Because someone chose to ‘pay their community rent,’ Cisco Aguilar went from being raised in a working-class Latino family to graduating from the #1 high school in the country, earning an MBA and law degree, serving as General Counsel for Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf before being elected Nevada Secretary of State. Paying it forward is what Cisco refers to as paying community rent. In this interview with TEDxReno Organizer Kaya Stanley, Cisco talks about how and why he helped raise $50 Million to open a state of the art workforce development school in Nevada and how that school is changing the lives of students and their families. He makes a compelling argument that this is a model for education reform across the country.
Cisco Aguilar is an attorney, community activist, leader in education, and was elected Nevada Secretary of state in 2022. Cisco moved to Nevada more than 20 years ago at which time he began building strong relationships with community leaders and organizations across partisan and ideological boundaries. He served as special counsel to Jim Rogers, Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education, and also served as General Counsel for Agassi Graf, the management company for tennis legends Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf, and the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx