Anya is passionate about putting her values into practice by centering relationships and working collectively toward community-based systems change. After beginning her community work as an AmeriCorps VISTA member and leader, Anya spent over a decade in higher education actively prioritizing reciprocal community and campus relationships for student and community partner-focused programs. With 15 years of experience in program development and implementation in community and university settings, today Anya’s work focuses on organizational change, strategic planning, grant writing, project and program planning, wellness at work, and leadership development. 

As a cisgender, white Brazilian Latina with a mix Eastern and Western European ancestry, Anya is committed to unlearning internalized, oppressive behaviors that come with being a white, cisgender woman living on colonized land. The time she spent living with her vovó (grandmother), aunts, and uncles in Brazil as a child deeply influenced her worldview on ways of working and living.  

In addition to her work with Emergence, Anya developed and taught World History courses for eight years and taught multiple sections of US History. In 2023, Anya earned her PhD from Antioch University's Graduate School for Leadership and Change. Her doctoral studies focused on the intersection of leadership and organizations change with an emphasis on health, equity, and leadership at work. Her studies enhanced her skills for navigating organizational change and developing community-based curriculum and programs, as well as community-based research. Anya’s dissertation provides a model for developing worker-centered health within organizations.

When she isn’t working, Anya loves to spend time with loved ones, play board games, and soak in the beauty of nature, whether gardening, cycling or hiking. She has her 200 hour yoga teacher training certification and feels more grounded when she maintains a regular yoga practice. She also spends quite a bit of time artmaking and dancing around her kitchen as she cooks and bakes–especially homemade breads. Her linocut printmaking and screenprinting reflect her love of all flora, fauna, and homegrown vegetables.

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