Board of Directors

Officers
Carmen Amaral, President

Cynthia Cummings, Vice President

Jennifer Clarke, Clerk

David Millett, Treasurer

Directors
Shawndrae Barreto, Chair, Events Committee

Melissa Costa, Chair, Governance Committee

Meg Steinberg, Chair, Grants Committee

Members

Bettina Borders, Founder & Co-Chair, Engagement Committee

Cecilia Brito, Member at Large

Melissa Costa, Member at Large

Yvonne Drayton, Member at Large

Colleen Millet, Volunteer Coordinator

Jacqueline Ramos, Member at Large

Neal Weiss, Member at Large

Marcy Wintrub, Member at Large

Staff

Christine Monska, Executive Director

Christine is the Executive Director of the Women’s Fund SouthCoast in New Bedford where she increases opportunities for women and girls to become economically independent, access education, and advocate for solutions to issues in their community. She brings fourteen years of senior leadership experience in government, higher education, and nonprofit sectors where she has focused on advancing inclusive leadership for women, particularly those with marginalized identities. Christine worked across Massachusetts on various initiatives for women, girls and gender expansive people. In 2020 she was appointed to the MA Commission on the Status of Women by the Caucus of Women Legislators. She currently serves as Secretary and Chair of the state-wide Girls Empowerment and Leadership Initiative.

Prior to joining the Women’s Fund SouthCoast, Christine designed and led the Young Women’s Initiative, a policy advocacy and leadership development program for young women in Springfield which was a local implementation of a national program stemming from the White House Council on Women and Girls. Christine was also the District Director for former Senator, Ben Downing where she also sat on the regional commission on the status of women and served as a Board Member for Berkshire County Action Council and Shout Out Loud, a small nonprofit addressing human trafficking. Most recently, Christine was Youth Leadership Programs Manager for The Clubhouse Network, a collaboration with the MIT Media Lab located in Roxbury, MA. In this role, she oversaw operations and managed grants focused on leadership development and advocacy training in communities that lack representation. Before that, Christine was Continuing Education Advisor at Bard Microcollege, the nation’s first college for low-income women who experienced disrupted education and Program Officer for The Women’s Fund of Western MA.

Christine holds a B.A. in Government from Smith College, a M.S. in Global Affairs with a concentration in International Law and Human Rights from New York University, and holds Certificates in Financial Accounting, Economics for Managers and Business Statistics from Harvard Business School, a Paralegal Certificate from Boston University as well as a Certificate in Transformative Leadership in Disruptive Times from George Washington University where she sits on the Advisory Council.

cmonska@womensfundsouthcoast.org

Camilla Adhaora Monteiro, Special Projects Intern

Camilla Adhaora Monteiro, a senior at New Bedford High, is dedicated to community betterment and outreach. As co-founder and president of the pending Black Student Association of New Bedford High School, she channels her passions consisting of all topics connected to Black mediums of expression, namely fashion, videography/media, and history. Priding herself in devoting as much time as possible to helping out within local organizations, she splits her time between the Human Rights Commission Youth Council, the NAACP: New Bedford Chapter Youth Council, Gifts to Give, and the Women’s Fund South Coast. As an aspiring Architectural Engineer, her focus is now bridging social betterment with her future profession, consolidating buildings and communities. Camilla now interns at the Women’s Fund, working on future projects in youth empowerment, community upliftment, and Black women in S.T.E.M.