Our People
We are a Latina organization. Founded and led by Latinas, we ground our work in listening to Latinas and our communities, lifting up their beauty, strengths, and wisdom on this journey to end gender-based violence. We appreciate our allies who stand with us in this work and are proud that our staff and board reflect communities we serve.
Staff Leadership


Vivian Huelgo
Vivian Huelgo serves as Chief Programs Officer at Esperanza United. Vivian is a key member of executive management at Esperanza United, articulating and implementing the strategic vision and leadership of the agency as she creates and supports a high-performing culture with staff in the Twin Cities area, Washington DC and across the country, working on direct service, intervention and prevention, policy and training and technical assistance. Vivian has worked at the intersection of law and gender-based violence for over twenty years. For example, in 2010, she joined the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence as Chief Counsel, working intensively on the organization’s human rights, domestic and sexual violence, and human trafficking initiatives.


Patricia Tototzintle
President and Chief Executive Officer
Patti identifies as a Latina with Mexican roots and has been in executive leadership at Esperanza United, formerly Casa de Esperanza, since 2002, where she oversees all organizational programming, administrative and financial operations, and key collaborations and partnerships. She is passionate about developing the strengths of Latin@s and is recognized as a national expert on leadership development.


Rosario de la Torre
Director of Family Advocacy
Rosario de la Torre came to the United States from Mexico in 1988 and is a highly experienced and respected advocate in the fields of domestic violence and sexual assault. She was a primary contributor to the development of the Latina Advocacy Framework and provides training to other advocates and organizations across the country.


Cristina Escobar
Director of Communications and marketing
Cristina Escobar is a third-generation Chicana and has helped lead feminist causes for over a dozen years. A writer and activist, she specializes in gender-based violence prevention, media representation, and women and politics.


Olivia Garcia, Ph.D.
Director of Public Policy
Olivia Garcia, Ph.D. is the Director of Public Policy at Esperanza United. Prior to her current position, she served as an American Political Science Association (APSA) 2021-2022 Congressional Fellow and received the honor of a William A. Steiger Fund for Legislative Studies. Dr. Garcia completed her doctorate in Political Science from UCLA with an emphasis on Race and Ethnicity Politics, Gender Studies and Political Theory. Her research focuses on the Violence Against Women Act and the ways in which the theory of intersectionality is absent from policy, although it is a necessary consideration when on-the-ground advocates are helping survivors of intimate partner violence. Dr. Garcia is an affiliate lecturer for the University of Colorado Denver Graduate School of Public Affairs and University of Texas at El Paso’s Criminal Justice and Chicano Studies Departments.


Annika Gifford
Chief Strategy and Impact Officer
Annika Gifford has worked to end gender-based violence internationally and in the US for over twenty years. She’s a strategic thinker, solutions-finder, and community and bridge-builder who is passionate about social and systems transformation.


Paula Gomez Stordy
Senior Director of Training and Technical Assistance
Paula Gomez Stordy was born in Boston to Chilean parents and lived in various cities and towns in Massachusetts and Chile throughout her life. She has worked with survivors of abuse within various settings including courts, hospitals, and shelters and her advocacy has led to institutional change to increase the inclusion and safety of survivors.


Lillie Macias, Ph.D.
Director of Research and Evaluation
Lillie Macias is the granddaughter of Mexican American farmworkers and directs Esperanza United’s research and evaluation center through a partnership with the Department of Psychology at The University of New Haven, Connecticut. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Clinical-Community Psychology from Georgia State University and completed pre-doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships at Yale University. She specializes in trauma-informed and culturally relevant research and evaluation.


Lumarie Orozco, MA
Director of Special Initiatives
Lumarie Orozco, MA is the Director of Special Initiatives for Esperanza United. Currently, Lumarie oversees Esperanza United’s intimate partner homicide prevention initiatives, various special projects, and provides strategic technical assistance to organizations, agencies, and coalitions seeking to enhance service provision and access for Latina survivors of gender-based violence. Lumarie previously managed Esperanza United’s community engagement and youth initiatives and served as a national and international trainer for Esperanza United.
Board of directors
Advisory Counsels
Research advisory council


Carmen Alvarez
Ph.D., MSN, RN, CRNP, NP-C
Carmen Alvarez is an Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and a family nursing practitioner with Chase Brexton Health Care. She is a fellow with the American Academy of Nursing, as well as a SOURCE Service-Learning Faculty Fellow, and New Nurse Faculty Fellow from the Maryland Higher Education Commission. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan School of Nursing and her post-doctoral fellowship at George Washington University School of Public Health. Her research focuses on interventions that promote good health and reduce the risk of victimization for Latina and other ethnic minority women who are survivors of trauma, particularly IPV and ACEs. Her other areas of expertise and interest include women’s health, trauma, and health promotion.


