Stephanie joined the ICA Group in November of 2022. On the home care team, Stephanie plays a lead role in supporting start-up home care cooperatives, including bi-lingual training, as well as home care outreach, communications, and network management. Stephanie was brought up on the mantra la union hace la fuerza (unity is strength) and it’s a core value that has fueled Stephanie’s mission to empower and support the strength of worker cooperatives, immigrants, QTPOC artists and entrepreneurs. Stephanie believes in cooperative values as a beacon of hope for the brighter future we can build for ourselves and generations to come. Prior to joining ICA group, Stephanie supported the launch of the Brightly Washington Heights Cooperative, an immigrant run cleaning services worker cooperative. Stephanie is also a life coach and has provided coaching sessions and group workshops that facilitate vulnerable conversations that lead to stronger teams.
I work on the home care team to support home care I will be supporting the development and growth of Home care cooperatives across the US and contribute to the creation of the Elevate cooperative. Elevate will strengthen the home care cooperative world and build the collective voice and power of home care cooperatives so that we can create the policy changes needed to recognize the worth and lift up the quality of life for all home care workers.
Brightly Washington Heights is the first worker cooperative that I helped develop. They are powerful guerreras who inspire me to this day and are family. They have pushed through obstacles with grace and ferocity and continue to grow their cleaning services business, check them and the whole Brightly crew!
My fave Ted talk is Brené Brown’s “The power of vulnerability”. I really appreciate this Ted Talk because it affirms my journey to live the most authentic version of myself. The more we lean into vulnerability, lead with the heart and practice gratitude, the better equipped we will be to build a cooperative economy and create the world we want to live in.
Homebase is East Elmhurst, Queens! I work hybrid sometimes from home and sometimes out of our NYC office.
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