CLAUDIA ARROYO
Executive Director
Claudia joined Prospera in August 2014 as a consultant, providing outreach, recruitment, and training services, and in January 2015 she joined the staff as the Training and Capacity Building Director. She has been a key member of the Program Team, designing all of Prospera’s new programs. Claudia brings her passion for social justice and equality to her role. She has been an active leader in immigrant rights, bringing in a necessary perspective having been undocumented herself for 12 years, gender and violence prevention, gay and queer rights, and health promotion for underserved communities for more than 15 years. Using Popular Education, video editing, and culture, she has served the community by creating plays to denounce and prevent social and health problems. Continue reading »
MAITE GASCO
Associate Director
Maite Gascó joined the Prospera team in January 2018. Maite holds degrees in Advertising, Public Relations, and Marketing. Her international experience at Vicente Ferrer Foundation, and her freelance and volunteer work for organizations like KIVA, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, Arrels Foundation, Esperanzah Foundation have provided her with a solid background in fundraising and communications for the third sector. Continue reading »
ESTEFANÍA CARDONA B.
Strategic Impact and Systems Manager
Estefanía joined Prospera as our Strategic Impact and Systems Manager, bringing an extensive experience in Non-Profit development and a deep passion for building a just and equitable world. As a Latina immigrant having lived in several countries, she is wholehearted in disrupting the inequities faced by immigrant and underserved communities. Estefanía is motivated by and committed to supporting Prospera’s vision of creating an ecosystem of Latina-owned cooperatives and businesses.
She leads Prospera’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) area, driving the organization’s systems and technology, and partnerships strategy. With a focus on developing and implementing Prospera’s expansion plan, Estefanía plays a crucial role in propelling the organization’s impact scale.
ANAHI ROJAS
Program Director
Anahi was studying to be a lawyer in Mexico when she decided to emigrate to the United States, where she became a worker-owner of various green house cleaning cooperatives. During this time, she looked for opportunities to create her own business. In 2017, she started Professional Eco Cleaning, an environmentally friendly home and office cleaning business with cooperative values. During all of this time, she has been providing economic and moral support to her family in Mexico, which led her mother to open a stationery store and her sister a clothing store focused on appreciation of different body types. Anahi is a partner and consultant for these businesses. Continue reading
ANA CASTAÑO
Program Success Manager
In the summer of 2014, Ana started her relationship with Prospera. She worked as a worker-owner in a cooperative business project for the production and sale of popsicles for two years. Later, due to her love and respect for the training and education of people from an early age, she began a new cooperative project called Luna y Sol, focused on child care. Motivated by the need and trust that families with children have in child care providers and her conviction that cooperativism is a vehicle for the economic and professional sustainability of humanity, Ana continued to participate with Prospera. She was a member of the Board of Directors, then became the President of the Board, always attentive and engaged in the programs and opportunities that Prospera offered. Continue reading
ELISA SANTILLAN
Outreach and Community Team Leader
Elisa is originally from Mexico, where she lived until 2020. She is proud to be part of the LGBTQ+ community and is happily married to Xochitl Castillo. Before joining Prospera, Elisa graduated from the Program “Explora tu Cooperativa”, and became a volunteer for the program during 2021. She was also a Prospera consultant in February 2022, and in the same year; she joined the team as Program Assistant. Elisa fell in love with Prospera from the first moment, convinced that this organization lives the values it professes, and that being there is not a work for her, but a lifestyle. She connects her passion with the mission of the organization, by providing support to immigrant communities in her personal and professional development. Continue reading
CELIA ALVAREZ
Cooperative & Special Initiatives Lead
Celia joined the Prospera team in January 2024 as an Entrepreneur Success Coordinator. Originally from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Celia arrived to the U.S. at the age of 19 with the idea of achieving the American dream and quickly realized that without preparation, it would be very difficult to achieve her goals. She began studying ESL during the day at San Jose City College and Evergreen Valley College and in the evenings at an adult school. In 2017, she earned her GED and graduated alongside her daughter, who graduated high school, and her son, who graduated middle school. Continue reading
CLAUDIA DELGADO
HR, Finance and Operations
Claudia is the HR, Finance and Operations Director at Prospera. Prior to joining the Prospera team, she graduated from the program “Explora tu Cooperativa” in 2018 and volunteered at Prospera’s second Summit for Latina Entrepreneurs that same year. She brings to Prospera over 18 years of administrative, finance, and operations experience, having worked with international nonprofits both in Colombia and the US. At her previous jobs, at The HALO Trust and Mercy Corps, Claudia supported the Executive teams as well as Financial and Operations teams by making sure the daily logistics, finance, and operations were running in a timely and effective manner. Continue reading »
JAMI MARCOE
Finance & Operations Manager
Jami joined the Prospera team in May 2022 as the Finance and Operations Coordinator. Jami holds a Bachelor of Science in Community Health. Jami has spent a substantial amount of time traveling in and around the Americas and has a profound commitment to helping Latin American communities arise.
Jami’s love for the nonprofit world stemmed from being a part of a grant writing collective where she brings deep appreciation and knowledge of how nonprofits pursue their missions to improve communities, one program at a time. Prospera’s mission and values of supporting Latina women to foster economic independence brought Jami to Prospera. Continue reading