Walter DeKeseredy, Ph.D.
Walter DeKeseredy is the Anne Dean Carlson Endowed Chair of Social Sciences, the Director of the Research Center on Violence, and a Sociology Professor at West Virginia University. He has received many awards over the course of his decades-long career, including the Victimology Impact Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ Victimology section and the Robert Jerrin Book Award by the American Society of Criminology’s Division on Victimology, both in 2017. In 2015, he was awarded the Career Achievement Award from the American Society of Criminology’s Division on Victimology, and the year prior he was awarded the Critical Criminal Justice Scholar Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ Critical Criminal Justice Section. His research focuses on violence against women, the relationship between poverty and crime, and violent crime in rural areas. His teaching takes a broader approach with a focus on criminology and the criminal justice system, social justice and control, and deviance among other topics. His leisure interests include working out at the gym, golfing, and walking.


Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda
Ph.D., MPH, RN, CPH, FAAN
Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda is an associate professor and Dorothy L. Powell Term Chair of Nursing at Duke University School of Nursing and the Co-Director of the Community Engagement Core for Duke’s Clinical Translational Science Institute. Prior, she worked as an associate professor at the University of Miami School of Nursing & Health Studies where she helped lead research training and community engagement addressing health disparities. She has provided expertise and leadership in national efforts addressing nursing, health disparities, violence, and population. For example, she served on the Institute of Medicine Committee on the Future of Nursing (2010), the National Advisory Council on Nursing Education and Practice (NACNEP, 2012-2016), and Chaired the Violence Expert Panel for the American Academy of Nursing. She has received numerous awards including being inducted as fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (2014), the Excellence in Research Awards by the Nursing Network on Violence Against women (2020), and the Midcareer Scientist Award by DUSON (2021). Her research focuses on the health disparities experienced by racial and ethnic minorities, with a particular focus on addressing the substance abuse, intimate partner violence, HIV, and mental health syndemic among Latin@ immigrants.


Xavier L. Guadalupe-Diaz, Ph.D.
Xavier L. Guadalupe-Diaz, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and the Criminology Program Coordinator at Framingham State University. Dr. Guadalupe-Diaz’s research focuses on various aspects of intimate partner and sexual violence within lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities including help-seeking, police disclosure, transgender victimization, risk factors, emotional abuse, and identity. He’s published numerous scholarly articles and chapters in journals such as the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Violence Against Women, Deviant Behavior, and the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma. He’s the author of the first scholarly book on transgender intimate partner violence entitled: Transgressed: Intimate Partner Violence in Transgender Lives by New York University Press (NYU Press) and is co-editor of Transgender Intimate Partner Violence: A Comprehensive Introduction also by NYU Press. Dr. Guadalupe-Diaz was recognized with his university’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity. His ongoing research includes theoretical work on queer(ing) #MeToo, abolition and queer(ing) victimology, and examinations of polyvictimization and IPV help-seeking among transgender survivors of IPV in the US transgender survey. Dr. Guadalupe-Diaz serves on the Editorial Board of the SAGE journal Violence Against Women and is a Crime and Research Justice Alliance expert on violence in intimate relationships.


Gabriel Kuperminc, Ph.D.
Dr. Gabriel Kuperminc is a professor of psychology and public health at Georgia State University. He also chairs the Community Psychology doctoral program as well as the university’s interdisciplinary initiative on resilient youth and is a faculty member for the Developmental Psychology program. Dr. Kuperminc is a member of the American Public Health Association and American Psychological Association, specifically the Society for Community Research and Action, Division 27 of the American Psychological Association. He is also a fellow for the American Psychological Association (2007), the Society for Applied Anthropology (2007), and the Society for Community Research and Action (2006). His research focuses on resilience and community interventions for positive adolescent development, particularly in immigrant and Latin@ families. Dr. Kuperminc’ s research interests include youth mentoring, youth development, community health interventions, and immigration. He has served as an expert panelist on the promotion of adolescent sexual health for the Center of Disease Control and Prevention. Outside of his work, Dr. Kuperminc enjoys photography, hiking, travelling, and spending time with his family.


