Alexandria was born on October 13, 1989 in the Bronx, New York to a working-class family. Alexandria’s Puerto Rican father, Sergio Ocasio, was also born in the Bronx while her mother, Blanca, was born in Puerto Rico.Â
While studying economics and international relations graduate at Boston University, Alexandria took bartending and waitressing jobs to supplement her mother’s income as a housecleaner and bus driver. In fact, even when she began her campaign for Congress she was still working as a bartender.
View this post on Instagram
When Alexandria decided to run for Congress last year, her campaign centred on a progressive platform advocating medical care for everyone, universal jobs, immigration and criminal-justice reforms.
View this post on Instagram
Alexandria was an organiser for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid. Sanders even congratulated her on her ‘extraordinary victory’ two years later:
Congratulations to @Ocasio2018 on her extraordinary upset victory tonight! She took on the entire local Democratic establishment in her district and won a very strong victory. She demonstrated once again what progressive grassroots politics can do.
— Bernie Sanders
In November of 2018, Alexandria travelled to a child detention camp on the US-Mexican border and confronted the officers. She made her message loud and clear fighting against the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in light of news that some 2,000 children were separated from their families and kept in detention centres.
See also: The World’s Best Female Chef Is Mexican
