About

Vanessa Perez was born and raised in Laredo, Tx.  She has a business degree from the Red McCombs School of Business from the University of Texas at Austin, with a concentration in Marketing.  After college, she became a certified public educator in Texas and taught the high-need area of mathematics at the secondary level for eight years.  Vanessa Perez married her husband Andres in 2011 and together they have three beautiful children.

While on a career leave to care for and grow her family, she became an advocate.  Injustice was plaguing her community, so she worked to bring awareness and change.  She educated herself, organized neighbors, founded a community non-profit seeking preservation of the dream of homeownership, and took her fight to court in a 6 year battle that they eventually won with a unanimous jury verdict. 

She advocates for law and policy changes, even helping with a bill sponsored by Representative Tracy O. King, which sought to modify the Texas Property Code towards fair representation for homeowners in Homeowner Associations.   

Her passion for a brighter future and good government led her to seek public office as an elected official.  In 2020, she ran for a seat on the Laredo City Council to represent her district.  After a runoff election, she earned over 70% of her community support and became the first female councilmember for Laredo’s District 7 seat.   

In her two years in public office, Vanessa Perez has advocated for a fair and transparent government, better planning, zoning and infrastructure, fair representation, inclusion, economic development, health, safety, and overall better policies and practices for a better city. 

Currently, she serves as a Mayor’s appointee to the City of Laredo Veteran Affairs Committee and the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).  Additionally, she was voted to represent the city on the Webb County Appraisal District Board of Directors.   

Some of the more noticeable changes she has made in office include: 

– the establishment of the Laredo Port of Entry Advisory Committee, that she introduced her first months as an elected official, where leaders in the trade industry meet to ensure a healthy Port Laredo; 

-co-founding the Clean Air Laredo Coalition alongside the Rio Grande International Study Center to tackle air pollution in response to reports that Laredo has an increased risk of Cancer from ethylene oxide (eto) emissions from a medical sterilizer plant in her district.  She is working to help shape the Environmental Protection Agency rules and practices, demanding they implement a monitoring program and phase out the use of known carcinogens; 

-the establishment of the Laredo Autism Coalition, which brings stakeholders together to address autism spectrum needs; the coalition is helping form an Autism Master Plan, a first of its kind guide, to shape City practices and move Laredo towards a more inclusive, understanding, and accommodating city; 

-the establishment of a hazardous materials ordinance that restricts hazardous materials storage within 500 feet of a school; 

-advocacy for a women’s Veteran Group in the Veterans Affairs Committee; 

-advocacy for the designation of Laredo as a breastfeeding friendly workplace. 

Vanessa Perez has a history of identifying problems, organizing people, and helping formulate solutions.  She believes in leaving places better than you found them and always looking towards the future.  She will continue to work for the community that she loves.