Susana Mariscal, Ph.D., MSW
Susana Mariscal, Ph.D., MSW is an associate professor of social work at Indiana University. She has studied Latinx teen dating violence; health and service access disparities among Latinx children and families; and resilience among youth exposed to domestic violence, identifying racial/ethnic differences in protective factors. Her research has been funded by the U.S. Children’s Bureau, U.S. Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice; SAMHSA; UNICEF; Fulbright-LASPAU; and Fulbright-Alumni Engagement in Bolivia, among others. As a leader in the areas of resilience and strengths-based maltreatment prevention, Dr. Mariscal was invited to serve as an affiliated research scientist with the Life Paths Research Center in Tennessee. Her current project “Strengthening Indiana Families” (SIF) focuses on the implementation and evaluation of a continuum of community-based services and supports designed to promote healthy family environments and bolster the safety and well-being of families in central Indiana. With a particular focus on promoting racial equity, SIF is implementing four family resource centers to enhance family support, positive childhood experiences, and protective factors against maltreatment. This project is funded by a five-year, $2.85 million grant from the U.S. Children’s Bureau in the Administration for Children and Families.


Chiara Sabina, Ph.D.
Dr. Chiara Sabina is an associate professor in the Department of Women and Gender Studies at Delaware University. She previously worked as an associate professor of Community Psychology at Pennsylvania State University School of Behavioral Sciences and Education, as well as at the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire. She is a Member at Large for Society for Community Research and Action, Division 27 of the American Psychological Association, and is Senior Consulting Editor for Psychology of Violence. Dr. Sabina received her PhD in Applied Social Psychology from Loyola University of Chicago. She has been awarded grants by the Fulbright Scholar Program, National Institute of Justice, Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, Vision of Hope, and National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Her research focuses on the victimization of Latin@ adolescents, including gender-based violence and teen dating violence, as well as culturally sensitive and informed interventions.


Michelle Alejandra Silva
Michelle Alejandra Silva is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. She is also Director of the Connecticut Latino Behavioral Health System, an academic-community partnership designed to expand access to behavioral health services for the monolingual Spanish-speaking community of greater New Haven. Dr. Silva’s work bridges practice, education, and clinical research, and she engages in multidisciplinary collaborations designed to promote health equity among vulnerable and underserved communities. She provides outpatient clinical services to children, adolescents, and adults; conducts psychological evaluations for asylum seekers; and supervises health professional students, providing psychoeducational interventions through the Behavioral Health Department at the Yale HAVEN Free Clinic. Her areas of professional interest include immigration and trauma, community-based mental health promotion for immigrant and refugee populations, and the role of social justice and advocacy in professional training and practice.


Kevin Swartout, Ph.D.
Kevin Swartout is a professor of psychology and public health, co-director of graduate studies at Georgia State University, and director of the Violence Against Women Prevention Lab. He also currently serves on the University Student Sexual Misconduct Board, as an executive member at the GSU Center for Interpersonal Violence, and chair of the Administrator-Researcher Campus Climate Collaborative. Kevin has received early career awards from Georgia State University and the Southeastern Psychological Association, and he was named Consulting Editor of the Year for Psychology of Violence in 2017. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2011.Kevin’s research interests and specializations include the social correlates of violence, with an emphasis on sexual violence, how alcohol and substance use relate to violent behaviors, and longitudinal data analysis using latent variable and multilevel regression techniques. In his time away from research, teaching, and service roles related to violence prevention, Kevin enjoys hiking and biking with family and friends.
Policy advisory council


Amy Hinojosa
Amy Hinojosa is President and CEO of MANA, A National Latina Organization, the oldest and largest Latina membership organization in the United States, and its sister organization, the MANA Action Fund. Since 1974, MANA has been a leading voice for Latinas in the areas of health, financial well-being, education and technology access, environmental concerns, civil rights and diversity and inclusion. Amy currently serves on the Boards of Directors for the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), and is Vice Chair of the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP).Amy Hinojosa


Carmen Williams
Carmen Williams is the Language Access and Immigration Advocacy Manager, Project for the Empowerment of Survivors at the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance. Carmen has experience in providing legal service to survivors of sexual and domestic violence and previously managed the statewide toll-free Family Violence and Sexual Assault Hotline for nine years. Additionally, she has provided technical assistance to SDVAs on services to immigrant victims, including human trafficking with her background in law. Carmen previously served as a member of the Governor’s Latino Advisory Board, Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the American Red Cross-Richmond Chapter. Carmen is Peruvian and holds a law degree from Peru and a master’s degree in International Legal Studies from the American University – Washington College of Law.


