Johana Muriel Grajales

Activist, Brainstormer, Change Agent, Concerned citizen, Entrepreneur, Event planner, Explorer, Gay, Idea generator, Job-seeker, Life mentor, Single, Social entrepreneur, Startup, World traveler

Nonprofit and social enterprise manager with experience in strategic growth, business planning, analysis and community organizing on impact areas such as education, youth development, immigration and affordable housing. Johana is a Senior School Design Manager with the School Design Division a City Year Headquarters, a national nonprofit organization focused on helping to increase graduation rates across the country and changing the lives of the students it serve. Her interest in social impact was first nurtured out of her experience growing up in a time of conflict in a small town of Colombia in South America. This motivated Johana to focus her career on helping achieve a significant social impact ; whether at her current role advancing the application of personalized learning practices for all students, or through her previous experience working with advocacy programs serving immigrant populations, promoting affordable housing, or serving as an AmeriCorps Vista member providing supports students living in shelters, at the intersection of Johana’s background, interests and strengths is a deep concern to advance equity. After eight years working in the non-profit sector in the United States, Johana took a year to reconnect with her roots and find ways to engage in local initiatives at her home town in Manizales, Colombia; after learning how the post-conflict is positively impacting the lives of children and youth in her country, Johana launched the first TEDx conference with an education focus in Colombia which to date still allows her to spend her time outside of work virtually(and ocationally traveling to Colombia) to partner with local leaders and volunteers to drive diverse and multidimensional conversations about innovation and the future of education in Colombia. Johana has a Bachelor’s degree in Urban and Public Affairs from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). In 2009 she co-founded a student led initiative to award scholarships to undocumented students in need of financial assistance in Chicago and in the fall of 2011 she was selected into New Sector Alliance’s Residency in Social Enterprise, a Boston based leadership development program.

Orange economy, quality of education, youth development, job readiness, economic development, equality, self care and health.

Dancing salsa