Jessica E. Martinez serves as Co-Executive Director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health National (COSH). A nationally-recognized movement leader, Ms. Martinez has been spearheading organizing, public policy and education initiatives at National COSH for over 10 years. Under Ms. Martinez’s direction, National COSH has built ground-breaking coalitions that engage workers as leaders to win critical improvements in workplaces and communities, with a particular focus on immigrants, people of color, women and youth. Additionally, she leads efforts around language justice ensuring accessibility and inclusivity of programs for diverse worker populations. She is trilingual, speaking English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
A well-respected strategist in economic, racial justice and occupational safety and health movements, Ms. Martinez has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show, CNN en Español, and National Public Radio, has been widely quoted in mainstream and Latino newspapers and is a much-sought after speaker for conferences, panels and events.
In 2014, Ms. Martinez was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez under President Obama’s Administration to the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, representing safety professionals. She has been awarded the Peace and Social Justice Award by the Southern California Institute for Popular Education (IDEPSCA), the Lorin Kerr Activist Award by the OHS Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA), and the New Labor Honoree Award.
Prior to her work at National COSH, Ms. Martinez served as Program Coordinator for the UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) Program and the Southern California Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (SoCalCOSH), advocating for safety and health within the labor movement. Ms. Martinez also has worked as a labor organizer for dynamic organizing campaigns in California and Illinois, coordinated human rights and public health projects internationally, and has a research background in investigating effective outreach, prevention, and intervention methods for improving lifestyle quality correlated to public health for underserved populations.
She holds a B.A. in International Development Studies from UCLA and a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois, Chicago School of Public Health.