Catarina Rivera

Catarina Rivera has earned a BA in Psychology from Duke University with a scholarship from the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program; a Master of Science in Education (MSEd) degree from the Bank Street College of Education with a focus on Dual Language/Bilingual Education; as well as a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Hunter College.

Catarina is an entrepreneur committed to social justice. She is the founder of the Washington Heights/Inwood Food Council, a food justice organization. She is the co-founder of ExplorEquity, a sustainable travel brand supporting local communities and connecting travelers to real social justice issues.

Catarina is also the founder of Blindish Latina, a platform smashing disability stigmas through storytelling, advocacy, and education. In addition to her entrepreneurial endeavors, she has over 14+ years of experience working in educational institutions and at nonprofit organizations. She has experience in program development/management, managing teams, capacity building, community organizing, community engagement, and diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) initiatives as part of employee groups.

As a Latinx woman who has lived with disability all her life, she brings a deep understanding of intersectionality to conversations surrounding disability. She wore hearing aids from a young age but did not know why she had hearing loss. At 17, she was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome type 2, a combination of progressive vision loss due to Retinitis Pigmentosa and moderate-to-severe hearing loss.

Learning that she w… Read More