Ailsa Ortiz’s path to A.S. President
Before Ailsa Ortiz knew she wanted to lead Santa Monica College’s (SMC) student government, she was a kid desperately trying not to be different. However, the now 25-year-old political science major has embraced her identity and is using her history to help ensure every student feels seen and heard.
Ortiz spent the spring semester weaving a blue fold-out wagon around campus, piled with flyers and buttons sporting her face. She gave speeches throughout the day on why she should be the Associated Student (A.S.) President while holding up a large QR code linking students to the voting portal. She ended up earning almost half of the student vote and took over office for the 2025-26 school year.
Ortiz saw a hole in how little students knew about A.S. and strived to change that. “It was really rewarding, seeing a bunch of students, that I can relate to, that had no idea that the elections were happening, but felt accomplished in participating,” she said.
Now, more than a month into her presidency, Ortiz is finding the groove of political life. She said it can be a lot juggling bureaucracy, people skills and enacting her ideas. However, Ortiz is no stranger to working through turmoil.
She grew up with a single mother as the youngest of seven siblings after her father was deported to Guatemala before she was born. “I am really realizing how much of a broken home I came from,” she said.
Ortiz grew up in “basically Section 8 housing,” which provides rental assistance for low-income households. Her father was not able to return to the United States, so she didn’t see much of him until she was 16, when she began visiting him regularly in Guatemala.
Ortiz also struggled to fit in with her community growing up. She has Latinx and Indigenous roots but felt disconnected from her culture, as her mother pushed a more Americanized lifestyle. Ortiz said, “She just let me assimilate and maybe she thought that would just be easier for me.”
Her mother enrolled her in an accelerated Mormon elementary school, making her feel even more separate from her peers. She said, “The thought of me being something else other than white, I hated it.” Ortiz was embarrassed when her mother packed her Mexican-style lunches to take to school because the food looked so different. “I felt othered,” she said.
As she got older, she became more curious about her heritage.
“I just had epiphanies that made me be more curious to know who exactly I am and where I come from,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz is K’iché from the Mayan people on her father’s side and Apache and Tepehuan on her mother’s. During her visits to Guatemala, she began connecting more with her Indigenous Mayan roots. She started exploring what being Indigenous meant for her and learning about her family’s history, eventually leading her to become vice president of Indigenous Scholars at SMC.
On a recent trip, Ortiz attended a fire protection ceremony at the Tikal pyramids, where she had her “nawal” carved and blessed. A nawal is similar to a zodiac sign, but follows the Mayan calendar.
“I wanted the fire protection ceremony because I knew I would need protection mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually,” she said.
Through it all, she remains close with both her parents.
“Had they not supported me from so far away, I don't think I would be here today,” she said.
Before finding her way to SMC, she worked assorted jobs throughout Los Angeles. The shimmer of Hollywood’s promise drew her away from her home in Arizona, to go where “stars are born or made out of,” she said.
She explored influencer marketing, social media, packaging and entrepreneurship, but nothing felt right.
“I was just kind of lost in what am I gonna do for the rest of my life, and I didn't want to do that because it was so superficial,” Ortiz said.
Though she had never considered higher education before, she enrolled at SMC, hoping to eventually start a mental health nonprofit. As she progressed through school, she began dreaming of becoming a congresswoman.
“What motivates me,” Ortiz said, “is the kids — my niece and nephews, and the generations that I won't see. But, knowing that they can live in a world that's a little less harsh... or a little easier, they don't have to struggle as much as I or others have had — that's really what motivates me. I just, I'm tired of seeing people suffer.”
Her counselor suggested she explore student government, and Ortiz said it just made sense.
“I'm already standing up for my community outside of school, already being involved. And so it's, it was kind of like what else can I do? And so I had that sense of urgency to look for positions that have power that I can actually leverage,” she said.
Ortiz described herself as an “activist” before she became president. She credits the George Floyd protests in 2020 with reigniting her drive to fight for change. The transition from activism to politics is something she is still navigating.
“How do I leave my impact with my presidency knowing that this is a more bureaucratic position than an activist position?” Ortiz said. “Because that's what got me to this position was all of my activism, but now, I'm in these meetings and then they're so slow and everything is slow.”
Despite that, Maliyah Ponce, the A.S. director of equity and diversity, said Ortiz “hit the ground running.” Ponce sees Ortiz pursuing politics on a larger scale.
“She is really just this incredible force,” Ponce said. “She's one of those people; you're gonna meet one of her in a lifetime. She's very passionate.”
Ortiz credits her friends for much of her success. Her peers were the ones who pushed her to run for the presidential role, and she stresses the importance of surrounding yourself with people who have your best interests at heart.
“It’s just surrounding yourself with people that have the same kind of integrity and ambition,” she said.
One such friend is Jocelyn Rivera, who met Ortiz in a statistics class a few years ago.
“Ailsa is a really hardworking woman, and she's super ambitious,” Rivera said. “Once she sends her mind to something, she will not stop until she basically gets to where she needs to get, or even just does what she needs to do, which I admire that a lot about her because it motivates me to want to do better as well.”
Ortiz said she looks to Jasmine Crockett, the U.S. representative for Texas’ 30th Congressional District, for inspiration.
“She will always be transparent. She's the only one that has the guts to speak out,” Ortiz said. She respects Crockett for standing up for what she believes in despite political expectations and hopes to mirror that in her own journey, finding strength in the face of power.
Ponce noted that Ortiz’s confidence can sometimes be misunderstood.
“There's this stigma with powerful women that they are hard,” Ponce said. “They're not nice, and it's unfortunate that women who are powerful have to be seen that way. But the reality is, women who are in those leadership roles oftentimes are both. They're very loving, they're very compassionate, and that is what makes them so powerful.”
Taking up this space has been one of Ortiz’s biggest challenges on her journey to becoming A.S. president. She used to believe she had to shrink herself to make others comfortable but now wishes to stand tall.
“I had to have some audacity to think, I had to think I'm somebody too,” Ortiz said. “Which just goes hand in hand with knowing your worth, or knowing your value. It's okay if you're too much because that's just who you are, you know? People just might not have a big enough stomach for it.”
Ortiz hopes to fill her commissioner roles and start hosting her own events soon. As for what's next, she hopes to attend a school on the East Coast and continue working her way up in politics to make a difference and fight for marginalized voices.