Karla Monterroso

Karla Monterroso is committed to closing the opportunity gap for Blacks and Latinos in the United States. She believes CODE2040 sits in the perfect intersection of a skills- and network-building opportunity for Black and Latino talent and a systems change opportunity for a critical segment of the country’s economy.

Karla has focused much of her professional life in growing the people and program functions of rapidly scaling social enterprises driving youth advocacy and leadership. Prior to joining CODE2040, Karla was the National Director of Advocate Engagement for Health Leads. Health Leads is a national non-profit changing health care by ensuring hospitals address the intersection of poverty and health. In her most recent role, Karla developed the national training standards, structure, and curriculum; recruitment systems; and performance management tools that will allow Health Leads to scale. As their Director of Talent, she tripled the staff size to 70+ team members within two years and grew the operations that impacted employee recruitment, performance, and engagement.

Karla has spent the last 14 years working for underserved communities. She enjoys the art of group and team facilitation, has a natural aptitude for organizational development and change management, and believes fervently in the cultivation of organization culture.

Karla’s passion for equity and social justice comes from her upbringing in a low-income community with parents who dedicated their lives to making sure she was the first in her family to go to and graduate college. Karla is an alumnus of the University of Southern California.