Amanda Nolan
Individual support volunteer
Amanda is a Diversity & Inclusion Manager at AlixPartners, a global management consulting firm based in New York. Her approach to Diversity & Inclusion is informed through a background in Learning & Development and she is particularly interested in supporting the career growth of diverse groups. She is excited to uncover and dismantle structural issues that cause gaps in diverse representation at senior leadership levels, and to help business leaders recognize and value unique strengths at the individual level as well as the benefits of diverse teams.
Amanda holds a BS in Neuromuscular Science from San Francisco State University, and a Diversity & Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University.
She loves going to movie theaters, playing with her cats Lou & Harriet, and learning new crafts – her most recently learned is beaded crochet.
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Halle Schargel
Individual support volunteer
Women and immigrants contribute so much to the culture of and workforce in New York City and it is this diversity which makes NYC special. Regardless of where someone was born or raised, everyone deserves the opportunity to fully achieve their potential, for which everyone will benefit.
Halle spent the majority of her career working in mid to large law firms in New York City, with a focus on lawyer recruiting, running summer associate programs and providing day-to-day human resources advice and support to the firm’s attorneys. Halle received her B.A. in 1980 from Washington University in St. Louis, where she majored in Psychology.
Halle enjoys international travel, good food, exploring NYC, a good book and the arts.
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Jan Kliger
Individual support volunteer, workshop facilitator
Jan, originally from New Jersey, lived several years in California before making New York her home. After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology, she started and developed successfully her own business in textile design. She returned to school after raising her daughter, earning a Master’s degree in Gerontology. She drew upon her education to develop and facilitate wellness classes for seniors in the New York area. Her fluency in Spanish added to her ability to interact joyfully and positively with a diverse community.
In the past few years Jan has worked for her local food pantry, first as a volunteer assisting the primarily Latino community, and most recently as the pantry’s Outreach Specialist. In this capacity she assisted clients of all ages with education and job opportunities, ESL classes, and more.
In her spare time, Jan loves to dance, play tennis, make art, and swim in the ocean.
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Jeannette Ferran Astorga
Individual support volunteer
As Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Communications and Chief Sustainability Officer, Jeannette is responsible for the company’s integrated and comprehensive approach to public policy, social responsibility, corporate reputation, colleague and leadership communications and leads the sustainability and social & governance disclosure strategy. She also serves as President of the Zoetis Foundation.
Jeannette is deeply committed to supporting women’s initiatives, she volunteers as a career counselor and executive mentor through various organizations including 92Y Women in Power and New Women New Yorkers, a non-profit providing mentorship for immigrant women seeking employment in New York City. She is also a member of the Board of Industry Advisors for LIM College in New York. Ms. Ferran Astorga was recognized as one of Assent’s 2020 Top 100 Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Leaders. Jeannette lives in New York City with her family.
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Kathleen Menegozzi
Workshop facilitator
Kathleen is a Colombian-American business consultant with a focus on workforce advancement and scalability. She has more than 15 years experience working with large for-profit firms, nonprofits, social enterprises, and start-ups, most recently as a consultant solving their most challenging workforce, operational, and strategic challenges.
In 2018, Kathleen embarked on a five-year journey to the rural Northeast, developing and piloting a cross-sector operational model for small businesses. The result was Bread Innovation Lab.
In addition to her professional activities, Kathleen has been volunteering for the past twenty years, providing pro-bono career development training for at-risk youth and young professionals, and now volunteering as a workshop facilitator for immigrant women with New Women New Yorkers.
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Sandra Wilson
Workshop facilitator
Sandra is a charismatic and enthusiastic sociologist from Bogota, Colombia, who moved to New York in 2018 to pursue her personal and professional goals.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and Scrum Product Owner (CSPO).
Sandra is a bilingual project and program manager with a track record of success in public, non-profit, and government organizations in the United States and abroad. Currently, she works at Junior Achievement of New York as a Senior Manager in the Programs Department, where she leads multiple projects related to delivering educational programs for school students, and manages relations with Junior Achievement of New York’s corporate partners and sponsors. Sandra’s previous professional experiences included working at Bank of America and at a government agency in Colombia assisting at-risk populations as part of Bogota Mayor’s “Bogota Better for All” initiative.
Sandra loves to explore and visit different parts of the city, and to try dishes from all around the world while meeting friends. Outside of work she volunteers with New Women New Yorkers and with other organizations through New York Cares.
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Sara Grande
Community support volunteer
Born and raised in Italy, Sara embarked on a new chapter of her life in 2021 when she relocated to New York City with her husband and toddler. With a Master’s degree in Pedagogy from Universitá degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca under her belt, she has dedicated over a decade to nurturing young minds in both public and private educational settings.
For Sara, the essence of community is invaluable, especially when forging a path in a foreign land. It was this belief that led her to New Women New Yorkers through an Italian women’s community, where she proudly completed the LEAD program in June 2022.
