Felipe is a first-generation Mexican-American from southwest Los Angeles. In 2012, he was recognized as a Truman scholar because he founded M.E.N.T.E, a non-profit that helped over five-hundred first-generation low-income students attend college. Concurrently, he managed the Bank on Orange County Initiative with Orange County United Way which provided a pro-bono financial literacy program to hundreds of low-income families. As a 2014 Fulbright Scholar in Colombia, Felipe taught English at the University of Ibagúe and established an after-school program for children affected by the ongoing civil war. Upon his return to California, Felipe served as a 2014/5 Senate Fellow for Senator Ricard Pan where Felipe managed a bill into law to prohibit discrimination at public accommodations on the basis of immigration status and language.
Felipe received double B.A degrees in Political Science and Music Performance from the University of California, Irvine in 2013. In 2016, he received an MSc in Education, Policy and International Development from the University of Bristol and in 2017 received an MSc in Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation from the University of Oxford, both as a Marshall Scholar. Felipe is currently a 1L at Harvard Law School where he serves as a student attorney for the Harvard Defenders and Harvard Immigration Project, Removal Detention Project. This summer Felipe will be interning with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) in Sacramento, CA where he will work on immigration impact litigation, State public policy advocacy, and a “Know your Rights” community project.