Blanca Alvarado is a lifelong activist, former San José city councilmember, and former Santa Clara County supervisor. Alvarado grew up in Cokedale, Colorado, and moved to San José, California, in 1947. She married local radio host and activist José Alvarado in 1953, eventually connecting to César Chávez and groups such as Los Amigos de Most Holy Trinity Church and Mexican American Political Association (MAPA). In 1977, Alvarado served on the Bicentennial Commission of San José and the San José Charter Review Committee. She shifted to electoral politics by serving as San José city councilmember from 1980 to 1994 and Santa Clara County supervisor from 1995 to 2008. In this interview, Alvarado discusses growing up in the coal mining town of Cokedale in the 1930s and 1940s; moving to California and attending San José High School, where she and other Mexican American students joined Club Tapatío; meeting and marrying José Alvarado, and becoming more connected to activists in East San José; leadership roles in MAPA, and appointments to the Bicentennial Commission and Charter Review Committee; hosting her own radio show, Merienda Musical; fighting discrimination; the role of Mexican American women in grassroots activism, and important San José women leaders; feeling disconnected from the larger women's movement in the 1960s and 1970s; the role of Mexican Americans in electoral politics; becoming a city councilmember, including elections, representation of women, and important projects like expanding representative cultural programs in San José; becoming a county supervisor, including appointment and later elections, as well as initiatives like juvenile justice reform and creating the Office of Women's Policy; importance of women's participation in politics; and thoughts on current social justice movements.