Renovad VOICE | Learn more & download Lesson 1-6 Student Booklet plus Lesson Videos

A beginners’ English summer program with a pilot presented Summer 2023 to 82 youth, 7-17 years old, in the community of Imlil in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. In 2024, we will present the second installment in collaboration with community educators and volunteers.

We are grateful to our collaborators: Henna Cafe Cultural Center, Education for All, Marrakech Riad

Renovad COACH | Learn more

Our life and career coaching for university students and young professional women from the high Atlas Mountains will launch in 2024. Most coaching recipients graduated from high school while boarding at Education For All, one of the charities in our Renovad matching program. Most of these young ladies are among the first in their families and villages to complete high school, and as they pursue university degrees and build their careers, Renovad coaches will make a great contribution to their success.

We are grateful to our collaborator: Education for All

Education For All

Asni, Morocco

Housing and mentorship for girls pursuing secondary education in the Atlas Mountains. $1,200 covers yearly room & board for one girl. Together, we can send at least one girl to school! To date, Renovad has sponsored 5 girls for one school year with support from the Global Giving matching program

2021-22 Renovad GIVE & individual donations: $3,510

2023 Renovad GIVE Matching: up to$500

Henna Cafe Cultural Association

Marrakech, Morocco

Education and cultural community center for all ages, also serving as soup kitchen since the 2020 global pandemic. We funded the Soup Kitchen during the pandemic and continue to fund nourishment end education programs.

Renovad GIVE 2021-22 & individual donations: $1,033

2023 Renovad GIVE matching: up to $500

OUR IMPACT: Together, we are lifting souls around the world

$1,060 | average amount of donations disbursed

1,040 hours | capacity building donated

15 | charities supported

6 causes | 4 continents | 1 world | 1 heart | 1 human race

Pilar Avila

Founder & Chair of the Board

Having worked across the finance, hospitality and nonprofit sectors for 25 amazing years before becoming an entrepreneur, I am privileged with an immensely rewarding life and career as a business leader, civic activist and change agent.

Doing well and doing good is the path to living abundantly free - this is my ethos and my North Star. I am intent in living my passion of fueling the rise of diverse leadership, promoting access to economic opportunity, and investing in education.

As humans, most of us have the need to solve the equation of existential and financial freedom. I can tell you by experience, the easiest and most rewarding way to live in abundance of every kind is to give to others, so they too can live in their own purpose in abundance.

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Ashley Hayes Nieves-Avila

Founding Executive Director

I am privileged to have the opportunity to build my career and life aligned with my passion of giving back. My goal as the Executive Director of Renovad GIVE Foundation is to support the rise of other humans to success. I am committed to magnifying the capacity and impact of current and emerging generations of global community leaders.

As a U.S. Presidential Volunteer Award recipient, I value what human beings give back to society and the earth. In 8 years as a U.S. Navy wife and a new mother, I have learned to adapt and overcome many different challenges and circumstances. I find value and fulfillment in carrying out a common mission with like-minded humans as I connect with my life's tribe. 

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Lisa Avila-Nieves

Governance Vice Chair

I have held a variety of management and support positions across several industries including banking, real estate, law, human resources and healthcare. A common thread through my career has been a keen dedication to service clients, often engaged in high impact or life changing events.

My first passport was issued when I was 10 years old and I spent 30 days traveling through Europe with my grandparents. Since then, I have visited 15 countries across the Americas, Europe and Africa. As Renovad’s Retreats Master Concierge, our guests can count on me to take any steps to ensure all have a most pleasant journey.

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Ercilia Carela

Finance Chair

I am passionate about giving back and contributing to making the world a better place for all. My life started in a small village in the Dominican Republic, where education was a dream which I made a reality with the generosity, compassion, and kindness of many people who helped me along the way. Renovad GIVE is a great way to give back and help other girls fulfill their dreams and life's purpose.

I feel grateful and fortunate to sit on the Renovad GIVE board. I am enthusiastic about working with this extraordinary team of individuals with values and goals that align with mine.

