Meet Our Founder
Roxana Bonderson
FOUNDER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ACADEMIC COMMITTEE SUPERVISOR
Biography
Worldhealer’s Founder, Roxana Bonderson grew up in Santa Barbara, California. Beginning in her undergraduate years, she took every opportunity to travel extensively on her own, as well as studying, living and working abroad in Italy, Germany, Cuba, and Brazil. Within a few years, she had reached nearly every corner of the globe and had experienced a tremendous variety of cultures firsthand. It was during this time that she began to lay the intellectual foundations of what was to eventually become Worldhealer.
In October 2008, with the guidance of a retired nonprofit fundraiser, Roxana started to bring her vision to life. The dream she envisioned for Worldhealer has not changed much but instead evolved into a multi-layered program.
Roxana is an active member of the humanitarian community as the author and designer of several non-profit proposals for development projects within emerging countries. Roxana holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture and Urban Planning with specializations in strategic planning, global management, marketing, international communication, sustainable development, and financial resource management and a certification as an IFC Accredited Life Coach. Her degrees and certifications have given her the basis to manage both people and projects, but the emphasis on long-range strategic planning and project administration has further developed her ability to identify and develop solutions at both the micro and macro levels.
Roxana speaks English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Farsi. She has worked and done private research in Italy, Germany, South America and Cuba, Far East Asia, Australia, North Africa, and the United States. She participated as assistant to one of the architect/project managers at Habitat for Humanity – Jimmy Carter Work Project in Valdosta Georgia, the U.S.A., in 2003. She also designed a proposal for Habitat for Humanity – LAC (Latin American and Caribbean office) to justify the need for future architectural and urban assistance to Cuba. She was the Project Manager of “The Sustainable Regional Development Group Tourism Proposal” for the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Rhön (Bavaria Unit) in Germany to develop a project on sustainable tourism in the area.
Roxana has received multiple awards in Outstanding Leadership in the Nonprofit field, as well as Excellence in Sustainable Development during the years since she launched Worldhealer and she never stops learning so that she can continue to teach, motivate and inspire the members of her team and her community.
"I believe that you can be anything you set your mind to. I lead by example so everyone who meets me can believe the same."
Roxana Bonderson
Founder & Executive Director