Linda Garcia Merchant

Linda Garcia Merchant was born and raised on Chicago's West Side, and her experience growing up during the 1960s and 1970s with a mother active in both the Feminist and Chicano movements was pivotal in shaping her views today. Having experienced some of the most exciting social and political events, Linda was inspired to capture on camera the Latino influence of those times. In June 2006, Linda created Voces Primeras, LLC, is a production company dedicated to producing and distributing documentary-style features of pioneering Latinas to the educational, political and retail markets. Voces has produced three documentaries, ‘Little Giant: Margaret Cruz’ (2007), ‘Las Mujeres de la Caucus Chicana’ (Women of the Chicana Caucus) 2007 and ‘Palabras Dulces, Palabras Amargas’ (Sweet Words, Bitter Words) 2009. Linda has a BS, with honors, in advertising/design/photography from Western Illinois University and is a member of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, Amigas Latinas, Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (Women Active in Letters and Social Change) and the National Women’s Studies Association. She is currently a doctoral student in the English Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has been building the Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory project along with project co-director Maria Cotera since 2009.