Maria Salamanca was elected the District 2 member of OCPS in 2022, the youngest voice in district history after a student-led grassroot campaign. Salamanca was a student of the district for 12 years in 6 different schools. She attended UC Berkeley where she studied Political Science and Legal Studies with a minor in Public Policy from the top program in the nation, the Goldman School of Public Policy.

Her passion for Public Policy led her to various projects with the Election Administration Center at Berkeley Law, Education Pioneers focused on building the leadership pipeline of U.S school districts. Salamanca was an early team member at FWD.us an immigration lobbying group founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and other tech leaders.

The past eight years Salamanca has spent her career investing in entrepreneurs as a venture capitalist. Maria joined Unshackled Ventures in 2015, during her time she was involved in 75+ investments and has evaluated more than 8,000 companies. In 2022, she joined Ulu Ventures in 2022, the largest Latina led venture fund in the U.S.

In 2018, she was first Latina named Forbes 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital and Business Insider’s Under 30 Rising Stars.