Meet the professional pianist organizing immigrant advocacy in Iowa

Alejandra Escobar is known across Iowa as an activist for immigrant rights. She’s the lead organizer for Escucha Mi Voz, an Iowa City-based nonprofit that hosts regular protests and rallies to advocate for immigrants in Iowa, and can often be found leading crowds of protesters in demanding the fair treatment of Iowa’s immigrant population.

Escobar is comfortable in front of a crowd, and not just because of her work as a protest organizer. She has been studying and performing music for most of her life. Before she started working for Escucha Mi Voz, she was pursuing a doctorate in piano performance at the University of Iowa — a program she didn’t finish because she decided to dedicate her time to advocacy work instead.

“Because of everything that was going on, I was like, ‘Titles don't matter anymore. What matters is us taking action and doing something for the world, because it's crumbling’,” Escobar said. “I'm not interested in teaching at a university level. I'm not interested in having titles and titles. I'm more interested in doing things for the people, with the people.”

‘I don’t want to live in a dangerous place’

Escobar is a U.S. citizen, but she was born and raised in Colombia in the 1980s and ‘90s, when the country was experiencing a lot of cartel-related violence.

Her family lost multiple people to violence, including a cousin of her dad’s who was a bystander killed during a drive-by shooting, and two cousins of her mom’s who disappeared during a conflict and have never been found.

Growing up in Colombia, Escobar said she never truly felt safe. She attended and graduated from a music-focused private high school there, and got the Colombian equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in classical piano. She moved to the U.S. in 2011 to pursue a Master’s degree in piano performance at Eastern Michigan University.

“I was like, I don’t want to live in a dangerous place. I want to experience how it feels to live in a country where you don’t have to be worried about, I don’t know, being kidnapped, or being robbed, or being killed ... I wanted to experience how it feels to be safe in the streets,” Escobar said.

After earning her Master’s degree in 2014, Escobar returned to Colombia briefly before moving to Iowa to begin a doctorate program at the University of Iowa.

“I decided to come to Iowa City because out of all of the universities where I applied, it seemed like the best town for me to live,” Escobar said. “Then I got married, and we had a child, and then I was just staying here. My life is already here.”

‘We organize events, but we organize people, mostly’

When President Donald Trump was elected to his first term in 2016 and began ramping up enforcement of immigration policies, Escobar was newly married. She said she was concerned, but she didn’t know what to do to support the immigrant community.

She kept studying music, and tried to bring her culture into her studies by focusing on Latin American composers when she could, but she didn’t look into opportunities for advocacy work.

“I thought I could help, in a way, through music, because to me, music brings a space that you can have some reflection or introspection. I thought that was a way of helping as well,” Escobar said.

Then, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and national unrest in 2020, Escobar gave birth to her daughter, and she said suddenly her priorities shifted.

“Your perspective of it changes, once you have a child. How am I going to protect this child from racism and xenophobia and all of it?” Escobar said. “I needed to do something, because my child is seeing it, and she’s going to start asking when she grows up, ‘What did you do about it? How did you protect your own community?’ ... I also got divorced, and so I was like, ‘I need a job, but I need a meaningful job’.”

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Escobar had previously donated to the Iowa City Catholic Worker House, from which Escucha Mi Voz is operated, and she was familiar with the work they do. So, when she heard there was a position open for a lead organizer with Escucha Mi Voz, she said she was excited about the opportunity.

“The idea that they focus on the vulnerable, I was drawn to it. The vulnerable happen to be immigrants and refugees, most of the time, and that was inspiring,” Escobar said. “Who would have thought that a pianist had something to add, but it's been great because I don't panic in front of people. I like it, to be honest, I like it. I like delivering a message, either musically or with my words.”

A lot of Escobar’s work with Escucha Mi Voz hinges on her ability to build relationships with members of the Latin American community in Iowa, and she said her natural inclination to listen to other people and support them however she can has come in handy.

“We organize events, but we organize people, mostly. Especially on my end, since my language is Spanish and my culture is Latino, I connect with them 100 percent. I am them. We are one, we’re foreigners,” Escobar said. “I visit them, I call them, I pick them up, I have coffee with them. I’m swimming in my culture.”

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