HISPANICS IN PHILANTHROPY ANNOUNCES THE HIRING OF NEW STAFF
(San Francisco, October 31, 2005) – Hispanics in Philanthropy, an association of philanthropic professionals dedicated to strengthening Latino communities, announces the hiring of four new employees: Ella Diaz, Executive Assistant to the President, Leila Hernandez, North East Program Coordinator, Lydia Johnson, Latino Funds Manager, and Rafael Mazer, Development and Communications Coordinator.
Ella Diaz is the Executive Assistant to HIP’s president, Diana Campoamor. Prior to joining HIP, Ella instructed at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Pursuing her PhD in American Studies, Ella’s dissertation, “Flying Under the Radar with The Royal Chicano Air Force: The Ongoing Politics of Space and Ethnic Identity,” explores the politics of ethnicity and mapping via alternative historical narratives. After teaching several introductory courses for Women’s Studies and American Studies, Ella developed and taught The College’s first Chicana Literature course. A Southern Regional Education Board Fellow for 2004—2005, Ella intends to complete her doctorate in 2007. Prior to William and Mary, Ella received her BA in American Literature from UC Santa Cruz.
Leila Hernández-Freedman is the Program Coordinator for Northeast Regional Office in New York. Leila has diverse international development experience, specifically in microfinance in Latin America and South East Asia. Prior to joining HIP Leila worked at Women’s World Banking where she developed and supported a knowledge-sharing network of 22 financial institutions from 16 countries that provided loans to micro entrepreneurs and offered savings and other asset-building products to low-income women. Prior to this, she held a number of positions in a multicultural environment and in the economic development field. This includes a project with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Capital Development Fund (CDF) to develop a tool kit of best practices of microfinance institutions to address gender issues. She also worked at the European Commission (EC) in Spain in their program AL-INVEST to promote investment in Latin America. In Mexico she served as a Congress Liaison at the Legal Council of State Government of Nuevo Leon and she also was a Program Officer at Ministry of Social Development (SEDESOL) where she evaluated strategic projects and designed programs and social policies.
Leila was born and raised in Mexico where she obtained her BA in International Relations from Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM). She also has a Certificate from the Institut International d’Administration Publique in Paris, France and a Masters from The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University in New York where she specialized in Economic and Political Development and Latin American Studies. Leila speaks Spanish, English and has working knowledge of French. Leila lives in Park Slope with her husband Aaron and they both enjoy world traveling and exploring New York's ethnic restaurants.
Lydia Johnson is the new Latino Funds Program Manager. She recently came to HIP from the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) where she led development efforts in creating partnerships with corporations and foundations for more than three years. Prior to her work at HSF, Ms. Johnson spent 5 years at the San Francisco Foundation first coordinating activities to celebrate the Foundations’ 50th Anniversary and then joining the Foundations’ development team where she worked directly with donor advisors and helped to launch one of the first online service centers for donor advisors. Her fundraising and marketing career also spans positions held at Bayer Brown Advertising, the San Francisco Food Bank, and United Way of the Bay Area. She has served on the board of Cine Accion and currently serves on the steering committee for the American Marketing Association Non Profit Spring 2006 Conference. Born in Southern California, Ms. Johnson, lives in Berkeley, with her husband and young son.
Rafael Mazer is currently serving as Development and Communications Coordinator for HIP. Rafael’s studies and work experience have focused on grass-roots organizing within rural communities at home and abroad. A 2002 graduate of Pomona College with a degree in International Relations, he did his thesis on non-conventional organizing strategies amongst Chilean farm workers’ unions. In addition to extensive travel throughout Latin America, Rafael was also a 2003 Fulbright Scholar in Guatemala. In Guatemala he studied the impact of Fair Trade Coffee on indigenous growers’ cooperatives, as well as developing community projects in crop diversification, medical clinics, and a local scholarship fund. Before joining HIP, Rafael was serving as a union representative for nursing home workers on the Central Coast of California.
Hispanics in Philanthropy is a transnational network of grantmakers, founded in 1983 on the belief that philanthropy should be more inclusive and responsive to communities of color. HIP’s mission is to serve as a catalyst to increase resources for the Latino and Latin American civil sector, as well as to increase Latino participation and leadership throughout philanthropy. HIP pursues this mission through programs, conferences, publications and research that seek to educate the field of philanthropy about Latino issues and Latin America, to increase the representation of Latinos in the field, and to develop philanthropy from within Latino communities. For more information, please consult their website at www.hiponline.org.