Latina South Latina South

Gigi Pedraza is founding Executive Director of the nonprofit, Latino Community Fund of Georgia. In part two of our conversation, Gigi shares what she loves about living in South including the increasing diversity of people in the region. She also shares more about the challenges facing nonprofits - from the way the work is perceived to having to face society’s most complex challenges with limited resources. Gigi invites all of us to become leaders in our own spaces and support the organizations doing impactful work in the Latinx community.

Gigi Pedraza is the founding Executive Director of the nonprofit, Latino Community Fund of Georgia and one of the most influential Latinas in the state. In the first of two parts of our conversation, Gigi shares with us the catalytic moments which fueled her journey to become both a social entrepreneur and vocal advocate for the Latino Community in Georgia. Gigi also shares her thoughts on philanthropy and her approach to both creating awareness and securing resources for the organizations tackling the most complex issues for the Latino community in Georgia.

Ana Baskharone is a Director in a large utilities company headquartered in Houston, Texas. After 30 years of working hard, Ana began to feel stuck in her career - so she hired a coach. That move, among others, helped her to land a new position when she began to advocate for herself and share her story as a leader. Ana talks about her Latina identity and her journey as a first generation college student to corporate director. She describes her love of golf and its parallels to life. She also shares her passion for early childhood education as a Board member of nonprofit, Collaborative for Children.

Dr. Betina Kaplan teaches Latin American cultures and literatures at the University of Georgia. In 2010 she became angered by the policies banning undocumented students from the top 5 public universities in Georgia. Betina shares how anger inspired her to take action - she became part of the founding group of Freedom University in Atlanta, a safe space for undocumented students to continue their education. In 2014, she also co-founded ULead Athens, a volunteer organization enabling college access for immigrant students and students from immigrant families - where she continues her work today.

Tejana and healthcare hero, Ashley Garcia, is a nurse who, early in career and at the height of the pandemic, volunteered to work in COVID Intensive Care Units of hospitals throughout the country. In addition to sharing stories from the ICU, Ashley talks about how being a part of a team and having a self-care routine got her through difficult times while she caring for others. She also talks getting married to her long-time love in a drive-thru wedding where guests were able to drop off gifts and receive their packaged dinner while enjoying music by a Selena impersonator - a time of joy and celebration during the toughest days of the pandemic.

Mariela Romero is an award-winning journalist, Univision’s Regional Community Empowerment Director and host of the television magazine, Conexion Fin de Semana. With 27 Emmys and a Latin Grammy nomination among her accomplishments, she has over 25 years of television and radio broadcast experience. Her first day at CNN Radio En Espanol took place on the terror-filled September 11, 2001. Let’s listen as she shares how that one day of reporting prepared her for journalism in a way she could not have even imagined. Mariela also shares with us how her time as a hospital and court interpreter opened both her eyes and her heart to the issues impacting the Latino community and inspires her empowerment work today.