--- description: Find out why Cecilia Martinez is one of the 100 most influential people of 2020. title: Cecilia Martinez: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt404445a300a00af8/698a124c86f68ecbf06ef34b/time-100-Cecilia-Martinez.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 22, 2020 # Cecilia Martinez by Cory Booker  Courtesy Cecilia Martinez As a leader in everything from international projects to grassroots organizing, Cecilia Martinez has dedicated her impressive career to a moral imperative: the pursuit of environmental justice and the inclusion of equity and [justice in environmental policy](https://time.com/5864704/environmental-racism-climate-change/ "undefined"). Martinez has helped raise up the [voices of communities that have been disproportionately harmed](https://time.com/5864693/climate-change-racism/ "undefined") by toxic pollution and has advocated fiercely for policies to protect them. As I started to work on comprehensive environmental-justice legislation in the Senate, I turned to Martinez to provide critical insight on the cumulative impacts of pollution—when communities are subjected to many different toxins at once—that [disproportionately harm communities of color, low-income communities and Indigenous communities](https://time.com/5863757/cory-booker-environmental-injustice-race/ "undefined"). Martinez’s indispensable work on behalf of communities that have long suffered from the [burden of pollution](https://time.com/5863757/cory-booker-environmental-injustice-race/ "undefined") has demonstrated that the fight for environmental justice is ultimately a movement for human dignity and for our collective future. It is my hope that we summon the collective will to follow her lead. _Booker is a Democratic Senator from New Jersey_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888195/cecilia-martinez/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888195/cecilia-martinez/"},"headline":"Cecilia Martinez","datePublished":"2020-09-22T21:24:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:17.354Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888195/cecilia-martinez/","keywords":["TIME 100","T100 2020","T100 2020 Pioneers"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt404445a300a00af8/698a124c86f68ecbf06ef34b/time-100-Cecilia-Martinez.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt404445a300a00af8/698a124c86f68ecbf06ef34b/time-100-Cecilia-Martinez.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888195/cecilia-martinez/","name":"Cecilia Martinez"}}]}] ```