Yerba Buena HS, Class of 1987
Managing Partner, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP

Kristi Nevarez was born and raised in East San José. She really enjoyed her time at Yerba Buena High and especially enjoyed graduating with many of her neighbors and much of her kindergarten class from Stonegate Elementary School. Her parents worked very hard to give her every opportunity in the world and always valued education. With the grace and good fortune of these opportunities, she was accepted to Santa Clara University.

Through college, she worked as a legal secretary, then as a paralegal for a local non-profit (Senior Adult Legal Assistance). Then she kept going to attend Santa Clara University’s School of Law. She intentionally found mentors and advocates along the way who gave her the encouragement to push through the difficult challenges, to hold her head high in trying times, to be proud of her accomplishments, and to draw inspiration from others.

Kristi always knew that she wanted to help people, and she fulfilled one of her dreams by becoming an immigration attorney. Her focus is corporate immigration, and she has worked with Fragomen for over 23 years. Fragomen is the largest and the leading immigration law firm in the world, with offices in over 60 countries. She recently became the Managing Partner of Fragomen’s Silicon Valley office.

Kristi is proud to lead an all-women office partnership, with four out of six partners in Silicon Valley being women of color. She provides support for hundreds of attorneys, paralegals, and business professionals — all of whom are dedicated to providing exceptional legal and strategic business advice to Silicon Valley’s top companies. Her local and Latina perspective have long informed her commitment to immigration services.

Further, Kristi’s upbringing has made her particularly passionate about mentoring and helping to
develop other women of diverse backgrounds. She serves on the Latina Advisory Council of How Women Lead, a national organization of top executive women focused on activating their individual and collective power to achieve equity for women by driving representation and opportunities across all aspects of life and career. Kristi also sponsors the Silicon Valley office’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and is personally and passionately active in internal and external DEI initiatives.

Prior to rejoining Fragomen as a Partner, Kristi served as Congressional Assistant and Immigration Policy Advisor to Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, working with constituents in her local district office and working with the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Border Safety in Washington, DC.

She draws inspiration from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and this quote from her resonates with Kristi: “I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences.”