Xiomara is…
. . . a Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Indian cisgender queer woman; a family-first wife and mother, a daughter, titi, and sister; she is also an enthusiastic pinata maker, former pianist, novice gardener, baker, and painter. She is on a lifelong journey to deprogram from white supremacy culture and reclaim her own liberation as a whole, loud, and powerful activist, thinker, speaker, and leader.
. . . a certified leadership coach, a master facilitator and moderator, a dynamic public speaker, and a seasoned consultant and problem solver. She has spent nearly three decades building deep, trusting relationships with leaders – and their organizations - working to interrogate and deprogram from internalized oppression and evolve their practices to live out their deepest-held beliefs.
. . . an experienced founder & CEO. Before starting Pa’lante, Xiomara founded and led Promise54, a national non-profit focused on enabling social impact organizations, and their people, to thrive. While at Promise54, Xiomara published multiple research reports and case studies on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the education sector, created cohort experiences for leaders to build skills in fellowship with others, coached executives, and supported nonprofits, foundations charter networks, and traditional school districts to solve their most vexing people-related challenges.
. . . a seasoned talent professional and leader. Prior to founding Promise54, Xiomara led the Talent Advising practice as a Partner and management team member at Bellwether Education Partners and spent almost a decade as a leader in Deloitte’s Human Capital consulting group specializing in global transformational change and training efforts. Earlier in her career, Xiomara spent nearly a decade at Teach For America where she built the organization’s first national talent team and served as the first Chief People Officer. Xiomara started her career as a bilingual public elementary school teacher in the same South Bronx neighborhood where her mother grew up.
. . . a Looking Out Foundation Board Member, a Pahara-Aspen Fellow, holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and earned her BS from Cornell University.
