Board of Directors
(The Board of Directors meets once a month)
Regina Bertholdo is one of the co-founders of the Brazilian Women’s Group. She came to Boston 20 years ago to study English. Regina worked as an interpreter for Somerville Hospital, coordinated a Women’s International Clinic at St. Elizabeth Medical Center, and was a program coordinator for the Somerville Family Network. Currently, she is the director of the Somerville Parent Information Center. Regina was re-elected to the Board in 2005, and serves as President.
Adriana Lafaille was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and grew up in Boston and New York. She has been part of the Brazilian Women’s Group for seven years. She developed and taught the English for Housecleaners curriculum used by the BWG. Adriana just graduated from Harvard Law Schools and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar. She was elected to the Board in September 2010.
Celia Maciel is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and has one daughter. They both came to Massachusetts 19 years ago. Celia works as a clinician for the Wayside Youth and Family in the Framingham area. She worked as a community organizer for more than 11 years and as a home buying counselor for Portuguese speaking people. Celia is a volunteer with the Brazilian Independence Day Festival organizing committee. She serves as Secretary of the Board, and was last re-elected in 2008.
Iraci Maranhão is from São Paulo, Brazil, where she spent most of her adult life as an executive with a global chemicals company. She worked in Asia for a few years before transferring to corporate headquarters in Boston in 1998. She is now a business consultant, and has been a volunteer with the BWG since 2004. She lives in Brookline, serves as Treasurer of the Board, and was elected in 2005.
Elizangela Soares, 26, is from Minas Gerais and the mother of two boys. She came to the United States six years ago and since then she has most worked as a housecleaner. She also worked in construction. Elizangela is very interested in spreading the word about green cleaning products and workers rights in the Brazilian community. Elizangela represents the Vida Verde Women’s Coop in the Board. She joined the Co-Op in the summer of 2010.
Miryam Wiley moved to the United States in 1982, when she married Bruce Wiley. A TV journalist for almost seven years, she went back to school and graduated once again as a journalist in 1989 from Metropolitan State College of Denver. A regular contributor to Community Newspapers in Metrowest, , she has worked for the last 18 months as a Partnership Specialist with the US Census Bureau, creating special connections in the community. She sits on the boards of the Federation for Children with Special Needs, for 11 years, and the Brazilian Women’s Group, since 2009. Miryam and Bruce have two daughters, Katherine and Andrea. Katherine belongs to the Young Brazilian Women’s Group. She serves as Secretary of the Board.
Staff
Heloisa Maria Galvão is from Ilha Grande, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and has two children. She works as a community field coordinator and language tester for the Boston Public Schools. She is a co-founder of the Brazilian Women’s Group and has lived in Boston for 15 years. She holds Master degrees in Print Journalism and in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University and currently resides in Jamaica Plain.
Kênia Santiago, is a native of Itanhomi, Minas Gerais. She resides in Brighton with her husband. Kênia has been working as a housecleaner, a housekeeper and babysitter since 2003. She serves as one of the Vida Verde Women’s Coop coordinator.
Sara A. da Silva, a Computer Science student, was born in Criciúma, Santa Catarina and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is part of the Brazilian Women’s Group, where she has worked for three years as the Group’s Web Site designer and editor.
Ruth Alves is from Paranavai, Paraná, a state in sosuth of Brazil, and the mother of two. She lives in Cambridge and has been working as housecleaner since 2003. Ruth is also a Vida Verde Women’s Coop coordinator.