U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo (CO-08) is the first Latina to represent Colorado in the U.S. House of Representatives. Colorado’s newly created 8th congressional district covers the northern suburbs of Denver.

The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Caraveo was born and raised in the city of Thornton. She majored in biology at Regis University and became the first in her family to earn a college degree. She then attended medical school at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Caraveo practiced as a pediatrician in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Thornton, Colorado, for more than decade before entering politics.