Valeria Carranza is the Senior Director of Government Relations at MomsRising, where she helps lead the organization's federal legislative and advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill. She brings more than 17 years of experience shaping public policy at the local, state, and federal levels, with a track record of advancing legislation that supports working families and expands opportunity.

Prior to joining MomsRising, Valeria served as Chief of Staff to an At-Large Montgomery County Councilmember representing more than 1.1 million residents. In that role, she led the passage of Montgomery County's pay equity law, helping position the County as a national leader in addressing wage disparities. Five years after enactment, the gender pay gap within Montgomery County government had been eliminated. She also helped lead successful efforts to make public buses fare-free and to pass the County's LGBTQ+ Bill of Rights, strengthening protections against discrimination in health care settings.

Valeria previously served on Capitol Hill, where she was one of only a handful of Latina Deputy Chiefs of Staff and Legislative Directors in Congress and the only out queer Latina serving in that role at the time. Her legislative accomplishments included preserving affordable housing apartments in New York City, expanding parkland in Los Angeles County, and requiring the federal government to clean up decades of jet fuel contamination affecting a low-income community.

Earlier in her career, Valeria served as Executive Director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), where she led advocacy efforts in support of comprehensive immigration reform and policies benefiting Latino communities.

Born in Los Angeles and raised by Salvadoran immigrant parents, Valeria was the first person in her family to graduate from both high school and college. She is a graduate of Dickinson College and was a member of the first Posse cohort from Los Angeles. Together with her wife, Lauren, she helped establish the Joyce Bylander Scholarship to support first-generation students pursuing higher education.

Valeria and Lauren have made their home in Montgomery County, Maryland, where they live in Silver Spring with their two rescue dogs, Bo and Gus.