New York, NY – July 10, 2024 —The Harlem Educational Activities Fund (HEAF) is pleased to announce the election of HEAF Alumna Evelyn Pérez-Albino to its Board of Directors. Ms. Pérez-Albino joined the board effective July 1, and will collaborate with HEAF board members and leadership to set HEAF’s strategic priorities that ensure the college access program continues to provide academic enrichment, personal development, college prep, and career exposure to New York City students from underserved communities.
“As a HEAF Alumna and accomplished attorney with a focus on employment law and diversity, equity and inclusion, Evelyn will provide invaluable insight into the college access strategies, student and family support and program evolution to further HEAF’s mission,” said Karla Maloof, Chair, HEAF Board of Directors.
“I’ve had the great fortune of getting to know Evelyn as an alumna and HEAF Gala Honoree, and I am thrilled she has joined our Board,” said Michael Johnson, President and CEO, Harlem Educational Activities Fund. “The passion she brings to career exposure and access, her first-hand experience as a HEAF student, and her corporate law experience and expertise makes her a role model and mentor not only to our current students, but also to our staff.”
“I have considered HEAF my second home since middle school, and joining the board is like coming home.” said Ms. Pérez-Albino. “HEAF opened my mind to possibilities, showed me what a law career could be and encouraged me to attain it. I know the value of HEAF’s college access program, and I am thrilled to help play a role in supporting today’s students and shaping the organization for continued success.”
Evelyn “Ella” Pérez-Albino is an accomplished Fortune 500 legal executive, employment attorney, and DEI professional turned speaker, career strategist, and founder of career strategy consulting firm, Ella Elevates LLC.
Most recently, Evelyn served as Associate General Counsel at Meta (formerly Facebook), advising on all workstreams impacting global company-wide DEI and HR strategy, including people data analytics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, HR compliance, pay equity, talent acquisition, immigration, and global mobility. Before joining Meta, Evelyn was Director of Labor & Employment at JetBlue Airways Corp., where she oversaw the airline’s global employment and workplace compliance functions and functioned as a key stakeholder of the airline’s diversity, equity, and inclusion workforce and supplier strategy, implementing the Legal Department’s Outside Counsel Diversity Guidelines and critical thought leader of its inaugural Diversity Leadership Counsel. Prior to her time at JetBlue, Evelyn worked as the Labor & Employment Counsel at Advance Publications, Inc., the parent company of the renowned magazine publisher Condé Nast after her time as a Labor & Employment and Employee Benefits Associate at the New York City offices of Kelley Drye & Warren, LLP.
Throughout her career, Evelyn has been steadfast in empowering high-achieving, first-generation, and BIPOC professionals to take charge of and successfully navigate their own careers, so they can show up as authentic leaders thriving at work and in life. In founding Ella Elevates, Evelyn remains committed to that mission and aims to fuse her experience and innate strength of human connection to support the career advancement of professionals of color in corporate, via individual executive coaching, professional speaking engagements, and consulting services for organizations seeking to equitably bolster diversity in their leadership pipelines, establish initiatives that elevate diverse talent, and/or serve historically underserved populations.
In addition to her legal roles and entrepreneurial pursuits, Evelyn was also recently recognized as a “Top Lawyer Under 40” by the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA), of which she’s been an active member since her days as an aspiring attorney, previously serving as a Region II Deputy President and Chair of its Young Lawyers Committee. Evelyn is also a 2018 Council of Urban Professionals (CUP) Fellow and is a member of CUP’s Fellows Alumni Board. Her former board service also includes her time as Board of Directors Chair for Trabajamos Community Head Start, Inc., a non-profit early childhood educational facility and federal grantee serving lower-income and underrepresented children and families in the Bronx borough of New York City.
Evelyn received her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she served as Associate Editor of the Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, Co-Chair of the Latin American Law Student Association (LALSA), and founding member of MetroLALSA, a 501(c)(3) regional organization for Latin American Law Student Association members throughout the thirteen law schools in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area. She graduated magna cum laude from the City University of New York’s Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, with a B.A. in Psychology and Political Science.
Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York City’s Washington Heights, Evelyn is a native Spanish speaker and proud Afro-Latina. She shows up authentically and leverages the power of her own story, often praised for being a culturally competent corporate leader, recognized for her ability to build trust and communicate effectively across various audiences and serving as a frequent speaker on topics at the intersection of law, diversity, and career development. She is also an enthusiastic mentor to young professionals of color, wholeheartedly invested in their collective success.