Our team has grown! Chordata welcomed Kalama Kuahiwinui-Santiago to the team in May 2022 as our Client Services Associate, and we are so grateful for her support in mobilizing resources, tracking investments, and making sure our spreadsheets and systems are in good order. Sarah Abbott joined us in January 2023 as a contractor supporting us with our communications and program work. Sarah has been helping us tell the story of Chordata, communicate clearly with our clients and cohort, and create this impact report. Having Kalama and Sarah as a part of our team at Chordata fills us with gratitude and joy!
Kalama Kuahiwinui-Santiago was born and raised in a small town on the Big Island of Hawaii. Coming from a tight knit community, Kalama has always had a passion for helping others. It was through a friend that she was introduced to Chordata Capital and learned of the amazing work that Tiffany and Kate were doing to help build communities such as her own. Proud to be Hawaiian and having a vision to invest back into her own community someday, Kalama realized the importance of working with like-minded people who share and support the same values.
Kalama brings many years of administrative experience to Chordata Capital. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family or having a peaceful day at the beach. Kalama also loves working in her yard or her husband’s garden which they use to donate produce to families in the community. She looks forward to meeting and working with Chordata Capital’s clients!
Sarah Abbott grew up in southeastern Minnesota, on Dakota land, and currently lives in Minneapolis with her partner and her many houseplants. She has been part of social and environmental change movements for fifteen years, and spent a decade organizing young people with wealth for wealth redistribution while on staff with Resource Generation, where she met Tiffany. Most recently, she was the Managing Director of the Sunrise Movement, a young-people-led movement fighting climate change and organizing for a Green New Deal. As a white woman with access to wealth, she believes deeply in the work of repair and reparations as a lifelong path, and is thrilled to be supporting Chordata’s work. She also loves to sing with her community, and to spend time with family and friends.
We also want to give a big shout out to Kavitha Rao and Naomi Roswell, facilitators of our 2022/23 Chordata Cohort. Stepping into leadership for our first cohort since the pandemic, Kavitha and Naomi brought so much heart, wisdom and care to supporting our third cohort in building trust and capacity and taking collective action together. You can learn more about Kavitha and connect with her through the work of Center for Whole Communities. You can find out more about Naomi’s facilitation practice through Confluence Facilitation.
