JoCasta Zamarripa

Alderwoman Zamarripa currently represents the near south side of Milwaukee in the Common Council and represented in the State Assembly for a decade. She was born and raised in the neighborhood. JoCasta is the oldest of her four siblings, raised by a single mom. Her grandmother, Alicia, was a migrant farm worker from Eagle Pass, Texas, who moved her family to Wisconsin because she believed there were better economic opportunities for her and her family in the dairy state.

JoCasta was the first Latina elected to the Wisconsin State Legislature, and in 2012, as she was launching her first re-election campaign, she came out as an openly bisexual member of the LGBT community. She then became the first Latina and LGBTQ+ member of the Common Council.

JoCasta’s first job was a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel paper route in the 8th aldermanic district. Later in life, she went on to work for both Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin and as an organizer for Fair Wisconsin. She also served as a board member for 9 to 5 – National Association of Working Women.

JoCasta graduated from St. Joan Antida High School and is the first in her family to graduate from college, receiving her BFA from UW-Milwaukee in 2005.