Mary Moreno was born and raised in the Valley, the middle child in a family of seven. She began her professional career as a police reporter, a chapter in her life that spanned seven years at five newspapers in Texas. As a reporter, she witnessed three executions and covered way too many house fires, car accidents and violent crimes. In 2006, wary of covering human tragedies but not doing anything to help improve those neighborhoods plagued by crime, Mary moved to Washington, DC to put her press experience to work for immigration reform, marriage equality, improving Social Security, exposing the far right and other issues. In 2012, she returned to Texas to be closer to her family and fight for progressive change. She's been with the Texas Organizing Project for more than three years as communications director and acting immigration campaign director.