W OM E N OF A C HI EV EM EN T
K i mberly Sa n che z E xe cutive D ire ctor, Commun ity Hom e T r ust
I wa n t to do s ome th i ng t o hel p p e ople b ef ore th e y g e t to t his s ta g e .” COVID-19 response has allowed me to operate in that way.” Not that she’s complaining. Quintana always knew it was a requirement of the job. Before she became director in December 2017, she worked as the public health preparedness coordinator in Forsyth County for 6 ½ years, where she assisted in the fight against the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic. That experience came in handy for the current crisis. Protecting the public against major diseases is actually the reason she entered the field in the first place. She originally wanted to be a nurse, becoming a certified nursing assistant in high school and winning a nursing scholarship to East Carolina University. Over summer breaks, she worked at an assisted living facility in Greensboro. One of her patients was dying from ovarian cancer, and all Quintana could do was keep her comfortable, giving her ice chips and helping her reposition. The memory serves as a permanent reminder and motivation for her current day-to-day duties. “That was the night I knew,” she says. “I said, ‘This is not for me.’ I want to do something to help people before they get to this stage.” To that mission, she kept the county’s 149,000 residents safe through enacting new health guidelines and organizing free testing sites and now vaccine clinics. As of mid-April, her team administered nearly 17,000 vaccine shots. The Chamber For a Greater Chapel HillCarrboro honored her for all of this at its
annual meeting in January with the Duke Energy Citizenship and Service Award. “[The past year] was an accelerated type of introduction to the community,” she says. “But I wouldn’t [trade] anything for it. And it’s been hard work, but it’s also been rewarding.” – by Hannah Lee 60
chapelhillmagazine.com
May/June 2021
B
orn in San Diego, Kimberly Sanchez was a Navy kid, so she and
her four younger siblings moved around a lot. She earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida and her Juris Doctor from the University of Miami. It was in law school, during a semester interning with legal aid, that she was certain nonprofit work was her calling. “When I recognized that the justice system is too complicated for anyone without a lawyer to navigate, I knew I had to help people whose voice wouldn’t be heard,” she says. After graduating, Kimberly worked as deputy director of a legal aid organization, which provides legal support to central Floridians, for three years before becoming CEO for four more. When Robert Dowling, the executive director of Community Home Trust, retired in 2019 after 20 years, the Chapel Hill nonprofit’s board of directors conducted a nationwide search to fill the position. Kimberly was selected from a field of nine candidates and began working in January 2020. “Community Home Trust has been building, maintaining, preserving and acquiring affordable homes in Chapel Hill for 30 years,” Kimberly says. “The community trusts us to make sure that the firefighters and nurses and schoolteachers who all work here can find places to live here.” With 15 years of nonprofit experience and a background as a housing attorney, Kimberly says she is excited to usher the organization into its next 30 years. “I just want to make it bigger and better and keep telling the stories.” As executive director, Kimberly manages operations and implements the board’s vision. No two days look the same, and her schedule consists of Zoom meetings with everyone from staff members to donors to town council members. Last year, Community Home Trust created a public-private partnership with the Taft-Mills Group to build low-income rental units in the Jay Street area. Over the next few years, they will co-develop 48 to 52 affordable rental units. No matter what the workday brings, Kimberly maintains a positive focus. “There are a lot of pressures on leaders of organizations, particularly in a space where there’s a lot of [national and local] conversations about whether or not [affordable housing is] a good thing,” she says. “[I try to be] intentional to find joy in the little moments, whether they’re work-related or personal, just to connect and keep fueled personally and internally.” – by Nicole Moorefield