Our Team
Gilda Gomez,
Executive Director
ggomez@elevatenewyork.org
Wendy Peralta,
Teacher Mentor
wperalta@elevatenewyork.org
Haden De Leon,
Teacher Mentor
hdeleon@elevatenewyork.org
Advisory Council
Laurie Platek, Executive Member
Nick Di Orio
Pam Do
Montes Piard
Board of Directors
interim Board Chair Andrew Jopling, Vista Equity Partners
Andrew is a Vice President with Vista Equity Partners, an enterprise-software focused private equity firm, where he works with Vista’s investor base on co-investment and direct investment opportunities across investment platforms. Prior to joining Vista, Andrew spent seven years at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Vice President in the Alternatives Capital Markets and Strategy group, driving institutional capital markets, capital raising and client strategy for alternative investments across all asset classes.
“Only through the support and guidance of countless mentors and advisors was I able to make it to where I am today, and I joined the Elevate New York board of directors to play a part in providing that same support and guidance to the under-exposed students of Elevate and the South Bronx.”
Vice Chair of the board
Ashley Grillo, Few Moda
Ashley currently works as Director of Sales and Brand Development for Few Moda, a woman owned, startup Fashion company. Ashley has over 14 years of experience in the startup Fashion space across wholesale, retail and eCommerce. She graduated from University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor’s in Science and studied at Lorenzo de Medici in Florence, Italy with a focus in Textiles, Merchandising and Design. Ashley is also most recently a partner in opening up a restaurant.
“I've always wanted to work with youth and after moving to New York City right after College I looked and volunteered for many years to find the right non-profit to be a part of. I eventually was introduced to Elevate New York. I immediately felt connected to its mission and was very much drawn to their approach and moved by the impact they were making. I wanted to get involved and help in any way I possibly could.”
Secretary
Dr. Victoria Rodriguez,
Be.WELL. Psychotherapy
Dr. Victoria Rodriguez is a New York-based psychotherapist, business and leadership development strategist, running coach, lecturer, and speaker. As a psychotherapist, she works with clients experiencing anxiety, depression, identity issues, imposter syndrome, grief and loss, work-related stress, and relationship concerns. She specializes in working with women, most specifically WOC and female entrepreneurs, in advancing in both their careers and their interpersonal relationships while at the same time developing a more compassionate relationship with themselves. She is a lecturer at Columbia University and teaches graduate level students at the School of Social Work. As an entrepreneur, she has her own business, Victoria R. Consulting, a business and leadership development consulting agency that focuses on building the companies of WOC entrepreneurs.
“I joined the ENY board because I saw its staff's passion and the program's impact on its students. Elevate gives students a voice and guides them tn becoming leaders in the community. As a WOC who grew up in a very similar community to ENY students, seeing the impact the organization has on their lives inspired me to want to assist in a larger capacity.”
Treasurer
Candice Brancazio, ViacomCBS
Candice Brancazio is the CFO/SVP MTV Entertainment Group at ViacomCBS where she directly oversees the division‘s financial operations. MTV Entertainment Group is comprised of nine brands (MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network, Smithsonian Channel, Pop TV, CMT, VH1, TV Land, Logo); MTV Entertainment Studios, which creates unique and relevant content for the Group’s portfolio as well as third-party and streaming platforms; and MTV Documentary Films. Candice is an experienced finance executive with a demonstrated history of working and leading in the media and entertainment industry. Prior to ViacomCBS, Candice spent several years at Ernst & Young as an auditor in their Media & Entertainment division. Candice is a Certified Public Accountant in New York.
"As a girl from the Bronx, and someone whose family has deep ties to New York City's education system, I have always gravitated towards organizations that create meaningful impact for children who typically are not given the exposure and opportunity. After taking a site-visit to an Elevate New York classroom in fall 2017, I saw immediately that Elevate's mission in action was just that. I was excited to become a part of Elevate New York to deliver on their mission and contribute to the life-changing, meaningful opportunity it provides to the youth from the South-Bronx."