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Esther Colom Medina

Finance Vice Chair

I am so grateful to have the opportunity to combine my professional career as an accountant with something so powerful as giving back. I have always been passionate about helping other people, it is something I will never regret as it gives me a sense of purpose. It is an opportunity for me to grow as a person and to better understand how I fit into the world around me. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, in a middle-class family, with access to health care, food, and education, fortunate and privileged. I give back because I have been given so much and because helping others is one of the best ways to create, maintain and strengthen social connections.

My mission as the Finance Vice Chair of Renovad GIVE Foundation is to make sure that finances are managed appropriately and effectively, making sure budgets and projections are aligned with the Foundation’s current and future financial strategies.

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Rami Rivera Frankl

Fundraising Vice Chair

An appointee of the US Secretary of Commerce, information technologist, entertainment/media executive, DGA director, author, and MBA graduate of Pepperdine University with experience creating and implementing strategic plans and resolving complex challenges for domestic and international businesses.

I am passionate about human rights, equality, and digital accessibility for all people. I have devoted myself to serving the community as a volunteer and board member for various nonprofits and civic organizations. I envision creating a world where technology is available to people of all abilities and means.

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Richard-Abraham Rugnao

Marketing Chair

I am the president and chief emerge officer for rār, a pulse-generating and tradition-busting branding and experiential/storytelling marketing firm. rār is focused on the vitality of “merging" multicultural consumers and influencers.

As an emerging executive with Yum! Brands, I was a key architect of the company's highly recognized global diversity department and direction. I led diversity and inclusion step-change in public affairs, brand marketing, government relations, supplier diversity, candidate sourcing, and franchisee pipeline development.

Prior to Yum!, I was the Sr. Director of Communications and PR for the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC.

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Antonia Nicols

Programs Co-Chair

I live by my "3-C" Values: connection, compassion and contribution, which I center around in both my professional and philanthropic work. These values have been upfront and center in the work I have done in marketing, telecommunications, finance, and international consulting.

In college, my dream was to become Secretary of State, to build world peace and prosperity through diplomacy. As I aged (gracefully!), however, I have experienced how many different actions, not just diplomacy, can create the connection, contribution, and hope for peace, to which I am committed. Renovad GIVE Foundation embodies many of these actions: education, diverse stakeholder engagement, boots-on-the-ground involvement, and community investment.

I am excited for the opportunity to work with Pilar and her team, who share so many of my personal values, and I am pleased and honored to support Renovad GIVE in its mission as a Board Member.

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Mateo Magdaleno

Programs Co-Chair

My belief is that education is the greatest weapon we have to combat poverty, which drives my passion and energy. I am blessed to work, doing what I love by supporting education causes around the globe as a Chief Education Officer of IDQ Group Inc. This company was created with the philosophy that EVERY student is able to learn and thrive regardless of the "limitations" placed on society based solely on their IQ, rather on their IDQ  "I Don't Quit," their resilience, and their ability to have courage in the face of great adversities. 

As Pilar'a mentee, I am honored to work alongside her and my fellow board members on an initiative that creates impact and multiplies because when you change one student's life, you change a community.  Health, JOY and Freedom are the three words I live by and being part of this amazing movement aligns with all three.

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Magaly Maldonado

Programs Vice Chair

My diversity, equity & inclusion professional journey started in 2019, just as I visited Morocco with Renovad GIVE Foundation. This was my first trip to North Africa, a magical beautiful country where many lack basic needs and access to educational opportunities for children and women.

Then the Coronavirus came in 2020 and I embraced HUMANITY at another level, caring for and helping others without judgment about race, religion, gender or economic status. To GIVE in any type of shape or form is one of the most rewarding aspects in my life, it is my passion.

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Egda Alexander

Programs Vice Chair

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. In 1994 I moved to Texas.  In November of 2000, I landed my dream job as a flight attendant and ended up in Orlando, Florida in August of 2001 as part of my relocation.

In 2003, I started going overseas where I learned the great satisfaction that's in giving to help others in need. Traveling has helped me to visit many countries as a volunteer. I also volunteer locally with different organizations. Starting Giving Now, Inc. has been accomplished thanks to my family and friends who all share the same goal... giving 4 hope.

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