Alexis Calatayud is a 29-year-old Cuban American advocate for generational economic mobility, representing Miami-Dade’s suburban core in the Florida State Senate. Homegrown in Dade, Alexis has dedicated nearly a decade to advocating for educational opportunities for our children and empowering advocates of education: students, parents, and educators.

Alexis’s story is one of consistency and commitment. Most recently, she served as Director of Policy and Programs and Lead Lobbyist at the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE). To Alexis, educational opportunity means ensuring every child can achieve the American Dream through high-quality, accessible VPK–12 education, affordable postsecondary programs, and workforce training that aligns with the jobs of the future. Serving the FLDOE for two sessions, Alexis worked in lockstep with the Florida Legislature to enhance student outcomes of Florida’s VPK–20 education system, successfully advocating for historic increases in public education, teacher salaries, school-safety staffing, and developing education laws into a multitiered implementation plan.

Prior to her role at FLDOE, Alexis was Campaign Manager for Florida State Representative Vance Aloupis in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles and served as his Legislative Aide from 2018–2020. She also served as Campaign Manager for the 2018 Florida State Representative Special Election for District 114 candidate Andrew Vargas. Before the 2016 campaign cycle, Alexis partnered with national nonprofit organizations to train Florida student leaders on candidate engagement strategies to center candidate focus on issues that mattered to students: postsecondary affordability, student loans, and cost of living. Alexis is a graduate of Florida International University. She served two terms as Student Body President and a university trustee, implementing institutional, local, state, and federal advocacy strategies to advance college affordability efforts, including a successful Miami-Dade County- wide voter ballot referendum on FIU Expansion into the community.