About Us
We partner with organizations to support their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion goals by providing career and leadership development to their employees. Our comprehensive, culturally relevant Leadership Academy creates an infrastructure that equips professionals of color to climb the corporate ladder with a strategic plan, tangible tools and career coaching. Organizations enjoy a great return on their investment through the ability to attract new talent, reduce employee turnover and create succession plans with more diverse leaders.
VIDA is the Latina narrative of success!
Visibility
A willingness to be visible in the workplace by demonstrating skills, knowledge and leadership to get noticed for all the right reasons.
Identity
A solid sense of one’s unique cultural identity—whether as an immigrant, first generation or someone with a diverse mix of cultures and the ability to embrace one’s authentic identity.
Determination
A remarkable determination not to be discouraged by the headwinds that come with being a woman or a person of color and to keep moving forward with personal vision and ganas (determination).
Action
A strategic career playbook to take action to manage the many facets of career - work - life.
Our Values
Integrity
Collaboration
Diversity
Inclusion
Authenticity
Ganas (Perseverance)
Our Story
We are veterans of corporate leadership roles, serial entrepreneurs, and professional coaches—each with unique strengths and experiences to create a remarkable opportunity to plan for growth and to partner with organizations seeking to advance diverse talent into leadership roles. We created LatinaVIDA partly out of love for the work we do and partly out of a frustration that during our lifetimes we have not seen enough progress or change in the overall status of Latinas and people of color in the world. The stereotypes about diverse communities remain in place, there are few role models, and we continue to see painful statistics about underrepresented communities. Latinos, specifically, are leading the nation in creating new small businesses, entering colleges and universities, and contributing $2.7 Trillion to the GDP. We are seeing important trends that can be leveraged effectively to give the Latino community a voice in corporate America, to bring our innovative spirit to address key social issues, and to strengthen communities. These efforts all require leadership skills and life skills that need to be learned and harnessed. We look forward to making LatinaVIDA a remarkable life-affirming experience for organizations and individuals.
Abrazos,
María G. Hernández, PhD
Santalynda Marrero, EdD
Julia Arellano-Sullivan, MBA
Founders of LatinaVIDA
Who We Are
Passionate, Experienced, Proud Latino Leaders
Our Team
María G. Hernández, PhD
Chairwoman of the Board & Co-Founder
Paola Garcia Abbo
Board Director
Ophelia B. Basgal
Board Director
Damary Bonilla-Rodriguez, EdD
Board Director
Rose Castillo Gilbault
Board Director
Kathleen Chávez-Rège, BS, CPS
Board Director
Janeth Medina Fernandez, MBA
Board Director
Michelle E. Messina
Board Director
Tammy Ramos, JD
Executive Director
Andrew Olsen, CFRE
Advisory Board Member
KT Moore
Advisory Board Member
Efren Rosas, MD
Advisory Board Member
Stacy M. Estrada, MBA, MA
Director of Corporate Sponsorships
Susana M. Morales, MA, PDP, CTI
Director of Coaching Services
Jessica Almeida
Coach and Facilitator
Rodrigo Alejandro Colón, MA
Coach and Facilitator
GinaLinn Espinoza
Coach and Facilitator
Lucrecia Iruela, JD, LLM, PHR, ACC
Coach and Facilitator
Mercedes Martin, MA
Coach and Facilitator
Santalynda Marrero, EdD
Coach and Facilitator
David McKnight, MS, CPC
Coach and Facilitator
Ellie Nieves, JD, MBA
Coach and Facilitator
Jovanna Perez-Lydon, BS
Coach and Facilitator
Kristine Pérez-Foley, MSEd, PCC
Coach and Facilitator
Gisselle Ruiz, MA
Coach and Facilitator
Saymar Melendez
Social Media Manager
Bianca Vasquez
Social Media Coordinator
Cecilia Mota
Past Volunteer
Laura Vargas
Past Volunteer
A Message from Our Executive Director
¡Bienvenidos! Welcome to LatinaVIDA! I am Tammy Ramos, J.D., a proud Latina who has devoted decades to advancing Latinas and diverse professionals — empowering them with leadership training, career tools and strategic thinking to achieve work-life goals.
Why LatinaVIDA Matters
Facts & Stats
1 in 5
women in the US are Latinas
1 in 3
women in the US will be Latina by 2060
3%
of all professional and executives in the US are Latinos
54%
of K–12 in California are Latinos
74%
of the workforce growth in 2020 is Latino
$2.7 Trillion
of GDP powered by Latinos
7.4 million
projected increase in the number if Latinos in the workforce from 2018–2028