Who Is Karla Cornejo Villavicencio? Age, Biography and Wiki
Born in 1989, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is currently 36 years old. She was born in Ecuador and moved to the United States at a young age, which has shaped her identity and the themes within her work. Karla is best known for her groundbreaking memoir, The Undocumented Americans, which explores the lives of undocumented immigrants in America through a deeply personal lens. Her unique voice and perspective have earned her recognition and accolades within literary circles and beyond.
| Occupation | Writers |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1989 (age 36) |
| Age | 36 Years |
| Birth Place | Ecuador |
| Horoscope | |
| Country | Ecuador |
Popularity
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio's Popularity over time
Height, Weight & Measurements
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio stands at a height of approximately 5 feet 4 inches (163 cm). While specific weight and body measurements are not publicly disclosed, she maintains a healthy lifestyle that reflects her dedication to both her physical well-being and mental health.
Family, Dating & Relationship Status
Karla is known to be private about her personal life. As of 2025, she is reportedly single and focusing on her career, although details about her dating status are not widely publicized. She often emphasizes the importance of family in her life, sharing that her experiences as an immigrant have significantly shaped her understanding of relationships and community.
When she was 18 months old, her parents left her behind when they immigrated to the US. When she was four or five, her parents brought her to the United States. She has a brother. Her family lived in the New York borough of Queens. After 9/11, Cornejo Villavicencio's father, who had been working as a taxi driver, lost his license.
Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s estimated net worth is around $1 million. Her earnings primarily come from her successful writing career, including book sales, speaking engagements, and teaching roles. In addition to her literary work, she has also been involved in various projects that reflect her advocacy for immigrant rights, contributing to her overall financial success.
Her academic excellence prompted a wealthy benefactor to pay for her tuition at a Catholic school in New York. She graduated from Harvard in 2011 and believes she is one of the first undocumented immigrants to do so. As of September 2020 she was a PhD candidate in the American studies program at Yale.
Before choosing Yale University to pursue her PhD, Cornejo Villavicencio experienced difficulties due to her undocumented status since universities such as Stanford and UPenn pulled their offers upon discovering her status. She was an Emerson Collective fellow.
Career, Business and Investments
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio's literary career took off with the release of The Undocumented Americans, which was widely praised for its raw, honest portrayal of the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants. Since then, she has continued to contribute to various literary publications and has taught creative writing at esteemed institutions.
Aside from writing, Karla is an advocate for immigrants and often participates in discussions and panels that address the struggles and stories of marginalized communities. She also engages in various activism efforts that aim to provide a platform for immigrant voices, showcasing her commitment beyond the realm of literature.
As early as the age of fifteen, Cornejo Villavicencio began writing professionally about jazz for a downtown NYC jazz publication.
Though Cornejo Villavicencio did not know where she wanted her career to go at first, she later discovered her passion in advocating for issues regarding immigration, mental illness, and the culture of people who are undocumented. Cornejo Villavicencio began writing professionally as a teenager.
She reviewed jazz albums for a New York monthly magazine. She has written for The Atlantic, Elle, Glamour, n+1, The New Republic, The New York Times, and Vogue. In April 2021, she published her memoir The Undocumented Americans and in July 2024 she published her novel, Catalina.
Social Network
Karla is an active figure on social media platforms, particularly Twitter and Instagram, where she connects with readers and fellow writers. Her online presence allows her to share insights into her work, personal experiences, and the issues she passionately advocates for. By engaging with her audience, she creates a sense of community among those who resonate with her messages.
Cornejo Villavicencio's first book, The Undocumented Americans, is part memoir, part essays about undocumented day laborers, whom she calls "People who don't inspire hashtags or t-shirts". She started writing it the morning after the 2016 presidential election and says she "thought the moment called for a radical experiment in genre".
Cornejo Villavicencio tells her own immigration story and profiles undocumented immigrants across the United States, detailing the trauma of those recruited to clean up ground zero, the loneliness of day laborers in Staten Island, the struggle that many faced with the water crisis in Flint, Michigan etc.
She has said she wasn't interested in writing about DACA recipients, as the stories of DACA recipients are already well-documented and "occupy outsize attention in our politics".
Cornejo Villavicencio is critical of reportage done by the media in terms of undocumented people, where journalism praises the accomplishments of DREAMers while casting the rest of the undocumented population as villains or oversimplifying their stories.
Cornejo Villavicencio’s memoir is intended for “ immigrants of all backgrounds”, providing a place for all immigrants to be heard and seen. The memoir serves as a piece designed to clear up misconceptions surrounding the undocumented community, and may serve as a reflective work for those who have legal status.
Cornejo only used interviews in which she established a more personal connection with the person rather than using every story she came across which makes it more genuine. Cornejo Villavicencio’s memoir is one of the few works written by undocumented or formerly undocumented writers within the last five years.
Other notable writers in this category include Jose Antonio Vargas, Julissa Arce, and Javier Zamora.
Jose Antonio Vargas described Cornejo Villavicencio’s memoir as ‘a significant contribution to personal-essay literary journalism,' emphasizing its role in illuminating and giving voice to the lives of undocumented individuals in the United States.
Cornejo Villavicencio visited with workers in Cleveland, Flint, New Haven, New York, and Miami, "gaining access to vigilantly guarded communities whose stories are largely absent from modern journalism and literature".
She in general avoided detailing her subjects' reasons for emigrating because she believes people shouldn't have to provide a reason why they "deserve" to emigrate.
Education
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio pursued her higher education at Harvard University, where she honed her skills in creative writing and expanded her understanding of literature. Her academic background, combined with her life experiences as an immigrant, informs much of her work and the themes she explores in her writing.
In 2010, when Cornejo Villavicencio was a senior in college and before Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was established, she wrote an essay, “I'm an Illegal Immigrant at Harvard”, which was published anonymously by the Daily Beast.
Literary agents reached out to ask if she'd be interested in writing a memoir, which she says made her angry, as she was at the time 21. She felt most were interested in having her write "a rueful tale about a sickly Victorian orphan with tuberculosis who didn't have a social security number".
