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About Martine Kalaw
Martine Kalaw is an author, speaker, and commentator on the human aspect of current immigration laws and policies. She is the CEO and president of Martine Kalaw Enterprises, a consultancy focused on providing Human Resources professionals with time, resources and confidence to drive diversity, equity & inclusion for organizations. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration focusing on immigration law from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School and has authored two books, IllegalAmong Us: A Stateless Woman’s Quest for Citizenship and The ABCs ofDiversity: A Manager's Guide to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
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As an stateless and undocumented immigrant survivor, Martine advocates around issues related to immigration rights and provides resources to those in need by volunteering for United Stateless and via her nonprofit, Stateless and Dreamers (SAD) Foundation. Her memoir, Illegal Among Us: A Stateless Woman’s Quest for Citizenship, recounts her personal journey as a stateless person and undocumented immigrant, personifying her experience as a “Silent DREAMer” for the world.
Martine provides communication training to immigration lawyers and advocates for increased education and employment opportunities for stateless and undocumented youth. She also directly works with the stateless and immigrant community through the nonprofit, SAD. Martine founded SAD Foundation after her seven year battle with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), resulting in her U.S. citizenship. SAD aims to provide practical tools and aid that stateless persons and undocumented immigrants can use to navigate between lawyers and the courts more effectively.
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She has over a decade of speaking engagements on immigrant laws and policies, ranging from lawyers at Hogan Lovells, LLC to participating as a panelist on Capitol Hill and speaking on behalf of the DREAM Act for the late Senator John McCain’s rally on immigration.
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Notable Speaking Engagements:
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She’s also led conversations and seminars at Cornell University and at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and has been featured in USA Today, Metro New York, and The New York Sun.
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Martine graduated from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School with a Master’s in Public Administration and a focus on Immigration Law. She currently resides in Washington, DC.
