Meet Angelica Santibanez

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Angelica Santibanez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Angelica , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I would say I get my work ethic from the following:
1. My parents, who left everything behind in their home countries and immigrated here from Cuba and Venezuela – they instilled in me the values of hard work and perseverance. I am so thankful to have been shown the way and be able to pursue my dreams of social impact work. It is because of them that I have a passion for service- service to God, family, work, country and community.
2. My mentors – both men and women who have guided me throughout the years. They have continuously pushed me to dream bigger and do better.

As a Latina woman and mom, we have a responsibility to be bold, to advocate for ourselves and others, and to use our platforms to create a more inclusive and equitable future. There is enough room at the table of success for all to partake. We should continue to inspire others, push boundaries, break barriers, and champion the next generation of leaders. The imposter syndrome is a real thing and there will be times of doubt or questioning, but always trust your gut and do good.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I lead community engagement for Amazon Public Policy team in Florida and Latin America, working closely with local community stakeholders, nonprofit organizations, and civic associations to support policy objectives. At Amazon, we look to leverage our scale for good and use our ability to innovate quickly to strengthen communities around the world where our employees live and work. Amazon’s culture is built around solving impossible problems, which is why we’re able to take a different, more hands-on approach than most. We work side-by-side with community partners to find solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges and build long-term, innovative programs that have a lasting, positive impact.

Before working at Amazon, I worked four years in the financial services industry working in Corporate Social Responsibility arena, particularly with CRA and Community Development initiatives. Working in banking, I focused my CSR initiatives on community work specifically to meeting the needs of low-income and financially disadvantaged residents. I created zero interest loan programs for low-income families, worked closely with United Way Miami’s Center for Financial Stability to incorporate financial literacy programs throughout Miami Dade and also worked with various nonprofits that were focused on serving children and families.

I started my career in the Social Impact/Nonprofit space where I held multiple development roles as a professional CFRE Fundraiser. I started at City Year Miami as a Manager of Corporate Giving/External Affairs, where I was in charge of fundraising $1.3M through Corporate and Foundation giving. I then transitioned to run a hyperlocal Capital Campaign project for a Catholic school in Pinecrest area, St. Louis Covenant Church & School, where I was responsible for the oversight and management of an integrated campaign planning process, in conjunction with the Campaign Steering Committee, which fundraised a total of $4,200,000 (Campaign goal was $5Million). I then continued leading Major Gifts within the Archdiocese of Miami in various fundraising projects.

I am very active in the community, serving on a number of committees of civic, non-profit, and charitable organizations, including the United Way Miami Board, Chapman Partnership for the Homeless Board, Miami Dade College Foundation Board, Live Like Bella Childhood Cancer Foundation Board, and the Governmental Affairs Committee of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Resilience, perseverance and the ability to take risks and answer with a “yes” to the unknown or scary things. Each risk I took led me to greater and unexpected opportunities.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

My number challenge right now is lack of time. There is so much good work to do and a company like Amazon that is a true partner and engages with nonprofits is highly sought after partner. I decided this year to create a “2025 Mantra” and my focus word for the year is: focus.

1. I want to do less! Hear me out- this does not mean less work. I can spend every single day brainstorming ideas, attending events, taking exploratory meetings but then when does the actual work get done? A boundary is needed and I have learned to be okay with not taking on everything that makes its way into my inbox, from events to meetings. One of my new favorite lines for 2025 will be “𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐’𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 “𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦” 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵.”

2. I want to be efficient and do better. My calendar needs to honor my priorities to accomplish the “think big” ideas we are tasked to deliver on. I do not need to be everywhere to “show up”. I am lucky to work for a company that has an enormous amount of smart, caring and willing individuals who can show up (if their calendar permits 😉). On the Amazon CE team, we are constantly deep diving and understanding what is important for our customers/communities and I have a clear vision of what I need to focus on and accomplish. Our roles are constantly shifting in order to provide better service to our customers/communities around the world so ruthlessly prioritizing is non-negotiable for me in 2025.

3. Continue to align actions with values to create more impact. This year, I am doubling down concentrating on targeted, responsive, and impactful partnerships that make clear the benefit of Amazon businesses to local communities. This is not easy task so we have to also make it fun! As someone with a young family, I plan to keep a healthy work/life integration and incorporate my family into community related events in order to continue the “balance” (is there ever such a thing as work/life balance? That is entirely a separate post). I will never forget something someone told me: ‘every time you say YES to a volunteer, board, project, event or activity, you are saying NO to your family.’

2025 will be a year of extreme focus but I know I must leave room for some flexibility. I do believe as leaders we must keep listening with an open mind. After all, leaders who fail to listen, fail to lead. Of course, I will remain flexible in order to respond to urgent or unforeseen community needs that are important to our business but continuously strive to make sure our funding stays focused, targeted and makes for meaningful impact.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aboutamazon.com/