Ada Briceño has dedicated her career to building grassroots organizations among working families, uplifting marginalized voices, and bringing together diverse communities into powerful progressive coalitions. In addition to union organizing and political work, she has led social justice campaigns including for immigrant rights, women’s rights, and environmental justice. The Orange County Register named her in their “100 Most Influential” four times. In 2024, she was named one of “L.A.’s Influential” by the Los Angeles Times.
Ada Briceño immigrated to the United States from Nicaragua at age 7, fleeing a hostile dictatorship alongside her family. Today, Ada serves as Co-President of UNITE-HERE Local 11, representing over 32,000 hotel workers in Southern California and Arizona. In 2023, UNITE-HERE Local 11 led a year-long hotel strike, which was the largest hotel strike in U.S. history. The strike secured the largest wage increase for hotel workers, $5.00 an hour, a 20% increase in the first year. Ada sits on the National Steering Committee Member for the Labor Campaign for Single-Payer fighting for Medicare for All, and she is an instrumental part of living wage efforts. Ada also served as County Commissioner on the OC Human Relations commission from 2021 to 2024.
For over 25 years Ada has worked to help transform Orange County by expanding the electorate, helping immigrant families become citizens, registering voters in under-represented Latino communities, and improving voting rights and voting access. She was elected Chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County in 2019, and she is the first immigrant to hold that role.
In 2020, Ada was elected a Democratic National Committee Member representing California. As a DNC member, Ada has strengthened an inclusive and accessible national organization, encouraging women to run for office, and lifting up under-represented voices from immigrants, the working poor, and communities of color.