"To be referred to as a Game Changer in the same breath as Anthony Benavides and Angela Reyes is an honor," Muñoz said. "They are two cornerstones in the community."
Muñoz was brought up in Southwest Detroit, her mother one of 16 children. Aunts and uncles were dotted all over the neighborhood.
"We always said as the Muñoz family, you give back to the community you were raised in," she said. "You were born to make a positive difference. And in this world, when you leave this world … leave a positive footprint.
"That's how I was raised."
That philosophy has been evident throughout Muñoz's career. She first worked as the assistant director of the Michigan Minority Business Development Council before launching Muñoz Machine Products with her mom in 1984. The two of them built that company up, creating jobs for the Hispanic community, before selling in 1998.
In her job today, Muñoz does, in short, everything. LA SED's programs cover translation, second-language classes, citizenship classes, helping seniors navigate Medicare and Medicaid, a community enrichment program focusing on math and reading comprehension and anything else in between.
During the pandemic, when Southwest Detroit was hit particularly hard, they helped educate the Hispanic community on how to avoid COVID-19, provided popup testing, helped kids navigate the challenges of virtual learning, and provided vaccinations for over 1,500 people.
"As executive director, I cannot run this organization without the team members I have working with me," Muñoz said. "My community navigator, my coordinators in services. The clients themselves. They come here for help and then they want to know, what can I do? What can I do to help someone? And so many of them come back … that is the true joy of this job."
Sometimes, something as simple as an offer to take out the trash can spark that joy. Clients often tell her those offers aren't enough to pay it forward.
Muñoz couldn't disagree more.
"(To give) your time, to take out our trash, thank you," she said. "We can never say thank you enough."