Laura expressed a passion to make a difference in people’s lives at an early age. At just fourteen years of age she volunteered at the Special Olympics and played piano concerts at the CECUT- Centro Cultural de Tijuana to help raise funds for children and under-served families. She received an education through an academic and athletic scholarship, for soccer, at Notre Dame de Namur University and pursued a double major in Political Science and History.
In 2006 Laura co-founded and became the Chief Financial Officer for a small wealth management firm focused in the San Francisco Bay area. In 2010, Laura returned to her roots and for the past six years has dedicated her career to helping non-profits in the San Diego area. Specifically focusing on children and military families. She formerly served as the Chief Development Officer for SYEVF, an educational nonprofit, where she assisted Retired Admiral William Rodriguez in building a foundation. Her responsibilities included developing and implementing financial strategies to build sustainable primary and ancillary revenue streams to support growth and innovation. She was responsible for the relationship management of grants and donations and created transparent annual budgets with yearend reports so donors, board members, and managing partners where aware of the progress and program implementation. She assisted the grassroots nonprofit in more than doubling their budget attaining both government, local and state wide grants from community partners such as: SDG&E, WalMart State Giving, Esperanza, Wells Fargo, San Diego Foundation, etc. and creating effective programs to assist both the youth and the San Ysidro School District.
Similarly she served as Director of Development for Support The Enlisted Project. Laura oversaw the organization’s development for, grant writing, communication and marketing strategy. Her duties also included organizing fundraising events, including but not limited to, golf tournaments, gala events and friend-raisers, which build awareness and strengthened the foundation’s brand. She oversaw and requested millions of dollars’ worth of grants, assisted the foundation in attaining grants such as: Neighborhood Builders grant by Bank of America (invitation only), Patriots Connection (invitation only), and hundreds of others. She lead the assimilation of communication and fundraising content and used marketing avenues such as Social Media, content marketing, and other strategies to broadcast the message.
In addition to her dedication to nonprofit organizations, Laura is also involved in community organizations throughout San Diego County and currently is a member of the Rancho Santa Fe Rotary club, in which she serves as the President of the Rancho Santa Fe Rotary Foundation Board. Previously, she served as Vice President of the RSF Rotary Board, and Chair for the Grant Committee for the Rancho Santa Fe Rotary Club. She also serves on the board of Coma Survivors Foundation and is a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
It is her passion as a single mother to see families and youth reach financial independence and it is her goal, that by building strong relationships with community partners it will empower those to give back and make a positive social impact.