Michelle Ortiz
Michelle Ortiz is the Deputy Director at the American for Immigrant Justice and Program Director for the Lucha: Domestic Violence & Human Trafficking Program. Michelle has specialized in immigration relief for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking for over 14 years. She has presented at numerous conferences and provided trainings on immigration relief available to survivors of violent crime and human trafficking. She represents American for Immigrant Justice as a member of The Freedom Network, an internationally recognized organization devoted to issues of human trafficking. Michelle previously worked at Gulfcoast Legal Services in St. Petersburg, Florida where she represented low-income immigrants, specializing in assisting survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. She received her Juris Doctor from Stetson University. The daughter of Cuban immigrants, Michelle was born and raised in Miami.


Sandra Henriquez
Sandra Henriquez is the Chief Executive Officer of ValorUS (formerly the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault or CALCASA) and has more than two decades of experience working in social services, of which 16 years were in nonprofit management. She had demonstrated profound leadership as the former Associate Director for Intervention Programs at the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (now Peace Over Violence). She also served on ValorUS’s board of directors for more than a decade. Her participation on the board was essential to the Coalition’s reorganization, hiring of staff, and the development in policies and procedures.


Sonia Parras Konrad
Sonia Parras Konrad is an activist, attorney, and educator on legal remedies for immigrant survivors of gender violence and labor trafficking. Through her work Sonia strives to promote the organization and leadership of immigrant survivors. She is a writer and a national and international speaker on women’s rights. Sonia has founded and co-founded numerous nonprofit organizations including The Legal Clinic of ICADV, LUNA, LLI of Greater Des Moines and ASISTA, a nationwide organization that provides immigration technical assistance to front line advocates and attorneys. Among other awards, Sonia is the recipient of the 2009 Michael Maggio Memorial Pro Bono Award for her work in Postville and is involved in rapid-response teams through her work as pro bono coordinator in the Iowa-Nebraska AILA chapter. She is now coordinating an innovative pilot project-free legal clinic “ Almas Valientes” (Advocates and Lawyers Movement for the Advancement of Survivors Valientes!”).


Claudia Medina
Claudia Medina is the CEO of Transformar, a consulting firm dedicated to building capacity of leaders and nonprofit organizations and to coordinating community planning efforts. She has spent the last 30 years developing programs to enhance immigrant rights, gender equality, and the lives of children and families in her native Colombia and in New Mexico. Claudia co-founded Enlace Comunitario (EC) in 2000 and served as the Executive Director for over 20 years. In addition, Claudia is one of the founders of El CENTRO de Igualdad y Derechos (The Center for Equality and Rights), Mujeres en Acción (Women in Action), and Plaza de Encuentro. These grassroots organizations have increased the economic, political, and social capital of thousands of immigrant families in New Mexico. She holds a law degree and Master of Arts degrees in Family Studies and Latin American Studies with a concentration in Community Planning.


Margarita Guzman
Born in El Paso, Texas, Margarita Guzman is a queer Chicana and survivor of intimate partner violence. She received her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and her law degree from George Washington University School of Law. Upon graduating from law school, Margarita established a legal clinic for indigent Spanish-speaking mental health consumers in New York City. Her legal practice later focused on representing primarily Latin@ immigrant survivors of domestic violence in housing, family and immigration legal matters, as well as teen and young adult survivors. In 2013, she entered civil service at the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, where she ran the Bronx Family Justice Center until joining the Violence Intervention Program (VIP) in 2017. She currently serves as Executive Director at VIP, working with largely immigrant and low-income Latin@ survivors of domestic and sexual violence. As a survivor and a lawyer, Margarita has lived the limits of criminal and civil legal responses to violence and seeks to increase restorative and transformative justice practices to support survivors and change abusive behaviors.


Caroline Bettinger-López
Caroline (Carrie) Bettinger-López is a professor of Law and Director of the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Miami School of Law. She also serves as an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and is a recipient of the Roddenberry Fellowship for her COURAGE in Policing Project. From 2015-2017, Professor Bettinger-López worked in the Obama Administration, where she served as the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women and a member of the White House Council on Women and Girls. She is lead counsel on Jessica Lenahan (Gonzales) v. United States (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 2011), the first international human rights case brought by a domestic violence victim against the United States.


Mónica Ramírez
Mónica Ramírez is an attorney, author, and activist. She is the founder of Justice for Migrant Women and co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, The Latinx House, and Poderistas. Mónica has received numerous awards, including Harvard Kennedy School’s first Gender Equity Changemaker Award, Feminist Majority’s Global Women’s Rights Award, and the Smithsonian’s 2018 Ingenuity Award. She was named to Forbes Mexico’s 100 Most Powerful Women’s 2018 list and TIME Magazine included her in its 2021 TIME100 Next list. Mónica is also an inaugural member of the Ford Global Fellowship. She lives in Ohio with her husband and son.