Nelda Liliana Ruiz Calles is a fronteriza community and cultural organizer from the Sonoran borderlands. She has been organizing with Regeneración formerly known as Tierra Y Libertad since 2010, a collective on Tucson's south side that works to connect residents of marginalized communities with the resources they need to foster health, personal growth, and well-being of their families. Currently Nelda works as a program manager and educator at Southwest Folklife Alliance. She manages community-based ethnographic documentation projects that highlight the diverse cultures and traditional knowledge in southern Arizona’s indigenous, Mexicana/o, and Chicana/o communities. She has also served as a curator for Culture Kitchen of Tucson Meet Yourself Folklife Festival, bringing together food producers, food justice organizers, and community members to share recipes and strategies for a more sustainable and inclusive food system. Nelda is a 2019 National Association of Latino Arts & Culture (NALAC) Leadership Institute Fellow, a 2019 Adelita Del Año awardee presented by Las Adelitas AZ, and a 2017 Mujer En La Lucha awardee presented by the Arizona Cesar E. Chavez Holiday Coalition.