Zoraida Lopez-Diago joined Glynwood as vice president of development, communication and strategic partnerships in November 2022. In this role, she is a part of the organization's core leadership and is responsible for development, communications and strategic functions at Glynwood to support its mission and programs.
Zoraida is deeply committed to environmental justice and working at the intersection of land, food and equity. She holds nearly two decades of experience collaborating with community members, municipalities, philanthropic leaders and regional nonprofits to deepen relationships between people, agriculture and nature. Most recently, Zoraida served as director of the River Cities Program at Scenic Hudson Inc., where she provided strategic management and directed projects and programs in the Hudson River Valley cities of Kingston, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie. Prior to this position, Zoraida managed communications and grants initiatives at Westchester Land Trust; during this time, she also co-founded Conservationists of Color, a national platform and affinity group for people of color working in the land conservation movement. Zoraida has additional professional experience from Columbia University and the Service Employees International Union.
In her free time, Zoraida is a photographer and curator. In 2022, she co-curated the exhibition, "Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility," an exhibition on Black girls and genderqueer individuals, and is co-editor of Black Matrilineage, Photography, and Representation: Another Way of Knowing (Leuven University Press (EU) / Cornell University Press (USA), 2022), a collection of academic essays and curated images that reclaim the brilliance of Black women through personal stories, connections to land, history, political acts, and communal celebration.
