Altagracia Montilla - "Dreaming It Forward" - Creating Your Own Reality Through Visualization and Imagination

Today I was thrilled to host my fellow YWCA Board member Altagracia Montilla.  Observing Altagracia’s amazing inspirational and energetic positivity first hand as she shepherded the YWCA’s board and staff in team building and conflict resolution left me wanting to learn more about her.  Where did this talent, well-honed skill set, and positive outlook come from? 

As it turns out, Altagracia’s renowned leadership in the fields of organizational facilitation, strategy development, leadership training, and culture transformation is a seemingly inevitable result of her passions growing up.  

Altagracia’s positivity and optimism was pretty much self-taught.  During our conversation, she describes how, through voracious reading and a love of learning, she was able to "dream it forward” and create her own alternate lived reality.  Growing up in the South Bronx, experiencing scarcity, the library provided her with infinite new worlds.  She also describes the concept of “Chosen Ancestry”, in which you can choose people who are kindred spirits and exemplify your beliefs to be your ancestors.  I love that idea!

 We hear about how Altagracia’s empathy for others and passion for education set her on a path to helping others achieve their greatest potential.  From helping students prepare for college, to guiding organizations through culture change, conflict resolution, and forward-thinking, to providing space for creativity, imagination and self-realization,Altagracia’s optimism and drive have made her an unstoppable force.  

 I found our conversation uplifting and hopeful.  I hope you do too! 

Please join us!

And learn more about Altagracia at her website:

https://altagraciamontilla.com/

Or just Google her! Good stuff! The concept of "Architecting Community" is great, and we didn't even get to that in our conversation!