Ofelia struggled as a young mother and widow at twenty-six. She raised her children in East and Southeast Austin where they attended Austin ISD schools.

Ofelia has been married to Timoteo Zapata for thirty-two years. She graduated from Travis High School and attended Austin Community College. She is a member of San Jose Catholic Church, Founder and President of their Social Justice Ministry.

Ofelia credits Austin Interfaith for bringing light to her darkness when she met them at her church. She understood that our struggles create anger and it is up to us to do something about the injustice we live in. She did not want her blindness to be a crutch, instead she learned through community organizing to put her faith into action by participating in the political arena to become an agent of change.

 Ofelia is an extraordinary example of a successful advocate who succeeds by working with and sharing credit with others. She has been a leader in education and has served as President and Vice-President for the Eastside Memorial Early College and International School Parent-Teacher-Student Association. She is a co-founder of the City of Austin and Travis County Summer Youth Employment and Capital Idea Adult Job Training programs. After twenty-five years she continues to recruit AISD students and adults for these successful programs as a pathway to become productive citizens.   

Those that know her were not surprised that voters elected her to the A.I.S.D. school board, District 2 by receiving 60% of the votes, more than the votes combined for the other candidates. From 2020 to 2024, she was the District 2 Trustee.

She worked for the Texas Commission on Alcohol & Drug Abuse for twenty years. She is the Co-founder and Community Organizer for the Texas Anti-Poverty Project and Advocates for Social Justice Reform that began in 2019. In 2018 and 2019, she was a Community Implementation Specialist with professors at UT Austin Department of Population Health where she was instrumental in creating a partnership with the Housing Authority Urgent Wellness Clinic. She was also a Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) Board Member from 2009 to 2015.

If elected, Ofelia will continue her deep commitment to equity, education and the empowerment of underserved communities in Travis County Precinct 4.