Heather Atria,
American Express
Heather Bell Atria has been Manager, Legal Affairs at American Express since 2004. She provides legal support for the Global Travel & Lifestyle Services (TLS) and Global Premium Products & Benefits (GPPB) businesses. Heather is also the global lead for SALT (American Express’ Christian Colleague Network). Prior to joining American Express, Heather was the Director of Contract Administration for the National Hockey League, Manager of Contract Administration for the licensing company 4Kids Productions (f/k/a Leisure Concepts Inc.) and Assistant Vice President of the Solsbury Group, an aviation consulting firm.
Ms. Atria resides in Queens, New York and Boca Raton, FL with her husband and together enjoy their 5 children, 2 grandchildren, travel, missions work, swimming and running their restaurant.
“My reason for joining Elevate at its inception was that I truly believe in the mission, vision and the leadership. Children are so important to me and I loved the unique legacy building model of Elevate and their realistic and wholistic approach to reaching out to underexposed youth.”
Kevin Singleton, Founder
Kevin Singleton is a Grammy Award winning songwriter, cross cultural musician, nonprofit youth development mentor and social entrepreneur. Some of Kevin’s songs have been sung by faith-based organizations globally. He has performed at conferences and school assemblies for more than 3 million students and educators in 20 countries around the world.
In 2009 Kevin founded Elevate New York, a New York City Department of Education accredited, in-school/after-school mentoring 501c3. Over the last decade, he has raised and invested almost $3.5 million into NYC Community School district 8. Kevin is currently in a new development role with major donors at Elevate. He is also working on developing a music ranch for creatives to rest, rejuvenate and record.
“I joined the Board of Directors and founded Elevate New York to provide under-exposed youth with opportunities that were never available to me.”
Juan Tavarez, Fidelity Investments
Juan is a native New Yorker, son of immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic. He is currently living in Boston, MA (although forever a Yankees fan) with wife Jessica and their two children.
Juan has over 15 years of wall street experience, with the bulk of his time in the industry spent analyzing investments in Latin America. Juan is currently working as a research analyst at Fidelity Investments where he is responsible for analyzing investment opportunities in Emerging Markets for the firms High Income & Alternatives division. Prior to joining Fidelity, Juan was a senior investment analyst at American Century Investments in NYC and a Director at Citigroup’s Equity Research division; He also lived in Brazil for two years, during his time at Citi. Juan earned his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Finance from Baruch College - City University of New York.
“Ever since hearing the mission and vision of Elevate New York, I knew I needed to get involved. Having grown up in Brooklyn and gone to public H.S., I’ve seen the need yet also experienced the benefits of having a strong support network and exposure to opportunities outside the 10-block radius of our neighborhoods (an experience not shared by many, yet one that ENY is focused on delivering)”
Corey McBride, Select Equity Group
Corey has 20 years of experience in the financial services industry in different capacities ranging from Operations, Relationship Management, and Compliance. He has worked for a number of investment banks and hedge funds, most notably- the now defunct Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Point72 Asset Management, where he spent several years in London honing his leadership skills as Head of European Compliance. Corey currently works for Select Equity Group in New York City in a senior compliance role. Corey received a B.A. from Morehouse College and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University.
“I joined the Board of Directors because I want youth that may not be exposed to certain opportunities to have a chance to leverage my experience and network to possibly assist them positively on a go-forward basis.”
Marques Johnson, Google
Marques grew up moving around all points west of the Mississippi before his family finally settled down in Portland, Oregon. He earned his B.A. from Willamette University in 2003 where he was a two-sport all-conference athlete and his J.D. from Howard University School of Law in 2008, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Howard Law Journal.
He has worked for thirteen years as a corporate attorney in New York with a brief stint in Tokyo. During that time he has acquired broad experience in the music and tech industries, including most recently as Senior Counsel at Google where he advises on all manner of music-industry-related matters across Google's products and services, primarily focusing on YouTube. Marques currently lives in Montclair, NJ with his wife Kendra and their two children.
“I joined the board of directors because I wanted to find a way to get involved in the community in my adopted city and I have personally benefitted from the life-changing power of relationships. The first time I heard Elevate’s mission, to build long-term relationships with NYC youth, I was in.”