With 12 years of experience in the public sector, Catarina has worked as an educator as well as a nonprofit program manager. Her more recent work has focused on food equity and community engagement. In 2018, she was named to the "40 Under 40 in NYC Food Policy" list by the New York City Food Policy Center. She is also part of the 2019 national cohort of Community Food Systems Mentees with the Food Systems Leadership Network. She is a social entrepreneur, certified holistic health coach, and community organizer.

 

She has organized the Washington Heights/Inwood Food Council, a grassroots food justice organization, since 2016. Most recently, she is the Co-Founder of ExplorEquity, a social impact travel company. She has extensive experience as a curriculum developer, facilitator, trainer, public speaker, and panelist. While her subject matter expertise is centered around her work in food equity and her training in public health and education, she is also available to speak on her life journey as a person living with blindness and her career journey as an ambitious Latina woman.