Title: community manager for Girl Scouts of West Central Florida
Hometown: I consider Tampa my hometown, but I was born in Medellin, Colombia.
Alma mater: Hillsborough High School, University of Florida and Harvard Graduate School of Education
On the job: I’ve had the opportunity to hold several roles at Girl Scouts of West Central Florida. From 2017 until 2020, I was an outreach manager supporting our grant-funded delivery model of Girl Scouting, where girls can be in a Girl Scout troop for free at their school or community center. We connected over 3,000 girls per year to a safe, girls-only space where they could blossom and grow completely free of cost to their families. From 2020 until May of this year, I served as the grant program manager. We were awarded more than $2 million in that time — — all funds that give girls access to life-changing leadership experiences across our eight-county footprint. And now I serve as a community manager, helping bring girls to Girl Scouting and supporting the volunteers who make this work possible.
Giving back: My most rewarding volunteer role has been with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay. I have a little sister named Hailey and we have been matched for almost two years. We have both experienced major life events since we’ve been together, but our sisterhood stays strong. Our favorite activities are swimming in the pool, sitting at McDonald’s and doing homework, and walking the aisles of Target with a Starbucks in hand. It’s the simple things in life.
When I’m not in the office, you can find me being a mom. I just had a baby in December 2021. It’s the most demanding and rewarding thing I’ve ever done. I also love reading, swimming, being outside and spending time with my large and energetic family.
When I was a child I wanted to be a marine biologist or ocean conservationist. I pictured myself scuba diving in the coral reefs, picking up trash in the ocean, testing water samples and saving the turtles. I get my underwater fix by spending lots of time at The Florida Aquarium with my family.
My dream vacation is Thailand.
The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is that my mom always taught me to treat the custodian the same way you treat the CEO. To me, this means showing kindness to everyone you meet and seeing value in the contributions each person makes to our community or workplace.
My favorite thing about Tampa is that Tampa has something for everyone and it is home to so much diversity. With sporting events, delicious restaurants and coffee shops, theme parks, a beautiful aquarium, perfect weather and a spanning Riverwalk, there is always an opportunity for an adventure. I have lived here most of my life and I still find new things to enjoy.
My motto or philosophy that I live by is, “Individually we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” —Ryunosuke Satoro
My pump-up song is “Juice” by Lizzo.
My most ambitious goal is: I used to have a dream of doing a TED talk one day and then that dream came true. In 2020 I did a talk with TEDx Pura Vida about the ways we were connecting with Girl Scouts virtually during the pandemic. So now my next ambitious goal is to write a book and go on a book tour.
The greatest adversity I’ve faced is being a first-generation immigrant. We moved to Tampa when I was 3 years old and I watched my parents learn English, work back-breaking jobs to provide for our family and rebuild their careers. At one point in high school, I was separated from them for almost two years while my mom was redoing her internal medicine residency — — you’ll have to read more about that in my book one day.
My inspiration is my daughter. She inspires me to live a life of joy and peace so that she can create her own joy and peace someday. And she inspires me to work for a more equitable world for her to grow up in.
