Silvia Rosa Martínez Jiménez
Executive Director
Silvia is an anthropologist specialized in social and cultural policies with an emphasis on cultural heritage work with indigenous groups and communities. She has served in leadership positions in Peru’s Ministry of Education, led health programs for at-risk populations during COVID, and was the Executive Director for the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Latin America (CRESPIAL) with UNESCO in Cusco for 7 years. She is passionate about working at the intersection of health, education, and culture - right where Sacred Valley Health’s work takes place!
Carmen Forlenza
Monitoring and Evaluation Director
Carmen was born and raised in Italy. After a bachelor‘s in Political Sciences and a master’s in Development Economics, she specialized in Project Management for international cooperation. She worked for NGOs and charities in Italy, Tanzania, Costa Rica, and Haiti, before moving to Peru in 2019, where she fell in love with the Andean region and culture. Fascinated by intercultural communication and participatory processes, she is curious and optimistic and loves cats, biopics, and guacamole.
Escolástica Castillo Obando
Director of Programming
Escolastica Castillo Obando completed primary school education through the 5th grade at Escuela de San Martin de Porras, Comunidad de Tanccac. She started working with Sacred Valley Health in 2012 when she was elected by the Andean community of Pampallacta, where she was born and raised, to participate in Sacred Valley Health’s pilot cohort of promotoras. After completing one year of training, she was asked take a part-time position in the Sacred Valley Health office to work as a community coordinator for participants of the second cohort of promotoras. As a community coordinator, Escolastica worked one-on-one with promotoras both in the office and in the field to reinforce promotoras’ knowledge of health topics and mentor them in promotora responsibilities. In 2014 she was promoted to a full-time position as a Program Manager and then in 2018 became the Director of Programming. Escolastica oversees all programming, provides professional development for Docentes, and manages community relations for the organization.
Lisa Hrbek
Director of Experiential Education
Lisa is originally from New York state. After earning her Master’s Degree in Education, she worked for nearly a decade as a classroom teacher, outdoor educator, and program manager at an outdoor connection organization. She then spent a few years traveling and living in Europe, Asia, and Hawaii. Lisa knew Sacred Valley Health was a great fit for her when she saw the focus on Community Partnered Participatory Approaches and creating change through education and empowerment. When not working, Lisa is usually outdoors - hiking, singing, playing guitar, and relaxing.
Bertha Quin Ugarte
Program Manager
Bertha was born in Huarocondo in the district of Anta. After the death of her father when she was seven years old, her family moved to the community of Rafka in the district of Ollantaytambo. Now, she lives in the community of Soccma with her family. Bertha started working with SVH as a Promotora and later earned a staff position as a Docente. Now, Bertha works full-time in the SVH office as a Program Manager, specifically for the Women’s Health Program. She enjoys learning new things and hopes to continue growing professionally in order to collaborate with all families in Soccma. Additionally, Bertha enjoys visiting different communities where she can share her experiences with the Promotoras and Docentes.
Yajaida Mañaccasa Rojas
President / Administrative Assistant
Yajaida was born and raised in Urubamba, Peru. She studied accounting and has worked in different companies around The Sacred Valley. She started working at SVH in March of 2018 as a part-time employee and got promoted to a full-time staff member in August of 2018. Her favorite part about working with SVH is the opportunity to work with different communities around The Valley, which makes her very happy to be part of the organization.
Yajaida has become the local’s board, President.
Jenny Jordan
Development Officer
Jenny is a native Nashvillian whose enthusiasm for international health initially led her to nursing school. After working as an RN at Vanderbilt Medical Center, she spent a year working at a low-resource primary care clinic in rural Honduras where she became interested in community health worker programs. This brought her to Sacred Valley Health, where she spent 4 years working on program development, capacity building, and community relations on the ground at their office in Ollantaytambo, Peru. Because of her passion for the organization paired with her love of women’s health and empowerment, she joined the board of directors upon returning to the U.S. in 2018. She spent two years working in labor and delivery and women’s health before returning to Peru to join the Ollantaytambo team once again. When she’s not working, Jenny loves hiking, cooking, yoga, and learning about holistic health.
Saturnina Quispe Ccama
Docente - Community Health Advocacy and Leadership Program
Saturnina is from the community of Kelccanka, which is about 2.5 hours by car from Ollantaytambo. She has been a promotora since 2021. "I want to be a docente," she says, "because I have seen the other docentes and how they are working in other communities. I want to learn more and get to know other communities…I can be a better leader if I work in other communities and learn more." In her free time she enjoys weaving beautiful blankets and ponchos.
Toribia Quelcca Churata
Docente - Community Health Advocacy and Leadership Program
Toribia is from the community of Kelccanka, which is about 2.5 hours by car from Ollantaytambo. She has been a promotora since 2016. When asked why she wants to be a docente, she said, "I want to be a docente to learn more about these (health) topics; If I’m better educated, I can be a better teacher to other women." She is also a master artisan, working with natural dyes and textiles.
Hermelinda Soto Sueldo
Docente - Community Health Advocacy and Leadership Program
Hermelinda is from the community of Marcuray, which is about 1.5 hours by car from Ollantaytambo and has been a promotora since 2021. She is excited about being a docente so that she can travel to other communities and learn lots of new things. In her free time, she enjoys knitting.
Nancy Sueldo Valenzuela
Docente - Community Health Advocacy and Leadership Program
Nancy is from the community of Anaphaua, which is about 2 hours by car from Ollantaytambo, and has been a promotora since 2021. When asked why she wants to be a docente, she answered, "I would like to travel to other communities like the other docentes do, to teach other promotoras. As the name Ayni Wasi (which means “house of reciprocity” in the local indigenous language, Quechua) suggests, I want to share what I have learned with others and in this way continue to improve my own education." When she is not working for SVH, Nancy enjoys taking care of her 36 (!) sheep.
Matiasa Quispe Medina
Docente - Women’s Health Program
Matiasa is from the community of Rumira Sondormayo, which is about an hour by car from Ollantaytambo, and has been a promotora since 2016. Matiasa said that one of the main reasons she became a health worker was because she "heard a rumor that they (SVH) taught family planning" and she wanted to learn more about it. Now she has come full circle and gets to teach other women about family planning, as well as other reproductive health topics! When she is not working for SVH, Matiasa enjoys weaving beautiful textiles.
Beatriz Cisneros Llanos
Docente - Women’s Health Program
Beatriz lives in the community of Kelccanka, which is a 2.5 drive from Ollantaytambo (although part of that journey happens on foot for her). Beatriz was one of our very first promotoras, joining our founding cohort in 2012. When asked why she wants to be a docente, she said, "I want to be a docente to learn more, to improve my skills as a promotora, to be able to teach better, and to keep working on my self-confidence and leadership skills." When she’s not working with SVH, Beatriz likes to spin wool that she shears from her alpacas.
Santusa Quispe Sinchi
Docente - Women’s Health Program
Santusa is from Huilloc, a traditional artisan community. She has been a promotora since 2012 and was part of SVH’s first cohort of promotoras. Santusa’s favorite parts about her work are providing first aid treatment and helping her neighbors. In her free time, she loves to play football (she’s a forward!).
Susana Laucata Sinche
Docente - Women’s Health Program
Susana is also from Huilloc, about 45 minutes up the mountain from Ollantaytambo. She has been a promotora since 2016. She wanted to become a docente because she felt ready to take on more responsibility and is excited for the opportunity to improve her leadership skills. In her free time, Susana enjoys weaving.