This is the 1st episode of our six-part SF Healing Roots Collaborative Series. It features a discussion with Nicole Santamaria, El/La’s first intersex Executive Director of trans experience, and Pablo Espinoza, Co-Executive Director at Community United Against Violence (CUAV.)

Nicole Santamaria, El/La’s first intersex Executive Director of trans experience, has led the shift in our organizational culture toward a trauma-informed, holistic approach. Her leadership is rooted in 28 years of experience working with survivors of violence (including HIV+ cis and trans women, LGBT women, indigenous communities and people with disabilities in the U.S., Latin America & the Caribbean) as well as her training as an art therapist. She has worked successfully to provide more visibility for El/La and the TransLatina community through her involvement in various partnerships, as well as her position as a city advisory commissioner in the LGBTQI+ Advisory Committee of the City and County of San Francisco. She has also worked with staff and consultants to create a strategic plan to increase El/La’s capacity and set the organization on a track for sustainable growth.  

Learn more about CUAV and El/La Para TransLatinas by visiting their websites

 https://www.cuav.org/ 

https://ellaparatranslatinas.org/

Our SF Healing Roots collaborative includes representatives from YCD, SF Department On the Status of Women and W.O.M.A.N., Inc.