ETB Blogs

Kenyatha V. Loftis (She/Her/Hers) 

Kenyatha V. Loftis, PhD is a Texas-born African-American woman who creates collaborative moments that facilitate personal, relational, organizational, and social transformation. She is Co-Founder and Principal Consultant at Solutions by Local Scholars and Mentors Unifying Research and Practice to Harvest Excellence for the Future (L.SMURPHE.F) Enterprises, Ltd. Co., a consulting firm rooted in the mantras sankofa* and climbing together. An excellent listener and innovative strategist, Dr. Loftis develops streamlined solutions for multidimensional problems. Her subject matter expertise includes program evaluation (culturally-responsive formative/process/implementation evaluation, outcome/summative/impact evaluation, and MOTiSS evaluation [an original and emerging disaster-responsive framework]); research methods (research design, developing data collection tools, quantitative and qualitative analytics, and mixed-methodology research); education (policy analysis, school leadership, parent involvement, turnarounds, early childhood, and out-of-school time); and American politics (public policy governance and implementation, public opinion, political institutions, race/ethnicity, gender, and poverty). Dr. Loftis is a graduate of Yale College (BA in Political Science), the University of Michigan (PhD in Public Policy and Political Science), and Rice University (Certificate in Education Entrepreneurship, School of Business).  

*Sankofa: Go back for what has been forgotten 

Nina R. Sabarre (She/Her/Hers) 

Nina R. Sabarre, PhD is the Founder and CEO of Intention 2 Impact (I2I), a social impact consulting firm that uses research, evaluation, and strategy to help purpose-driven organizations measure and maximize their impact. Nina has over a decade of experience conducting mixed-methods research and evaluation in 25+ countries. Her work focuses on utilization-focused and equity-centered evaluation for strategic grantmaking and systems change. As a first-generation Asian American, Nina was raised to work hard and pursue a sensible, stable career. Growing up, she had no idea that entrepreneurship was possible for someone like her. Today, Nina thrives in the intersection of evaluation and entrepreneurship. While pursuing her PhD in Evaluation and Applied Research, she realized that evaluation is a commercial industry as much as it is an academic discipline and systematic method of inquiry. Through her research and thought leadership, she has examined how entrepreneurship shapes the perceived value, quality, and equity of evaluation supply and demand. In 2018, she started I2I — a feminist firm that disrupts traditional business norms by leading with transparency, authenticity, equity, and abundance for all. Nina is passionate about progressive causes, breaking glass ceilings for women, and using entrepreneurship to dismantle the status quo. 

Paola Molina (She/Her/Hers) 

Paola Molina is a Director at OMNI Institute and has been with the organization since April of 2013. She has more than a decade of research experience using mixed and qualitative research methods to shed light on the issues most affecting communities, particularly communities of color. Some of her example research projects include interviewing deported migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, examining direct service and policy advocacy strategies for improving women’s economic security, and conducting a community-based participatory assessment in communities of color across the state to better understand and elucidate racial/ethnic disparities in child wellbeing. Paola also brings deep experience partnering with organizational leaders, boards, and key collaborators around strategy development. She has partnered with organizations to envision and operationalize their theory of change; co-designed studies to examine the effectiveness of programs and initiatives through an equity lens; and co-developed strategic planning, grantmaking, and sustainability efforts. As a Director, she is responsible for leading OMNI’s internal DEI strategy and efforts. On her projects, she brings a client-centered and collaborative approach that centers equity as an overarching framework and value. 

Rucha Londhe (She/Her/Hers) 

Rucha Londhe, PhD is a first-generation Asian Indian immigrant researcher and evaluator with a doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies. She began working on topics concerning gender equality and racial equity when joining the Goodman Research Group (GRG) in 2006, leading multiple evaluations of programs focusing on the topic of girls and women in STEM education. Later, as a Project Director with Brazelton Touchpoints Center’s Evaluation Team, her focus shifted to evaluating programs targeting disparities in maternal and children’s health. She served as a grantee evaluator on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) projects with different Tribal Nations and collaborated with program teams on designing equitable evaluation data collection and analysis strategies. As the lead evaluator for the Office of Head Start’s National Center for Parent, Family, and Community Engagement, she designed evaluation activities to collect, analyze, and disseminate action-driven data, with an aim of achieving continuous quality improvement (CQI) of the center resources. Currently, she serves as the Co-Director of the Global Equity Center at Abt Associates and advises project teams on implementing equitable evaluation principles, while continuing to implement them in her own education and behavioral health projects. Rucha also served as a Mentor for the Leaders in Equitable Evaluation and Diversity (LEEAD) Program. 

Sylvia Kwon (She/Her/Hers) 

For two decades, Sylvia Kwon has worked in research and evaluation across various contexts and settings, ranging from community-based organizations, higher education institutions, state education departments, and local government agencies. She has led and supported technical assistance and capacity-building projects aimed at facilitating equitable outcomes for historically underserved communities, including Indigenous students, migratory youth, and English learners. She has extensive experience in program evaluation, qualitative research, and data visualization. Prior to joining Public Profit, Sylvia was a senior research associate at WestEd; evaluation specialist at UC Davis Health; research and assessment analyst at UC Davis; leadership development, research, and evaluation coordinator for a nonprofit organization in the Bay Area; and lecturer in Ethnic Studies. She has also served as a community advisor on issues related to school climate, teacher recruitment and retention, and gender-inclusive classroom practices. She holds a PhD in Educational Foundations and Policy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. As a Senior Consultant at Public Profit, Sylvia works collaboratively with clients to develop evaluation studies, engage in strategic planning, and implement continuous improvement models and structures.