HR, Finances and Operations Director

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.

In the past 6 years, Claudia has grown from coordinator to a director role, leading a small team in making sure Finance, Operations and Human Resources at Prospera are conducted in line with Prospera’s values while carrying the “Fueguito Prospera”.

Claudia puts love at the forefront of her life. Being an immigrant Latina herself and knowing firsthand the challenges women face every day, Claudia makes sure her passion for serving the community shines through her actions. Before moving to the US, Claudia attended Business and Law Schools in her native country, Colombia. She enjoys traveling, dancing, meeting people from other cultures, and hosting gatherings around food for her community and friends. She lives with her husband and 10-year-old daughter, Gabriela, in Oakland, CA, and although Claudia doesn’t look like a grandmother, she became one recently and can’t get enough of her baby granddaughter, Isabella.

“I am a woman, Latina, mother of two young women, wife, sister, friend, sister in struggle; I am a cooperative member. Despite having grown up in Latin American culture, where cooperating is part of daily life, it was just a few years ago that I discovered the cooperative world. First through a preschool cooperative, then through a housing cooperative and finally through my work as Financial and Operations Director at Prospera where I am able to set an example each day and practice what I have learned through my experience with the entrepreneurs who join the Prospera programs as well as with my colleagues and co-workers.

In addition to having developed a passion for the effective use of resources and ways of living healthily and harmoniously with our surroundings, I love to dance, host meetings around good food, travel and explore new cultures and experiences. I want to limit my carbon footprint on the planet and at the same time increase the loving footprint in the hearts and memories of everyone who knows me.“