Hilda Gutiérrez is the Director of Equity and Engagement at Feeding Texas. In this role, Hilda works across the organization to build power to end hunger through community engagement and new partnerships with racial and social justice organizations. Hilda also represents Feeding Texas as project director for the Rio Grande Colonias USDA Regional Food Business Center and collaborates with other leaders in the organization to integrate equity strategies in their own work and implement a root cause framework across the Feeding Texas network.
Hilda’s academic, career, and personal life’s work has been devoted to social change, deeply rooted in her lived experiences. In her professional career, Hilda worked in the movement to end gender-based violence for a decade. She led statewide domestic violence prevention efforts by offering technical assistance, support and training to domestic violence programs across Texas. Before that, she worked in Albuquerque, New Mexico at a domestic violence shelter supporting mothers in transition and at the rape crisis center training youth on sexual violence prevention. Hilda pivoted her career to a food systems focus in 2015 when she joined Sustainable Food Center (SFC). At SFC, Hilda worked on the food access team for the first part of her tenure. Under Hilda’s leadership, the food access team served thousands of low-income individuals in central Texas annually. She transitioned to the role of people and operations director in 2020 where she was responsible for fostering an organizational culture that values justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion principles.
Hilda holds a bachelor’s degree in Feminist Studies from Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque and she is a certified professional with the Society for Human Resource Management.