BIO
Diana has over 20 years of nonprofit experience and 25 years of facilitation experience. A trained facilitator, consultant, coach and mediator, Diana believes the most transformative work happens at the intersections. Everything she does is to support the creation of liberatory systems and communities. She has an entrepreneurial spirit and brings a creative lens to all her work.
Diana has built many programs and initiatives from the ground up. She founded the Anti-Racism Equity department at Good Shepherd Services (GSS) NYC, where she currently serves as the founding Chief Anti-Racism and Equity Officer.
In this role she oversees the leadership development, learning and development, mission and culture and the agency’s internal anti-racism efforts. She developed equitable hiring policies and practices as well as introduced more collaborative and transparent critical agency decision-making processes. Her efforts helped to accelerate the diversification of the executive and senior leadership teams. In 2016, the executive team was 90% white and in 2023 it is composed of 63% people of color.
She founded and developed an Anti-Racism and Equity Institute that launched in the spring of 2021. It supported the learning of 25 nonprofit leaders from across the sector. In February 2024, the second round of the Institute launched and is supporting the learning of 28 GSS leaders. She co-founded the NY Equitable Economies Coalition, a group of nonprofits focused on creating more procurement opportunities for BIPOC vendors, contractors, and consultants in NYC.
Prior to this role, she oversaw all policy and program efforts at the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families. She facilitated a series of conversations with leaders from various nonprofit organizations across NYC to develop a Communities of Color Values platform. While there, she served as a member of the Mayor’s New York School Diversity Advisory Group who made a series of integration recommendations for all NYC public schools.
She holds a Master's of Arts from New York University. She considers herself a lifelong learner and always seeks opportunities to enhance her ability to meaningfully support and partner with individuals and communities. She has been trained in circle practice, restorative justice, mediation, social and racial justice facilitation, trauma-informed practices, life coaching, reiki, La Ho Chi energy, and more. In March 2024, she completed a 12-month trauma-informed program called Compassionate Inquiry.
She believes that the most transformative work happens at the intersections. She looks to bridge and deepen her facilitation and social justice work with healing modalities and practices.
