Gabrielle Gonzales

I've always had a strong interest in the environment, toxics, and our bodies, and I've always wanted to advocate for environmental justice communities. My current role as Environmental Justice and Health Project Manager at Clean and Healthy felt like the perfect combination of all of that, and my background in environmental science allowed me to bring that expertise to the position along with my other passions. I co-lead the Farmworker Health and Justice team through the Coming Clean Network, where we do advocacy for farmworker communities and work on protections for them. Right now, under this administration, it's more direct action and mutual aid because of the climate we're in and how farmworkers are being affected exponentially. This work is really close to my heart because I come from a farmworker family. I also co-lead a coalition called Lead Free Kids New York, which is getting lead out of New York State through policy and programs. My typical day varies - if I'm doing general advocacy, it's a lot of outreach, meetings, and making sure our policies are moving in the right direction. On actual advocacy days, I get on a train from Brooklyn to Albany with a team of people from around the state, and we have meetings set up to educate legislators on whatever subject we're working on, get them as co-sponsors on bills, or see where they're at and try to get them voting in favor or having some follow-up action. We work on endocrine-disrupting chemicals mostly, trying to get those out of our products. One of the things I'm most proud of is that in 2025, right before it struck 2026, we had the governor sign our menstrual products bill, which means we're getting PFAS, phthalates, heavy metals like lead - all of those bad things - out of our personal care products. That bill is going to be going into effect in the next couple years, and if they're reformulating for New York State, they have to do it for the rest of the country, so hopefully that becomes a big market shift for reproductive justice and women all across New York State and the country.