Profiles In Leadership

Carmen’s parents were her role models, and through them, she learned early on about the resilience, strength, and struggles embodied by women of color, who encountered constant micro-aggressions and racism, and about the critical role supportive fathers play in raising a budding feminist. Over the course of her 25-year career in philanthropy, she has worked hard to successfully galvanize funders, donors, policymakers, and grassroots activists to forever change lives, systems, and communities for good. She is particularly passionate about building prosperity for women and girls of color and firmly believes in the ineffable power a sisterhood holds to support, nurture, and amplify one another – this is why she always makes a point of collaborating with other women in philanthropy to inspire and guide each other. She is presently a fellow in the Aspen Institute and the Neighborhood Funder’s Group Philanthropy Forward initiative, and was recently invited to join Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Membership. In August