Writer · Consultant · Speaker

Ruth Rosas

Ruth explores how people move and writes to uplift underrepresented voices… in English and Spanish.

What I do

  • Centering the voices and experiences of underrepresented communities through bilingual essays, articles, and reporting on transportation, mobility justice, equity, and public spaces.

  • A people-first, multidisciplinary approach bringing expertise in project design, stakeholder engagement, program management, and grant writing with organizations, agencies, policymakers and advocates.

  • From university lecture halls to national conferences and international podcasts, Ruth facilitates and speaks in English and Spanish, on mobility justice, climate mobility, street safety, and the policies shaping how communities experience the built environment.

Featured Work

In 3 years, Ruth developed from the ground up an international campaign called Week Without Driving in English and Spanish. Within those three years, Ruth grew a campaign that started in Washington State created by Anna Zivarts by 500%. Today, the campaign engages thousands of people annually, including elected officials, policy makers, businesses, advocates, and everyday people. By centering the lived experiences of nondrivers and underrepresented communities, Ruth directs the campaign across multiple geographies, mobilizing partners from individuals to private firms to elected official.

A hand pressing a crosswalk button on a street pole with the text "Freedom to Move" overlaid in bold white letters

A bilingual campaign centering the communities most criminalized in public space. Ruth led the effort from creating a writing series, convening advocates, organizing webinars, creating engagement on social media, and building a space where young people wrote, spoke, and shaped the conversation on mobility justice. Over two years, the campaign connected transportation to every intersection of identity, from transgender rights to immigration justice, creating rippling effects felt across communities nationwide.

The Equation publication headline reading "Why Immigration Belongs in the Mobility Conversation" above a photo of people waiting at a bare bus stop outside a Latino strip mall

Featured Pieces

A transgender pride flag drawn in chalk on dark asphalt pavement
A large FedEx freight truck dominates a narrow urban street, squeezing past parked cars in a residential neighborhood
Orange Line train arriving at a Chicago L platform with a "Loop" destination sign overhead

Selected appearances

  • Future of Transportation Caucus in Washington D.C.

  • Vision Zero Cities in New York City

  • WBEZ Making Our Communities More Pedestrian-Friendly in Chicago

  • Guest Lecturer at the University of California, Davis

  • Guest Speaker at Hacks & Wonks Podcast

Available for keynotes, panels, guest lectures, and podcast conversations in English and Spanish.

Interested in having Ruth speak?

A woman with black, wavy hair, glasses, and a bright smile, standing outdoors in front of a colorful building.

About

My work is rooted in community and finding the stories, systems, and streets that shape how we all move through the world. I’m a collaborator at heart, and believe the best solutions come from partnerships at all levels, but most importantly centering the voices most left out of the conversation.

With a career spanning 16 years in transportation, I've worked through challenging projects around mobility with an analytical and hopeful eye for the future.

When I'm not leading transportation work, I'm outside organizing bike rides, enjoying the outdoors, listening to music, playing guitar or learning a new hobby.