Zuraya Tapia-Hadley joined the School Board on January 1, 2025.
Zuraya is a relentless advocate for equity, excellence, and family engagement in our public schools. A proud product of public schools in the DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) area, she was elected to the Arlington School Board in November 2024, bringing with her over two decades of experience in law, grassroots advocacy, public policy, and government affairs.
A 20-year Arlingtonian, Zuraya lives in Green Valley and is raising two middle schoolers in APS’s Dual Language Immersion program. She now serves as Chair of the APS Policy Committee. During her tenure, she has been an outspoken advocate for bridging gaps in access to learning, expanding Extended Day and after-school program funding and revamping APS communications with families and the APS community. She has and continues to be a voice for inclusion and access every step of the way.
Her commitment to community empowerment goes back 20 years at the local and national level through hands-on work with organizations like the Shirlington Employment and Education Center and Kitchen of Purpose (LaCocinaVA). She also developed local and national campaigns with elected officials and community leaders on key issues focused on civil rights, immigration, labor rights, and education equity.
Appointed by two Virginia Governors to the Virginia Latino Advisory Board, she has traveled across the Commonwealth advising on policy impacting Latino communities and helping shape the state’s response to real-world challenges.
Zuraya began her career as an international trade law attorney and spent over a decade in the nonprofit sector, including as Executive Director of the Hispanic National Bar Association. There, she led national initiatives expanding access to legal services, promoting diversity in the federal judiciary, and advocating for systemic reform. She later transitioned to the private sector, where she served as a senior Government and Public Affairs advisor for Fortune 50 tech and media companies — driving high-impact policy strategies, leading cross-functional teams, and brokering multi-million dollar partnerships with national advocacy groups to invest in education and community development across the U.S.
Today, Zuraya also serves as Executive Director & CEO of The Dream Project, a Virginia-based nonprofit that provides scholarships and mentoring support to immigrant students across the Commonwealth. The work building school-to-college and career pathways for students brings a direct, on-the-ground understanding of college access and opportunity gaps to her School Board service.
Zuraya holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Law from Georgetown University Law Center and an undergraduate law degree from the Universidad de las Américas, Puebla.
Office Phone: 703-228-6015
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Term expires December 31, 2028