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Our Team
Sonia Garcés is a woman committed to human dignity, social justice, and supporting vulnerable communities. Throughout her life, she has built a path based on empathy, active listening, and concrete action, becoming a bridge between people, institutions, and opportunities. Her career has been marked by close work with migrant families, Afro-descendant communities, and people facing exclusion, promoting guidance, support, and advocacy for rights from a humanistic and solidarity-based perspective.
Her leadership is characterized by her ability to build trust, connect networks, and create spaces for dialogue in complex contexts. As president of the Afro-American Alliance Foundation, she drives initiatives focused on community strengthening, promoting human rights, and building more just and inclusive environments. She provides overall leadership and strategic direction for the organization. She oversees the implementation of the Alliance’s strategic plan, establishes programmatic priorities, and aligns human and financial resources to advance the organization’s mission and long-term goals.
Sonia firmly believes in the power of social action as a tool for transformation, working every day to ensure that more people find support, guidance, and real opportunities for development.
Sonia Garces
President
Senior Vice President, Programs & Initiatives
Chavelle Sangokoya serves as Senior Vice President of Programs & Initiatives. Driven by her passion for economic development and racial equity, Chavelle is responsible for leading the Alliance’s Women-led Initiative as well as the African American Equity Scorecard. Over the past seven years, she has effectively facilitated focus groups and working sessions with community stakeholders and entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) to collaboratively build solutions to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in entrepreneurship. Leveraging her business operations and management background, Chavelle has designed and evaluated curriculum for early-stage entrepreneurs and launched a flagship rewards program that incentivizes Black entrepreneurs to work on their business and engage in local entrepreneur ecosystems.
Senior Vice President, Programs & Initiatives
Chavelle Sangokoya serves as Senior Vice President of Programs & Initiatives. Driven by her passion for economic development and racial equity, Chavelle is responsible for leading the Alliance’s Women-led Initiative as well as the African American Equity Scorecard. Over the past seven years, she has effectively facilitated focus groups and working sessions with community stakeholders and entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) to collaboratively build solutions to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in entrepreneurship.
Senior Vice President, Programs & Initiatives
Chavelle Sangokoya serves as Senior Vice President of Programs & Initiatives. Driven by her passion for economic development and racial equity, Chavelle is responsible for leading the Alliance’s Women-led Initiative as well as the African American Equity Scorecard. Over the past seven years, she has effectively facilitated focus groups and working sessions with community stakeholders and entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) to collaboratively build solutions to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in entrepreneurship.
Senior Vice President, Programs & Initiatives
Chavelle Sangokoya serves as Senior Vice President of Programs & Initiatives. Driven by her passion for economic development and racial equity, Chavelle is responsible for leading the Alliance’s Women-led Initiative as well as the African American Equity Scorecard. Over the past seven years, she has effectively facilitated focus groups and working sessions with community stakeholders and entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) to collaboratively build solutions to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in entrepreneurship.