As hundreds of Dominican Americans professionals descend on Washington, DC for the second annual Dominicans on the Hill, we talk to Dominican Health Care Association of Florida Executive Director Daisy Baez about the roots of the event and why the second one is just as important as the first.

Former Florida State Representative Baez also reflects back on her resignation from elected office, the lessons that she can pass along to aspiring Latina politicians and how you don't have to be an elected official to help push important legislation, as she is doing now with healthcare.

MORE ABOUT DAISY

Daisy Josefina Baez served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 until her resignation in 2017. She represented the 114th district, stretching from western Miami to Cutler Bay in Miami-Dade County. She was born in the Dominican Republic and raised there by her grandmother after her parents divorced and her mother moved to New York City to support her family. Baez immigrated to the United States at the age of 17. She joined the U.S. Army in 1980 and served for three years as a Preventive Medicine Specialist in the 1st Cavalry Division Surgeon's Office in Fort Hood, Texas.

After an honorable discharge, Baez received a bachelor's degree in social work-at American Technological University, and later a master's degree in education counseling from Sam Houston State University.

After over 15 years working in hospital management and health care consulting, in 2011 she founded the Dominican Health Care Association of Florida. The group is a nonprofit organization with the mission of advocating for and supporting healthcare services by and for the Dominican community in Florida. She is currently the association's executive director.

Ms. Baez has one daughter, whom she raised as a single parent.