About Althea Gonzalez

Althea Gonzalez is a bilingual (English/Spanish) and bicultural professional with 20+ years’ experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector in a range of consulting, coaching, leadership, and programmatic roles with emphasis on projects involving grassroots, immigrant, and Latinx communities. Both as an independent consultant and in various leadership roles, she’s worked with hundreds of organizations across the U.S. facilitating community conversations, leading grantmaking programs, and providing consultation and training on organizational capacity-building topics such as board development, equity, and strategic planning. Other work includes: workshops on leadership and coaching-style management; strategic planning retreats for foundations and nonprofits; and organization-wide coaching.

In addition to her work with organizations, Althea is a leadership coach serving as a thought partner, accountability coach, and resource connector for individual organizational leaders. Client partners include: emerging and well-established nonprofits; family, corporate, and community foundations; funder collaboratives; philanthropic support organizations; and for-profit entities.

She holds an M.A. in Adult Education, specializing in Training & Development, from NC State University and a B.A. from the University of Chicago. She holds an ACC accreditation from the International Coaching Federation. Althea has lived in Western North Carolina for over 30 years. Born and raised in Miami, Althea is the proud daughter of Cuban refugees.

Basic Tenets for Facilitation & Training

I believe that every voice matters and people support what they create. Therefore, it’s important that everyone has an opportunity to participate in a way that feels comfortable and allows space for their learning style. Meetings include various formats for engaging with the topic such as individual, pair, small group, and large group work, as well as session components that incorporate visual, auditory and kinesthetic aspects. The goal is for everyone to have an opportunity to learn and contribute while deepening relationships.
I believe that the “how” is as important as the “what”. Content and the ensuing discussion certainly matter and they’re often the main reason for holding the meeting. How that content is shared or how discussions take place, matters just as much. Careful attention is paid to the framing for each step of the meeting to address power dynamics and ensure equity in participation.
I believe meetings can be enlivening, well-organized, responsive, and finish on time. Adults work and learn best in dynamic and experiential settings where they get to reflect, both individually and collectively, on what they did. Whenever possible, I embed fun and experiential components into meetings. Much thought is put into the design of the meetings so that they are organized and flow logically, yet there is space allotted for the gems that pop up unexpectedly which often provide important insight or new direction.