Esmeralda Gaton

Esmeralda is a daughter of Latinx immigrants from the Dominican Republic and a first-generation college graduate who has centered supporting and advocating for marginalized communities as her life’s work. Esmeralda is passionate about fostering systems change and prioritizing resources to create the conditions within which young people thrive and live their best life. Esmeralda is excited to contribute to America’s Promise Alliance’s commitment to ensure a more just and equitable America that empowers the next generation of youth to lead our country forward. She hopes to contribute to this commitment by stewarding APA’s community alliance members through impactful programming and collective action efforts.

Esmeralda has nearly two decades of experience working in youth-oriented non-profit organizations and government, mainly the New York City (NYC) Department of Education (DOE). Esmeralda’s experience ranges from managing multimillion-dollar federal youth service-learning grant programs; developing early childhood pathway programming; educating communities on the NYC Human Rights law and advocating for the rights of vulnerable populations; creating peer mediation programs; and most recently leading the development of project management best practices and tools to enhance cross-team coordination in service of supporting 1,700+ NYCDOE public schools and 1.1 million students.

Esmeralda earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with a minor in Women Studies and Business Administration from SUNY Stony Brook University. She earned a Master of Science degree in Urban Policy and Management from the Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment at The New School Public Engagement. Esmeralda is currently pursuing her Associate Certified Coach (ACC) Executive Coaching accreditation from the International Coaching Federation.  Esmeralda is a native New Yorker currently residing in the Bronx with her wife. She loves to weight train, cook, and host game nights with friends.