Luz Marquez-Benbow, pronouns She/her(s) is a Just Beginnings Collaborative Fellow A Black Boricua survivor of child sexual abuse, incest and rape is the founder of #IamNegrx, the International Alianza de Mujeres Negrx, a survivor-led network of Afrolatinx mobilizing to end child sexual abuse and sexual violence across the Black Diaspora. For more than 15 years, Luz has worked on issues related to sexual assault. In the late 1990s, she served as the Director of Outreach and Policy for the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault. In 2003, Luz co-founded the National Organization of Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault (SCESA). In her 10-year tenure with SCESA, she was the Associate Director and worked closely with national policy advocates and members of Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 2005 and 2012. Most notably, Luz co-led efforts to develop VAWA’s Culturally Specific Grant Program to ensure that all national violence against women policy encompasses the needs of Survivors of Color throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She also worked to reauthorize the Family Violence Prevention Services Act of 2010.