Yolanda Alaniz was born in 1950 in Texas. Shortly thereafter, her family moved to the Yakima Valley of eastern Washington where her parents worked in the fields.

In 1969, Alaniz enrolled in the University of Washington and soon became involved in progressive causes. She was an active and influential member in Chicana/o rights organizations like MEChA and the Brown Berets. In 1975, while working as a student-employee, Alaniz was a central figure in the student strike to protest the firing of two Chicano administrators. A journalist, she also wrote articles about women's rights for the UW Daily.

After graduating from UW, she moved to Los Angles where she became an organizer for the Freedom Socialist Party and continued to fight for progressive causes and Chicana/o rights. Alaniz also became an active member of Radical Women, a feminist-socialist organization.

Today, Alaniz works as an archivist and writer. In 1998, she co-edited the anthology, Voices of Color, which recounts the experiences of many activists in the Chicano movement. In 2006, with Megan Cornish, Alaniz published her second book, iViva la Raza!: Chicano Identity and Resistance.