# María Teresa Kumar

María Teresa Kumar (née María Teresa Petersen; 1974) is a Colombian American political rights activist and President and CEO of the Latino political organization, Voto Latino. Kumar was named by Elle Magazine in 2013 as one of the ten most influential women in Washington, D.C., and by Hispanic Business in 2017 as one of the 100 most influential Latinos in America. An interview done with President Joe Biden on the eve of the 2024 presidential election was widely reported to have done significant damage to the Kamala Harris campaign for president.

## Early life and education

Maria Teresa (Petersen) Kumar was born in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1974, but grew up in Sonoma, California. Kumar spent her summers in Colombia when she was young.
Kumar attended the University of California, Davis where she received a BA in International Relations. She obtained a Master's degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

## Career

Kumar began her career as a legislative aide to Democratic congressman Vic Fazio. She later attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she recognized the importance of technology in improving the gap in equality in Latino lives. She began working with the Latino advocacy group, Voto Latino in 2004. Currently based in Washington, D.C., the organization uses marketing campaigns and technology to encourage Latinos to participate in the political process.
In the beginning, Voto Latino's mission was to increase voter registration among Latinos in the U.S. Later, Voto Latino partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau to increase participation in the 2010 United States census. "To spread the word, Voto Latino and MTV’s Latino channel Tr3s aired public service announcements, created a hashtag on Twitter and established a nationwide network of bloggers". Kumar and her team also launched the 'Be Counted' campaign, which included a bilingual mobile phone app which enabled Latinos to fill out the 2010 census on their phones. The organization is also currently assisting Latinos in navigating the health exchanges associated with the Affordable Care Act.
Under Kumar's direction, Voto Latino played a primary role in registering over half a million new Latino voters. In June 2018, the organization announced that it has set a new goal of registering one million voters by 2020 and is planning to spend $7 million on the project.
Kumar is a senior fellow at the Kettering Foundation, an American non-partisan research foundation.

## Awards and recognition

In 2010, Kumar was the recipient of an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding News Discussion and Analysis category for her role as co-creator and host of the two hour MSNBC television special, Beyond Borderlines. It was the first televised English-speaking town hall which focused on Latino issues in the United States and the emerging role of Latinos in politics.
Kumar was named by Elle Magazine in 2013 as one of the ten most influential women in Washington D.C. In 2017, Kumar was named by Hispanic Business among the 100 most influential Latinos in America.
She was named a National Women's History Alliance Honoree in 2020.