img_1809Rosita Choy has spent more than 25 years working on racial and social justice issues in nonprofit and mission-driven organizations at the national, state, and local levels, in DC, MA, NY, and CA. As a consultant and coach, she guides groups and individuals in organizational development towards the goal of creating healthy, sustainable, and equitable work cultures. She facilitates discussions of power–explicitly racism and other forms of systemic oppression–as they exist in society and show up specifically in workplaces. Before becoming an independent consultant, she held positions of acting executive director, deputy director, and other senior positions in organizations such as Amnesty International, American Friends Service Committee, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, and others. She has worked across issues as varied as immigrant rights, human rights, women’s rights, health access, education, and anti-poverty. She started her career in nonprofit as a fundraising assistant of a community health center, moved to community organizing and policy work for advocacy organizations, and worked her way to operations, finance, and management. As a result, she has first-hand experience of the realities of how small and large nonprofits function and concentrates on putting ideas into action.

While she holds a B.A. in economics and Spanish from Yale University and is an alum of the executive education program of the Harvard Kennedy School, her most poignant lessons have come from her life and work experiences. She balances theories and possibilities with the realities and pragmatism of the workplace. She wants to change the world, but she understands we, at the same time, need to find a way to live and survive in it. She is a Certified Professional Coach, trained through Coaching for Transformation (ACTP). Of Chinese descent, born in Latin America, immigrating to the U.S. as an infant, growing up working class in East Los Angeles, and coming out as a lesbian, she is acutely aware of the way in which culture binds together and creates barriers for groups of people. She carries this awareness into her coaching and services.

In addition, she is a writer and public storyteller who performs as “Una China Latina.” Videos of her storytelling can be found online.

Organizations that Rosita has done work for:

(references available upon request)

Advisors for Change (formerly, Accounting For Change)

America Association of University Women (AAUW)

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Amnesty International

Asian Health Services (AHS)

Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence

Caring Across Generations

Detention Watch Network

District of Columbia Department of Health

Global Center on Cooperative Security

Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO)

Innovation Network

Massachusetts Asian AIDS Prevention Project (MAAPP, now MAP for Health)

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA)

National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations (NACEDA)

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)

National Center for Employee Ownership

National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD)

National Council for Occupational Safety and Health

National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)

National Immigration Law Center (NILC)

NMR Group, Inc.

South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)

Southeast Asia Resource Action Committee (SEARAC)