Esmeralda Simmons is founder and executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice in Brooklyn, New York. The center offers free legal services to people facing police brutality, discrimination, voter suppression, and other issues. However, before she had the center she was already the First Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights for New York State , and as a Civil Rights Attorney for the US Department of Education, she was already living a very accomplished life. She also served on varies several major public boards like New York City government and the NYC Board of Education. She had been engaged in the political struggle for equal rights for more than 35 years. Furthermore, she been involved in the community empowerment movement in Central Brooklyn and in progressive political causes for many years.