Embracing the vibrancy of NYC, Sara captures its essence through her photography. Her fervor for travel and building connections with people from diverse backgrounds fuels her every day.
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Sarit Abramowicz
Individual support volunteer, mentor
As the eldest child of immigrant parents, Sarit has been helping people navigate US culture and systems from a young age.
After a few years in marketing, she pivoted to international education to feed her passion for building connections across cultures and uplifting others. For more than a decade she ran multicultural women’s leadership programs in nonprofits and academia. She recently shifted to the financial services sector to advance their efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion.
Sarit is a mom to two young girls and enjoys reading, running, skating, traveling and playing card games.
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Sheri Arnold
Individual support volunteer
Sheri is passionate about women’s equality and is thrilled to volunteer with an education-based organization that allows her to empower immigrant women in New York City.
Sheri has a Bachelor of Science in Community and Nonprofit Leadership and a Certificate in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently a Development Associate at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit public policy and law institute that works to reform and revitalize our country’s systems of democracy and justice.
In her spare time, you can find Sheri cooking, practicing yoga, or shopping at Trader Joe’s.
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Sitara Shamim
Workshop facilitator
Originally from Bangladesh, Sitara has over 10 years of experience in Bangladesh facilitating trainings for women’s rights activists from the grassroots to the national level on women’s rights, navigating family law, and self-advocacy. She worked in particular as a Senior Program Organizer at a human rights and legal aid organization called Ain O Salish Kendra, focusing on enhancing women’s participation in all spheres of decision making, with the objective of ensuring gender equality and justice in the society. She has worked directly in the remotest parts of the country where fundamentalism prevents women to break the silence.
Sitara holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. She also received certificates on Building Gender Excellence, Feminist Legal Theory and Practice, and Feminism in the Muslim World- Third Leadership Institute.
Sitara loves to read books about cooking and traveling, and is passionate about writing.
Sitara is a 2022 graduate of New Women New Yorkers’ We Speak We LEAD program, and believes that her involvement with NWNY now as a volunteer will contribute to building a safe community for immigrant women in NYC.
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Stephanie Panico
Individual support volunteer, mentor
Stephanie Panico is General Counsel, Reinsurance for QBE Insurance. Stephanie is responsible for day-to-day legal support for QBE Group’s Ceded Reinsurance operations and its two captive reinsurance companies. Stephanie has worked in the insurance industry for over ten years.
Stephanie is a passionate advocate for the advancement of women. She is an active member of QBE North America’s Women’s Initiative Network (“W.I.N.”), having just finished serving for over two years as W.I.N.’s co-chair. Stephanie is a dog lover who has two dogs of her own and fosters with Joyrides Rescue.
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Su Jitdumrong
Individual support volunteer
Su Jitdumrong is Vice President at Nomura, a Japanese investment bank. Her work focuses on providing structured equity solutions using derivatives to help institutional investors, corporates, and family offices manage their public equity stakes globally.
Born and raised in Thailand, Su moved abroad on her own for the first time at the age of sixteen when she received a scholarship to attend United World College Red Cross Nordic in Norway. She then attended Colby College in Maine where she received a B.A. in Economics and East Asian Studies. Su has spent her career working in London and New York where she currently resides with her rescued tabbies.
Su is passionate about leveraging both her professional and own immigrant experience to help immigrant women navigate the US workforce and build a career in New York.
In her spare time, Su is an avid whisk(e)y drinker, an active member of Scotch Malt Whisky Society, and an amateur wine taster with Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level III in Wines diploma.
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Taylor Robinson
Individual support volunteer
Taylor was first connected with New Women New Yorkers in 2017 through a colleague as part of an Employee Resource Group initiative for Women in STEM. Originally from Philadelphia, Taylor moved to New York in 2012 to pursue higher education and eventually made a homebase out of NYC.
Taylor is passionate about ensuring equity for women in the workplace, specifically in assisting immigrants who may not have had professional negotiation experience in the US yet. She is currently working as a Project Manager at Meta, a remote role based out of California that allows her to travel often.
In her free time, Taylor loves the beach, trying new recipes, and volunteering at animal shelters.
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Victoria Guest
Individual support volunteer, workshop facilitator
A native New Yorker, Victoria has always been grateful for the immense contributions of immigrants to the industry, energy and culture of New York City. Victoria is excited to use her experience has a business executive to support immigrant women entering the workforce and making their mark on the city.
Victoria practiced corporate law for twenty-four years, most recently as General Counsel of several Bermuda-based insurance companies. Victoria has a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA from Stanford University, where her studies included Latin American literature and Spanish language.
Victoria loves discovering new corners of the city on foot, a long book on a rainy day, figure drawing, and making a meal out of guacamole.
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