Flamboyan’s people are at the heart of what we do.
Every member of the Flamboyan team has a unique strength to share. Working together, our team lives out Flamboyan’s core values of people, equity, impact, and catalytic action every day with one goal in mind: to ensure that students most impacted by inequity have what they need to succeed in school and beyond.
We’re excited to share some of our recent additions! Meet Patricia Coral Ayala, Senior Director, Office of the CEO.
What do you do at Flamboyan?
I help to oversee the Office of the CEO, Kristin Ehrgood, supporting her professional priorities and special projects. I also support our philanthropic work with the Arts Fund in our Puerto Rico office. I do a little bit of everything – in one week, I may spend time advancing internal management needs, in conversation with our grantees, working on administrative tasks like crafting agendas and processing donations, or meeting with external partners in DC or Puerto Rico. I’ve been with Flamboyan since September 2023, but it feels like a lot longer, in a good way!
What drew you to work at Flamboyan?
Everything I’ve done before professionally is somehow connected to this role – I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and I got my bachelor’s and first master’s degrees there. I’ve worked on many nonprofit and educational projects throughout my career, on the island but also in Houston, TX and here in DC, where I’ve lived since 2020. I thought it was ideal to be in an organization that combined my previous experiences in arts and education in the nonprofit sector, and at the same time was working in DC and Puerto Rico, where I am from. Flamboyan is the perfect place for my background and various roles.
What are you most excited about working on in 2024?
I’m excited about having an opportunity to keep building and growing our philanthropic efforts. I am excited about supporting the Arts Fund in Puerto Rico and moving to the next stage of that work. I am also excited to continue to get to know everyone here in the DC office and my colleagues in Puerto Rico.
Is there anything about your personal story that others might not know and that you’d like to share?
I am a writer and my first book will be published in the fall. My artistic practice is a big part of my identity and informs everything about me. Everything I do, whether it’s in my personal life or professional life, is about finding ways to deconstruct and dismantle systems of oppression. Growing up in Puerto Rico and seeing the unfairness of the political relationship between the US and the island made me more aware of what things really need to change – something that I saw even more clearly when I immigrated to the US. That’s why I write: to say unsayable things, or what I’m not supposed to be saying. I want to make the world a better place.
Anything else you want to share?
Finding an organization that aligns with what I believe and that serves the two communities I love – DC which is where I live, and Puerto Rico where I’m from – has been very exciting.
Get to know the rest of the Flamboyan team by visiting our Meet the Team page.