How a Mother Learned to Build Parent Power

Mariela Labrada was always a very involved parent. But that doesn’t mean she planned to become a parent organizer.

“I saw the title of the role and I was like, Okay, well, that's like, parent engagement, right?” she said, remembering when she first became aware that Making Waves Academy in Richmond was hiring a parent organizer.

She had always been the “classroom mom,” and had served in different roles on the PTA so this new role seemed like a natural fit. She soon discovered this job was not just about engaging parents, but mobilizing them to take action and build power.

“I eventually found out that it was not the same thing,” she said.

Mariela’s background was in banking, a career she maintained for 13 years. The job allowed her to work part-time and prioritize being a mom. One of her strengths was building relationships. “They would wait in line to be helped by me, because they had that trust,” she said.

After going back to school to earn her degree, Mariela wanted to find a new role with more purpose, and she eventually took an administrative role at a nonprofit supporting youth mental health. That job taught her how to wear multiple hats and be adaptable.

Her career shift was driven by her experience as a mother and an advocate for her children and their unique needs.

“They have needed me a lot, I had to learn to advocate for them, to really fight for what they have the right to have at school.”

Reflecting on her role as an organizer, she added:

“And that's kind of what we do here in a different way — it’s a collective, more organized effort.”

This personal experience is the foundation of her work now as a parent organizer. “Being a parent has definitely helped me connect with parents and really understand them,” she said.

Her experience as a first-generation college graduate and an immigrant deepens these connections and aligns with MWA’s mission. “Education is what allows us to move forward in life,” she said.

From her own experience, Mariela knows that parents are looking for the best school for their child, and they shouldn’t be forced to settle. When her family moved to Pinole from Marin County, where most of the traditional public schools are high performing, she was not impressed with the local district school.

“I knew that bringing them here meant lowering the bar for them, academically,” she said.

It was only after interviewing for her job at Making Waves that she learned about charter schools. “I was like, Oh my gosh, I actually have an option,” she said. “I don't really have to be stuck in a school that's not the best for my kids.”

Her children now thrive at Caliber, a relief after the traditional public schools her children were attending weren’t serving them.

In her role, Mariela meets parents where they are. Her group is a combination of parents with different educational backgrounds and life experiences. Her goal is to help them understand how much power they really have and make their voices heard.

“I have parents that had never spoken in front of an audience, and now they're over here, holding the mic and feeling comfortable,” she said.

A key part of her strategy is the 5Cs Family Leadership Institute, where she is preparing a new cohort of 14 parents. “We're mobilizing for the Voices renewal,” she said.

For Mariela, charter school communities must stand together to survive.

“The only power that we have is the people and so we've got to support each other.”

She values the collaboration with other organizers, like Yvette, Voices’ Parent Organizer who helped her when she was first building the parent organizer role from scratch. “With our diverse strengths and levels of experience, it’s reassuring to know we can count on and support one another,” Mariela said.

Mariela is energized by the growth of the 5Cs coalition and is dedicated to empowering parents. She recently met a parent of an 11th grader who, despite being a charter parent for six years, didn’t even know about the renewal process.

“When I run into stories like that, I'm like, wow, like, we really need to continue informing them,” she said.

For Mariela, the work is about empowering every family to make informed decisions about their child's best path, just as she is doing for her own.