She may be in the Miss Hispanic Seafair Royal Court,  but  Isabella Figueroa is more than a beauty icon. This Eastsider represents the influence and political power of the fastest-growing U.S. minority.

by Gabrielle Nomura | Photos by Chad Coleman

Isabella Figueroa has been waiting for 2012 all her life. It’s not simply because the outgoing teenager will finally be spreading her wings, living it up in the dorms of the University of San Francisco. Well, that could be part of it. But the real excitement next year will come with a long-awaited ballot – her first one. The Interlake High School senior will finally be eligible to vote.

Figueroa’s December birthday was agonizing last year. “Issy,” as her friends call her, turned 18 just after the November midterm elections. During the midterm elections, it may have been a month before her birthday, but she still jumped at the chance to see President Barack Obama speak at Sen. Patty Murray’s rally at University of Washington.

Figueroa idolizes people like Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and really, any woman who takes the initiative to be in politics. She’s even met a few in the Pacific Northwest: Murray, Gov. Chris Gregoire, Sen. Maria Cantwell and Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney – who Figueroa says, has been “a great friend and role model.”

Figueroa still remembers when she heard that Sotomayor had been appointed as the first Hispanic and third female Supreme Court Justice. Her mom sent her a text at school (“I had asked her to keep me updated in class,” Figueroa says). The teen says she was thrilled to see another Hispanic female rise to such a powerful position.

But Figueroa was well-informed and passionate about politics long before Sotomayor’s appointment in 2009.

She signed up her first person to vote as a middle-school student with a clipboard, volunteering for the Washington State Democrats.  At summer festivals in Seattle, the short seventh-grade girl wasn’t shy about asking passersby if they were registered to vote. Giving them bipartisan pamphlets on candidates, she would even fill out their registration forms after asking them to take out their driver’s licenses.

“All they had to do was sign their name,” says Figueroa who remembers how jealous she was. It was frustrating being too young to take part in democracy.

A passion for politics may seem like it would more likely lend itself to men who wear suits and ties. However, it’s this passion, including involvement in Junior State of America (JSA); a national, nonpartisan, political debate organization; that’s landed Figueroa in a tiara and sash.

As a princess in the Miss Hispanic Seafair Royal Court, and first-runner up to Queen Verónica Quintero’s crown, Figueroa received a $1,000 scholarship, as well as the Highest GPA award for high school students and the People’s Choice $100 award. Not bad for her first pageant, especially considering that as governor of her JSA chapter, which gives teens peer-to-peer education on various facets of the political spectrum, she’s used to being the one behind-the-scenes instead of being poised, polished and camera-ready.

Michelle Font, director of the scholarship program, says it was hard for the other pageant organizers to believe that a confident, well-spoken woman such as Figueroa was only a high school student. Many of the other contestants, including Queen Quintero, are college-age.

Each young woman competing in the Miss Hispanic Seafair Scholarship Program for Women attends workshops in public speaking, performance, modeling, etiquette and grooming before the June coronation.

The pageant is meant to help young women become leaders who represent Washington’s Hispanic community. During the royal court’s reign, the princesses and queen attend events, such as the Hispanic Seafair Festival July 31 at Seattle Center, and carry out their platforms in the community.

It makes sense that Figueroa would rise up as a fresh face to be admired. Her pageant sash may read “First Alternate” but it should really say “Right Now.” That’s what Figueroa represents – the current times, including a population whose influence cannot be understated now and in the years to come.

Bellevue’s Hispanic population of 8,545 people has increased almost 50 percent compared to 10 years ago. On a national scale, Hispanics are the largest minority, accounting for 16 percent of the total population.

By 2050, people of Spanish-speaking origin will constitute 30 percent of the U.S. population, nearly doubling in size from today.

Why is Spanish such a recommended language to learn? Because of statistics like this (and because young bilingual people like Figueroa are the next generation of leaders).

The terms “Hispanic” or “Latino” refer to persons who trace their origin or descent to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Spanish-speaking Central and South America countries and other Spanish cultures, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Origin can be considered as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of the person or the person’s parents or ancestors before their arrival in the U.S. People who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race.

Figueroa says the growth of the Hispanic community is not merely through illegal immigration. Her Hispanic neighbors who live near the Microsoft campus and work in many of the Eastside technology industries are proof of that, she says.

“You need to know Spanish in a lot of powerful countries these days,” Figueroa says. “Hispanics, who are often bilingual, are hired by big companies such as Boeing and Microsoft because we can relate to different cultures and because of our influence.”

But while they may growing as a population, when it comes time to lend their voices to important decisions regarding the local and national community, Hispanics are underrepresented. It’s something Figueroa feels passionate about changing.

“Many Hispanics I know don’t vote,” Figueroa says. “They think it’s just one vote, it doesn’t matter.”

But it does.

A Pew Hispanic Center survey shows that the number of Latinos eligible to vote went from 13 million in 2000 to 21 million in 2010. However, only 31 percent of Latinos cast a ballot in the midterm elections, compared with nearly 49 percent of whites and 44 percent of blacks.

Organizers for the fledgling National Tequila Party Movement, which describes itself as nonpartisan, say they aim to make Hispanics a powerful force in next year’s elections.

That specific mission, as well as making Hispanics better-informed and more likely to vote, will surely be carried out if young people like Figueroa have anything to do with it.

For her platform last summer, Figueroa was a guest teacher in King County summer school programs to teach children about understanding their U.S. rights. They learned civic engagement and how the government works with fun projects like getting permission to build a garden in a local park, then doing the planting.

Now, she is pursuing a dual-degree program at the University of San Francisco where she will earn an undergraduate degree in political science and a master’s in teaching.

Figueroa says going to college is step one of becoming a role model for other Hispanics and women of color.

“It’s about showing them that I can do it, so they can do it, too,” Figueroa says. “I’m so lucky that college was never out of the question for me, but it is for many girls. I hope other people realize it’s not about the crown and the sash, it’s about what I’m doing that matters most.”

And what she hopes to do is show other young people like her that they literally can do anything. Figueroa says she’s never felt held back for any reason, certainly not because of her race or gender. “Unstoppable” may be a more accurate way to describe Figueroa by those who know her best.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what she does,” Font says. “Perhaps she will one day be our firstPresidenta Latina. Even that, would not surprise me.”

El arte y la joyería de créditos:

Artists from Bellevue Arts Museum’s “The Mysterious Content of Softness”  exhibit were featured in this story including Angela Ellsworth’s work “Seer Bonnets: A Continuing Offense” (table of contents) and Lacey Jane Roberts’ “We Couldn’t Get in. We Couldn’t Get Out“ (cover and inside spread). Figueroa’s jewelry is by Beto Yarce, Cintli Fine Mexican Jewelry.