“Who I am at my core is someone who deeply, deeply believes in the transformative power of education.”

Summer Search is honored to welcome Yesenia Garcia-Fortuna (She|Her) as our new Executive Director for Summer Search New York City!

Yesenia’s first day was Monday, June 17, and already in her first two weeks, she’s been connecting with staff, students, alumni, and supporters in NYC and across the Summer Search network.

To further introduce herself to our community, Yesenia stepped outside on a beautiful NYC summer day and answered our Three Questions (#3Qs): Who are you? Where are you going? How can we help you get there?

[Explore more from Summer Search’s #3Qs series]

We invite you to watch Yesenia’s welcome video and read more below.

Video Highlights:

• Q1) 0:00-3:18 ~ Who am I?
• Q2) 3:19-4:56 ~ What do I want to be / Where am I going?
• Q3) 4:57-6:03 ~ How can you help me / How can we get there?

In Service of Young People

Yesenia joins Summer Search with more than 15 years of experience in the non-profit sector. She has dedicated herself to building programs and organizations working towards greater access to holistic educational experiences for underrepresented students.

As she explains: “I’ve really dedicated my life to being in service of young people as they navigate education.”

As a second-generation immigrant to Colombian parents and a first-generation college graduate, Yesenia knows firsthand the impact of exploration and education on young people’s ability to dream and live up to their potential.

“[My parents] instilled in me and my siblings that education and service to others was how we should show up in the world. And I carry that in all the work that I do.”

Before joining Summer Search, Yesenia served as a founding staff member and executive leader at Matriculate, a national virtual college advising organization serving high-achieving low and moderate-income students and their families. For eight years, she was central to building the foundation of the program and organization, which grew from serving 300 students to 7,000+ students annually.

“I am incredibly proud of, not only the transactional aspects of that work – when you are helping students connect to quality education in schools and programs – but really the personal development that happens through that work… when we’re really engaging in conversations with young people about what education can mean to them as a value, and what kind of life they can create for themselves… is really what I get excited about.”

People-Centered Leadership

With expertise in program development, program evaluation, organizational development, and change management, Yesenia is uniquely positioned to help teams and organizations through change and growth with a people-centered mindset.

She believes that bringing our authentic selves and leading from a values-driven place can truly inspire change:

“I really am a believer that when we bring our whole selves, and particularly for me, to lead from a values-driven place, is where we really start to change perspectives and minds about how the world should work.”

Yesenia also knows that for our people to show up as their whole selves and provide care for our young people and families, they need to be supported and cared for themselves:

“We can’t really help communities and we can’t support our families and young people if our staff don’t feel empowered and supported and ready to really take on the work — which on so many levels isn’t just about access and knowledge, but there’s a really deep emotional connection. Often our staff see themselves reflected in our students and carry a very personal connection to this work.”

We couldn’t be happier to have Yesenia join the Summer Search community. Leave a comment to welcome her!

Watch more from Yesenia >>