Violeta Alvarez grew up in a low-income single parent household in San Diego, near the U.S./Mexico Border. At an early age, she went through many personal obstacles that ultimately led her to be passionate about criminal justice reform. She is a Latina and first-generation college student who is also a parent of two boys. Violeta graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in Political Science and is a 2021 J.D. graduate from UC Law, San Francisco. While in law school, Violeta served as one of the Co-chairs for La Raza Law Students Association as well as the Acquisitions Editor for the Hastings Journal of Crime and Punishment. She also founded the first organization on campus serving students impacted by the criminal justice system (SISH). Additionally, she is on the board for the recently established California System Involved Bar Association (CSIBA). Violeta is also the former Program Director of Berkeley Underground Scholars, an organization established to serve and support formerly incarcerated and system-impaired students at UC Berkeley pursuing higher education.