Priscila Coronado '18

Priscila Coronado ’18, a J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School, has been elected president of the Harvard Law Review, an independent student-run journal, becoming the first Latina to hold the prestigious position.

Raised in Downey, California, the youngest daughter of two Mexican immigrants, Coronado became the first in her family to attend college when she enrolled at UCLA. She graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in three years, earning a B.A. in English with College Honors and departmental honors.

In an email interview with Harvard Law Today, Coronado described her feelings at being elected president of the Review.

"It is an honor that my peers have entrusted me with this institution," she wrote. "I don’t take this role lightly. It also means a lot to be a part of a historic moment. I see my status as the first Latina to mean two things. On the one hand, I don’t want to downplay the achievement or the tangible way that growing up in a two-Mexican-immigrant working-class household has shaped my perspective on the law. They are fundamental to the editorial perspective I bring. On the other hand, I really don’t want my status as the first Latina president to morph into some kind of 'model minority' narrative. I believe with every ounce of my soul that there are countless other Latinas who are equally incisive in their logic and reasoning but will never get an opportunity like this because of something as out-of-their-control as where they were born."

Read the entire Q&A here.