Cecilia Zavala
Executive Director, Nation Outside
Cecilia Zavala is the Executive Director of Nation Outside, Michigan’s only statewide nonprofit led by and for system-impacted people. A Detroit-born leader with more than 25 years of nonprofit leadership experience, Cecilia brings lived experience, servant leadership, and a deep commitment to building a movement led by those directly impacted by the legal system. Under her leadership, Nation Outside has strengthened statewide peer-led reentry services, expanded partnerships, and advanced community-centered solutions rooted in dignity, healing, and justice.
Her Story
When Cecilia Zavala was a girl growing up in Detroit, she dreamed of one day dressing in suits, working downtown, and becoming “the boss.” Becoming a mother at the age of 16 did not stop her from pursuing that vision. With determination and drive, Cecilia built a career in Detroit’s nonprofit sector, rising through the ranks of Hispanic-focused community organizations before founding her own nonprofit, Esperanza Detroit.
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Cecilia grew up as the oldest of four siblings in Southwest Detroit, in a family where public service was not just taught, but lived. Her mother founded a nonprofit, and her father served as a firefighter. From an early age, Cecilia was surrounded by examples of service, responsibility, and community care. As a child, she joined the Girl Scouts and later became a troop mini-leader, an early reflection of the leadership that would shape her life’s work.
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Cecilia also grew up in a community deeply affected by poverty, violence, and systemic barriers. People close to her were directly impacted by gang-related violence, and some did not survive adolescence. Those early experiences shaped her understanding of trauma, survival, and the urgent need for opportunity, support, and community-led solutions.
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Despite the obstacles in front of her, Cecilia worked multiple jobs while attending college and raising her four daughters. She eventually began working at Latino Family Services, one of the major nonprofits serving Detroit’s Hispanic community. She began as an administrative assistant and quickly advanced into leadership. Within a year, she became a department manager.
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The work was deeply meaningful and, at times, heartbreaking. Cecilia saw how people who were often dismissed or stigmatized by society were also those most in need of compassion, dignity, and support. That lesson would become central to her leadership and her life’s work.
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After four years at Latino Family Services, Cecilia joined the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, where she began as a grant writer and later became a project coordinator overseeing the grant-funded programs she helped create. During her 12 years with the organization, she helped lead community-centered programs focused on empowerment, education, youth development, and violence prevention.
One of the most meaningful parts of her work was supporting a gang retirement program in Southwest Detroit. Cecilia worked with a team that helped negotiate pathways for individuals to safely leave gang involvement and transition into school, employment, and community support. The work gave her a deeper understanding of the importance of meeting people where they are, creating real alternatives, and building systems that support transformation instead of punishment.
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Eventually, Cecilia became Director of Programming, fulfilling the vision she had held since childhood of becoming a leader in a suit, traveling to conferences, consulting with national partners, and helping shape programs that served her community.
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Later, Cecilia co-founded Esperanza Detroit, a nonprofit focused on supporting high school youth and preventing student violence. She helped develop a pilot program that placed trusted liaisons in schools to advocate for students and provide support. By its fourth year, the program had earned the opportunity to expand statewide.
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Just as that work was gaining momentum, Cecilia faced a devastating legal challenge that changed the course of her life. Accused of financial wrongdoing and unable to use key evidence she believed would help clear her name, Cecilia ultimately accepted a plea deal that kept her out of prison but left her reputation, career, and sense of stability deeply shaken.
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Her experience in the legal system, and what she witnessed while detained, opened her eyes in a new and painful way to the indignities faced by people caught in the criminal legal system. She saw firsthand how people, especially women and people without resources, could be treated without compassion or humanity.
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Rebuilding her life required grit, humility, and determination. It also deepened Cecilia’s compassion and strengthened her understanding of how the legal system impacts individuals, families, and entire communities. Through her own experience, and through witnessing how others were treated by the system, Cecilia found a renewed sense of purpose in criminal legal system reform.​
“I believe that my life was taken down this path so I could learn something and shift my focus, It’s what woke me up and made me want to do this work."
- Cecilia Zavala
Her Leadership
Today, Cecilia’s leadership is rooted in the belief that those closest to the harms of the criminal legal system must be central to leading the work of transformation. She brings lived experience, servant leadership, and a trauma-informed, people-centered approach to building programs, partnerships, and policy strategies that support healing, opportunity, and long-term stability for individuals and families impacted by incarceration.
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As Executive Director of Nation Outside, Cecilia has guided the organization through a critical period of growth and transition. Under her leadership, Nation Outside has strengthened its infrastructure, expanded statewide operations, advanced strategic planning, and continued building systems of support led by people with lived experience.
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Cecilia has played a key role in launching and strengthening Michigan’s first Trauma-Informed Peer-Led Reentry program, known as TIPLR. The program trains and employs system-impacted individuals to support others as they return home, navigate barriers, and rebuild their lives with dignity and support.
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She has also led major organizational milestones, including securing and managing multi-million-dollar public funding, strengthening fiscal and operational systems, developing organizational policies, expanding partnerships, and aligning direct service programs with Nation Outside’s broader policy and advocacy work. Her leadership has helped position Nation Outside as a trusted statewide partner in reentry, criminal legal system reform, and community-driven solutions.
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Cecilia’s commitment to community extends beyond her role at Nation Outside. She serves on the Michigan State Housing Development Authority Equity Advisory Committee and is a co-founder and board member of Macomb County Pride. She will also begin serving on the board of the Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance, further advancing her commitment to community health, equity, and systems-level change.
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Cecilia is a Represent Justice Ambassador, a graduate of JustLeadershipUSA’s Leading with Conviction Fellowship and Emerging Leaders program. She is also a Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project. Through these platforms, Cecilia continues to elevate the voices of directly impacted people, challenge stigma, and advocate for policies that create real opportunities for healing, restoration, and second chances.
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As a Mexican American woman and system-impacted leader, Cecilia brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work. She leads with courage, compassion, humility, and purpose, helping build a movement where directly impacted people are not only included, but leading the way.
