#29 Carmen Huertas-Noble, City University of New York School of Law

When Carmen Huertas-Noble was a law student she expected a future in public interest law but she did not expect to excel in contracts. Now a tenured professor at the City University School of Law and Director of the Community and Economic Development Clinic, Carmen uses her business acumen to help workers, often in low-wage industries, to develop worker owned cooperatives. This growing movement to create and scale cooperatives, is supported by resources and pending legislation in New York City and State. Carmen collaborates with nonprofits, worker cooperatives, policymakers, organized labor, and community leaders to build an eco-system that is generating a new generation of coops. She honors workers and their advocates and is teaching her students to do so as well. The ability for low-income, workers of colors and immigrants to build an economic future for themselves and their families is especially meaningful in such a challenging political era.