Francis C. Madi Cerrada

Francis Madi is a writer, actress, community organizer, and public speaker heavily influenced and informed by her migrant experience as a Lebanese-Venezuelan in the United States. She most recently served as the Manager of Advocacy at the New York Immigration Coalition, in which she managed their campaign to pass the DREAM Act and protect the TPS program in Congress, while working to empower their statewide membership. Francis has taken on different roles at the NYIC, including one as Outreach Coordinator on Long Island, and as a policy expert for state-level campaigns supporting immigrant-friendly legislation. Her roles at the NYIC have allowed her to grow professionally in the political and advocacy community of New York State and Long Island.

Prior to joining the NYIC, Francis was an organizer for the Arab American Association of NY in Brooklyn, working under the leadership of civil rights organizer Linda Sarsour. She also organized on Long Island for La Fuente Inc, a former workers rights not-for-profit branch of 32BJ-SEIU. Her personal experience as a DACA recipient has pushed Francis to focus on her art over the past year as a personal and political statement to the changing world around her.

She seeks to uplift the voices of migrant and queer artists like her impacting the social justice movement in the US. She has been published by the New York Times, Medium.com, Vanidades Venezuela, The New Republic, Long Island Wins, among many other publications.

Francis received her Bachelor’s Degree in Cultural Anthropology from Queens College