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Community empowerment is the common theme in Angie Sanchez’s career. She aims to continue on this path as she builds on existing and new collaborations in her new role.
The eldest daughter of Mexican immigrants, she’s worn many hats over the past 15 years: entrepreneur, community advocate, nonprofit leader.
And now, executive director of the Sonoma County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a 30-year-plus organization that supports and promotes the economic growth of Latino-owned businesses through a network of Latino and non-Latino professionals, entrepreneurs, business people and leaders.
Sanchez is only the second executive director appointed by the chamber since it started in the late 1980s, in part due to lack of funding.
American Rescue Plan Act fundscover her salary for now, but she’s already thinking about ways to ensure the organization’s long-term financial stability, she said.
Sanchez’s future plans intertwine her professional and personal experiences to lend a nuanced approach to this role, formally announced in June.
In 2021 she started VIDA Cultural Arts, an organization to empower Latino contributions to arts, culture and community, and she has also held roles with Corazón Healdsburg and the Sonoma Community Center.
Raised in the Sonoma Valley, Sanchez has worked with La Luz for 12 years. One of her most memorable experiences with the Sonoma-based nonprofit was providing vital information to Latino-owned businesses in Boyes Hot Springs at the onset of the pandemic.
“I, literally, physically went into every store, every Latino-owned … market in the Springs with a tape measure, with tape, with the bilingual resources,” she said.
Most recently Sanchez was one of 30 fellows selected for the highly competitive National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures’ Leadership Institute, a weeklong program in July that cultivates art professionals’ leadership skills. She was the first fellow ever selected from Sonoma County, she said.
Otherhonors Sanchez has received include the Latino Business Leadership Award in 2019, and in 2022 she received a North Bay Forty Under 40 Award from the North Bay Business Journal.
Sanchez sees so much possibility in the organization and is excited to build on local collaborations, whether by introducing workshops on branding and product presentation or revamping the Hispanic Young Professionals program through mentorship and leadership development for entrepreneurs below age 25.
“There’s a lot of different types of things that we’re trying to do and get creative with,” she said.
The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
North Bay Business Journal: How has the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce evolved over the past 10-15 years? What’s your vision for the group?
Angie Sanchez: The chamber, starting off in the ’80s, was very grassroots. I think over time, with all the different board presidents from, you know, Jenny Chamberlain to Michael Suarez to Alma Magallon now, they have been very involved board presidents, very on the ground.
Now that I’m here in this position I want to be able to take the chamber to that next step of growth, and then really be recognized not just in Sonoma County, but in California, and also be recognized across the U.S. through other Hispanic chambers as a top Hispanic chamber and bring in more creative and immersive workshops, enhance our member engagement and be able to do advocacy as well.
I started working with a consultant on our strategic plan for the next five years so this will be something very new to the chamber where we will have an actual plan of who we are, what we want to accomplish, and then how we’re going to do it.
NBBJ: You’ve spent many years building relationships with other Latino service organizations across the county. What kind of partnership opportunities do you see?
Sanchez: We are actually part of the Small Business Equity and Recovery Coalition. So that consists of 17 nonprofit organizations that provide technical to legal to financial services to Sonoma County small businesses and entrepreneurs. And so, within that, there are so many different partners from the Sonoma County Hardship Fund to Los Cien to La Luz Center to the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber of Commerce. So for me, partnerships are vital in success. In order to better serve the community we need to put our resources together to be able to really make an impact.
NBBJ: Any collaborations in the near future people could expect to see?
Sanchez: I have been meeting withdifferent partners who aren’t necessarily part of the coalition. I want to be able to work with other entrepreneurs and tap into their talents and their services. So for example, right now, we’re working with Leset Creative, and she does content creation, branding and all that and to be able to better support our small businesses.
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