Maria contreras sweet biography channel

Maria Contreras-Sweet

From 5 year old immigrant to Cabinet member at Obama’s administration

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1955, she was the fifth of six siblings.  In 1961 her mother moved to California and with little education worked long hours at a poultry processing plant to provide the family, but all the children helped cleaning houses to make their way.

 Maria that initially did not speak English got to skip a grade on third grade and while in high school worked at a jewelry store.  Wanting to be a schoolteacher Maria enrolled at California State University majoring in Public Administration and Political Science.   Maria worked for a local state assemblyman member of California committee on education and later went to the private sector and work at Westinghouse as government relations job. 

In 1995, Maria started her own research consulting company specializing in Latino marketing.

  In 1999 Maria became the state's first L