1. Constanza Cabello
TITLE: Vice President of Equity on the Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Team for State Street
LOCATION: Boston
State Street Corp., which traces its roots to 1792, has made some changes since John Hancock signed the charter for what was then called Union Bank. And Constanza Cabello, who earned her doctorate in education in organizational leadership from Northeastern University, is now at the forefront. In a newly-created role as the vice president for equity programs on the global inclusion, diversity, and equity team since 2021, Cabello has pushed for equity across all departments and worked to identify ways to make the major financial services company more inclusive. “My family immigrated to Boston when I was a baby, and my transformative years were spent in community with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences,” she says. “I quickly noticed patterns in access and outcomes that were not equitable, and this piqued my interest in exploring central DEI issues.”
2. Jay Calderín
TITLE: Founder and Executive Director of Boston Fashion Week
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LOCATION: Boston
In 1995, after recognizing a gap in Boston’s arts scene, Jay Calderín founded Boston Fashion Week. While New York Fashion Week is famously exclusive, Calderín determined Boston’s would be the opposite, with a free, open runway along Downtown Crossing. He seeks out a range of designers, recently telling the Globe, “One year, we had somebody as young as 14, whose father helped her create her first collection, and [a] local designer who was 74.” Calderín is also a mentor in the Boston fashion community, through his extensive fashion design manuals and leadership roles at the School of Fashion Design and Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
3. Silvia López Chavez
TITLE: Artist at Chavez Design Studio
LOCATION: Boston
Artist Silvia López Chavez has left her mark in murals all over Boston. Her work, influenced by her Afro-Caribbean roots, is vibrant with color, culture, and purpose. Though she works in various mediums, her murals stand out along the Esplanade, overlooking Charlestown’s Hood Park, and in the Public Garden. In her time in Boston, she has been awarded a New England Foundation for the Arts award for leadership in public art, has worked with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and has been commissioned to make pieces for the Sea Walls Boston public art program and institutions including MIT and Harvard.
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4. Amanda M. Fernández
TITLE: CEO and Founder of Latinos for Education
LOCATION: Boston
As chief executive and founder of Latinos for Education, Amanda M. Fernández strives to connect Latino educators across the country, advocate for equal access, and expand the pool of Latino leaders in education, including in teaching and administration and on school boards. The organization is on track to grow its impact, having recently received $5 million from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. “We are at a critical juncture as the demographics both in Massachusetts and our nation continue to change,” Fernández says. “Latino students are the fastest growing student population in our education system and their success will power our economy and society into the future.”
5. Dr. Daniela RamÍrez Schrempp
TITLE: Senior Medical Director for Moderna; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University
LOCATION: Greater Boston
Every year for the past two decades, Dr. Daniela Ramírez Schrempp has traveled to different parts of Latin America to assist in cleft palate surgeries for young children. A pediatric emergency medicine specialist, her most recent trip to Neiva, Colombia, attracted hundreds of families seeking the rare and often expensive medical treatment for their infants. She has used her skills to serve families in need as a volunteer with Healing the Children and the Global Smile Foundation, and describes the experience as “deeply rewarding and profoundly humbling.” She recalls a recent young Latina patient for whom “witnessing a doctor who resembled her and spoke her language filled her with hope.” Ramírez Schrempp also works as a senior medical director at Moderna in Cambridge and as an assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston University’s medical school.
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6. Elias Torres
TITLE: Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Drift
LOCATION: Boston
Drift, the Boston-based software company Elias Torres cofounded, is one of the first and only Latino-owned unicorn companies (private startups valued at more than $1 billion) in the United States. After immigrating to Tampa from Nicaragua at 17, Torres attended the University of South Florida, then Harvard University. In 2015, he launched Drift, an AI-powered sales software startup with David Cancel, now-executive chairman. With over 600 employees serving more than 50,000 customers, Drift is more than a job to Torres. “I want to be a role model of what an immigrant and what a person of color can accomplish in this country,” he told Forbes in 2020, “so we’re going big or we’re going home.”
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Read more from the My Boston History issue:
- Honoring 100 change-making leaders across Massachusetts
- Marcela García: What does it mean to lose special places where Latinos gather in Boston?
- Ahead of Central American Independence Day in Boston, I went searching for a taste of home
- A lighting designer shines a spotlight on the lack of diversity backstage
- My night at Havana Club, the heart of salsa and bachata dancing in Cambridge
- Perspective: When will we make sure the people who work our farms and cook our food are well fed?
Zenobia Pellissier Lloyd can be reached at zenobia.lloyd@globe.com.