, 2020
Emma Goldman famously said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” The quote, however, is apocryphal. The anarchist and free-love advocate actually wrote, “I want freedom, the right to self-expression...
More than 100 women protest Trump and Weinstein with anti-rape anthem
January 10, 2020
The voices of more than 100 women echoed off the towering New York county court building on Friday, where the criminal trial of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is taking place...
Paola Mendoza / Filmmaker & Activist
December 22, 2019
Paola Mendoza is a film director, activist, author, and artist working at the leading edge of human rights. A co-founder of the Women’s March, Paola served as its Artistic Director and co-authored the New York Times bestseller...
Paola Mendoza & Sarah Sophie Flicker
December 21, 2019
As the President was getting impeached, Bare caught up with two pioneering women who have been vocal critics of his administration: Paola Mendoza, film director, activist, author, artist, and a co-founder of The Women’s March...
We’re Moms Working at the Border to Make Change: Here’s How You Can Help
November 15, 2019
When news alerts started featuring kids separated from their parents on the southern border of the United States, these four Latina moms knew they had to do something. Now they tell you how you can help...
Artist Paola Mendoza Creates Chilling Family Separation Installation
May 12, 2019
This artwork forced Congress to look family separation in the eye.“So it’s about family separation. And today marks the anniversary of when Jeff Sessions announced the zero-tolerance policy which kinda laid groundwork...
Activist Paola Mendoza Believes All Moms Share this Responsibility
May 9, 2019
Paola Mendoza’s weapon of choice when fighting for immigrants’ rights has always been creativity. The filmmaker, activist, writer, and former artistic director of the Women’s March on Washington honed her storytelling skills...
There’s a Caged Child on Capitol Lawn, and It’s Marking the First Anniversary of Trump’s Family Separation Policy
May 7, 2019
Washington woke up Tuesday to find a caged child on the Capitol lawn in a demonstration to mark a year since President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy saw thousands of migrant children separated...
The 10 Women We Are Thankful For in 2018
November 22, 2018
Twenty-eighteen: Another year, another 12 months of terrible men and their even worse apologies. This Thanksgiving, let’s not waste our breath on them and instead celebrate the women who have carried us all through the year...
These Family Separation Activists Discuss The “Rage” & “Hope” Of Their Work
October 15, 2018
Paola Mendoza, an artist who is also part of the Women's March, and Jess Morales Rocketto, an organizer who also works at the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Care in Action, met this past spring to organize...
The #BelieveSurvivors Walkout Had Women—and Men—Protesting Brett Kavanaugh
September 24, 2018
On Monday afternoon both women and men walked out of offices, schools, and homes across the country in solidarity with Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, the women who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh...
Mothers, children hold sit-in protest at Senate office building over immigration
July 26, 2018
A small group of women and their young children held a peaceful sit-in Thursday in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington to demand President Donald Trump reunify immigrant families separated at the southern border...
‘I Am a Child’: How an artist turned civil rights imagery into a message of protest for immigrant kids
July 1, 2018
On the first weekend of June, 40 children lined up on the front steps of the New York offices of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding picket signs in their small hands...
Paola Mendoza Explains the “I Am a Child” Protest Photos
June 7, 2018
On June 5, activist Paola Mendoza tweeted a black-and-white photo of 40 children between the ages of 3 and 10 holding up signs that read: “I am a child.”...
Meet the Resistance Revival Chorus: Kesha’s Grammys Backup Choir and Women’s Movement Champions
February 14, 2018
When Kesha performed at the Grammys at the end of January, everyone was talking about her emotional and powerful performance of the song, “Praying.” Her first performance since her legal battle...
Meet Paola Mendoza—mama to Mateo & artistic director of the Women’s March
February 6, 2018
What does a woke household look like? In the case of film director-turned-activist Paola Mendoza, it’s draped in color, well-traveled, and full of activist touches. As Artistic Director of the Women’s March...
Conversations | Paola Mendoza, Artistic Director for the Women’s March, Film Director, and Author
December 21, 2017
Paola Mendoza believes that artists have the power to open the heart of America. Her immigrant experience directly informs the stories she tells as a filmmaker, bringing light to the unsung heroes of the country...
How The Women’s March Is Using Powerful Performance Art To Fight For Dreamers
December 7, 2017
On a chilly Saturday noon in New York City, dozens of activists gathered in Columbus Circle to protest the Trump administration's controversial track record on immigration. A collaboration between Women's March and United We Dream activists, the protest demanded Congress pass the DREAM Act...
The Female Condition
August 22, 2017
Being a woman in 2017 is incredibly confusing.To get insight into the experience, we asked a collection of interesting women—WNBA player Tanisha Wright, Reductress co-founders Beth Newell and Sarah Pappalardo, organizer Fatoumata Waggeh, filmmaker and writer Paola Mendoza...
La lucha de las mujeres en la era Trump: ellas asistieron a la Marcha de las Mujeres y nos dicen por qué
January 22, 2017
Cristina Jiménez es una dreamer que ha luchado de manera incansable por su futuro. Paola Mendoza es la directora artística de la marcha convocada este sábado a favor de los derechos de las mujeres...
Filmmaker Paola Mendoza: planning the Women’s March on Washington has been a ‘healing process’
January 19, 2017
A few days after the presidential election, filmmaker Paola Mendoza learned that her friend Carmen Perez was helping to plan a massive march in Washington, D.C., scheduled for January 21, the day after the inauguration. Mendoza didn't think twice..
These Are the Women Organizing the Women’s March on Washington
January 10, 2017
One very cold New York City morning just before Christmas, a group of women showed up to have their picture taken by photographer Cass Bird at a warehouse turned studio in the South Bronx neighborhood of Hunts Point, a chunky little peninsula that reaches out into the East River toward Rikers Island...
An Immigrant Story
May 13, 2010
Mariana and her two children, Gabriel, 10, and Andrea, 6, have been abandoned by Mariana’s husband after leaving their native Colombia to join him in Jackson Heights, Queens. Now Mariana unemployed, not knowing English...