{"id":38542,"date":"2025-12-16T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/?p=38542"},"modified":"2025-12-16T12:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T17:58:09","slug":"leadership-in-community-with-vivian-huelgo-and-celina-de-sola","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/leadership-in-community-with-vivian-huelgo-and-celina-de-sola\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership in Community with Vivian Huelgo\u00a0and Celina de Sola"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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At Esperanza United, we know no single organization or person is going to end gender-based violence alone \u2013 it will take communities, working together. That\u2019s why Latina leadership and community-based solutions are two of our organizational values.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

To advance this strengths-based approach, Esperanza United President and CEO <\/span><\/i>Vivian Huelgo, J.D.<\/span><\/i><\/a> is interviewing leaders across the fields of gender-based violence prevention and Latin@ empowerment and beyond. Read on to learn leadership lessons, celebrate the people doing the work, and share in our gratitude for our vibrant community.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

In this edition, Vivian speaks with <\/span><\/i>Celina de Sola<\/span><\/i><\/a>,<\/span><\/i><\/a>a Salvadoran social entrepreneur\u00a0 and Co-Founder and President of <\/span><\/i>Glasswing International<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Pues, vamos:<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Vivian Huelgo<\/span><\/b>: One of our organizational values is Latina leadership \u2013 what does (Latina) leadership mean to you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Celina de Sola: <\/span><\/b>The leaders I admire most are those who make room for others to lead. As Lao Tzu\u2019s quote goes, \u201cA leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aims fulfilled, they will all say: \u2018We did this ourselves.\u2019\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Vivian Huelgo<\/span><\/b>: That\u2019s beautiful. On an individual level, how do you keep your team motivated and mission-driven despite challenges and obstacles?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Celina de Sola: <\/span><\/b>At times, we must hold both despair and hope at the same time, and that\u2019s okay. I try to stay grounded in the \u2018why\u2019 behind the work, remember that even overwhelming times will also pass, and focus on celebrating and feeling gratitude for the smaller successes and accomplishments.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Vivian Huelgo<\/span><\/b>: Thank you. Can you share a leadership lesson you learned recently that surprised you?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Celina de Sola: <\/span><\/b>We lost 40% of our funding and had to downsize almost overnight, while trying to power through and continue our work. We\u2019ve realized that \u2013 even though we didn\u2019t know how we would get through this \u2013 the solidarity, compassion, and collective determination of the team is what’s kept us going strong.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Vivian Huelgo<\/span><\/b>: One of our organizational values is living free from violence, what does a violence-free future look like to you?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Celina de Sola: <\/span><\/b>If each of us understands the impact of stress and trauma on ourselves and others \u2013 and learn to manage it so that we can build safe and positive relationships \u2013 then we can prevent the perpetuation of violence. This way, we can live without fear and become our best selves.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Vivian Huelgo: <\/span><\/b>Gratitude is also so important. Can you tell me about something you are grateful for?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Celina de Sola: <\/span><\/b>I\u2019m grateful for my family and friends, for the people I get to work with, and for access to nature and wildlife, which I love. I\u2019m also deeply grateful for the opportunity to do what I care deeply about, every day.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

More about Celina de Sola<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>

Celina de Sola is a Salvadoran social entrepreneur and Co-Founder and President of Glasswing International<\/a>, a nonprofit operating in 12 countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, and New York City. Glasswing works with communities to unlock the potential of children and young people through programs focused on education, economic opportunities, and mental health.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Celina brings over 25 years of experience in international development and social impact. Before Glasswing, she was a case manager and subsequently spent time as a humanitarian aid worker in countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Liberia, and post-tsunami Indonesia, where she began to focus more on mental health. Celina is an Ashoka and Obama Foundation<\/a> Fellow and awardee of the Skoll Foundation, Schwab Social Entrepreneur, and The Audacious Project. She did a TED Talk in 2022 on mental health and violence prevention and recently named to the TIME100 in Philanthropy 2025<\/a>. Celina serves on several boards, including Kokoro and the Inter-American Foundation. She holds master\u2019s degrees in social work and public health from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard, respectively.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

She lives with her husband, son, and two dogs, is passionate about nature and wildlife, and dances to at least one song daily.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Esperanza United, we know no single organization or person is going to end gender-based violence alone \u2013 it will take communities, working together. That\u2019s why Latina leadership and community-based solutions are two of our organizational values.\u00a0 To advance this strengths-based approach, Esperanza United President and CEO Vivian Huelgo, J.D. is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":38807,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[36,34,158,38,39,197],"class_list":["post-38542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-family-advocacy","tag-free","tag-prevention","tag-public-policy","tag-research-and-evaluation","tag-training-and-technical-assistance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38542"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38568,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38542\/revisions\/38568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}