Rosalinda Guillen

Farm labor in Fields in Skagit County, Washington gave Rosalinda Guillen direct experience of the work at the base of the agricultural chain. The pace was physical, seasonal, and tied to the demands of the field, where livelihood and labor are measured in the same days. That foundation later carried into the labor movement with Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers of America, where the work shifted from harvesting to organizing and collective action.

Rosalinda Guillen’s path gave her firsthand knowledge of the field and then a role in the movement built around it, leading to her current work as Executive Director of Community to Community Development (C2C), where worker-centered change is informed by both lived experience and long practice.

Executive Director of Community to Community Development (C2C) is the current role Rosalinda Guillen holds. The position brings together community leadership and labor justice, with Fields in Skagit County, Washington and Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers of America as the practical and political ground beneath it. The role is present-tense; the larger arc is one of moving from farmworker to organizer to executive leadership without losing contact with the people and places that shaped the work.

The James Beard Foundation Leadership Award is the recognition attached to Rosalinda Guillen. In 2020, the award marked the reach of her leadership and the weight of her contributions across community and labor work. The honor points to a body of work built over time, with its impact felt in the movements and communities her leadership has helped shape.