Victoria Santos
Meet The Founder and Executive Director
Visionary Leader with 35 Years of Transformative Experience.
Victoria’s work is rooted in a far-reaching vision of human potential. Her deep commitment to our collective liberation has expressed itself in myriad ways over 35 years of leadership and creative changemaking.
Victoria has trained in the fields of psychology, conflict resolution, meditation, rituals and embodied practices. She holds a Master’s degree from SUNY Albany as well as multiple certifications in transformative and healing practices.
Global Advocate for Justice and Healing Initiatives.
In the US and internationally, Victoria has been a creator, leader and trusted advisor for a wide range of initiatives supporting racial justice, gender justice, healing and exploration in community. She recently created and led the Three Black Men project with Orland Bishop, Bayo Akomolafe and Resmaa Menakem. This three-continent journey fostered deep exploration and vibrant new community connections. She has supported the project’s principals in asking vital questions, forging a new synthesis, and cultivating shared ground as they brought their visionary work to a wider community.
Additionally, Victoria collaborated on launching the national Racial Healing Initiative, funded by the Kellogg Foundation and held by the Retreat Center Collaboration. For over 15 years, she co-led Sister Island Project, a nonprofit focused on cultural exchange and rural community development in the Dominican Republic.
Champion of BIPOC Empowerment and Racial Equity.
Victoria is a leader in advocating for BIPOC-led nonprofits as a co-director with BIPOC ED Coalition, creating rest and respite opportunities for BIPOC nonprofit leaders, creating new avenues of access to deeply needed resources. She has also spearheaded and facilitated many initiatives empowering girls and women across the nation around issues of health, equity, empowerment, creative arts, connection to the natural world, career opportunities and financial well-being. Victoria has advised numerous philanthropists on racial equity and was invited by Ava DuVernay’s team to provide input on the Netflix documentary When They See Us.
Facilitator of Healing Conversations and Spiritual Growth.
Victoria’s particular gifts as a facilitator of healing conversations are widely appreciated. Balancing warm compassion with decisive clarity, she has led hundreds of groups in transformative explorations that catalyze healing and discovery—participants range from European war survivors to Black women in the US to Brazilian community members and many others.
Victoria also leads groups and individuals in meditative explorations drawn from the Realization Process®. Developed by Judith Blackstone, this process is a body-centered approach to personal and spiritual healing and maturity. For ten years, Victoria assisted Sobonfu Somé in leading grief rituals according to the Dagara traditions of Burkina Faso, which also informs Victoria’s work. In all her group work, Victoria weaves together methods that engage the energy of our hearts, minds and lived somatic experience, and that invite us to attend to our intuition.
Victoria knows the power of community and the wisdom that can emerge from it. Her work is guided by the fundamental perception that everyone is needed, and that when we offer each other our compassionate listening, we cultivate our collective freedom.
