Propel Admissions Director Alexa Bonilla: Chipping away at Glass Ceilings in the Latinx Community
Alexa Bonilla, Senior Admissions Director, Propel America & Honoree, Latin Impact Awards
Propel America’s team includes talented, resilient, and community-minded individuals, many of whom are people of color from all across the country. Our Senior Admissions Director, Alexa Bonilla, demonstrates these qualities every day, and was honored on July 27th in New York City at the Latin Impact Awards, hosted by Schneps Media, premier publisher of newspapers, magazines, and many other publications that keep readers connected to their communities.
Schneps convenes thought and industry leaders across New York and Philadelphia, and their Latin Impact Awards recognize “outstanding Latin American individuals” who are “leaders in the community, volunteers, philanthropists, business owners & employees from all sectors… as a way of saying “Thank you” for making a difference in the day to day lives of others.” Read Schneps Media’s event recap.
Schneps received several submissions. Alexa was nominated by a group of colleagues from within her network who recognized her impact in the professional world mentoring younger people, her drive to break through barriers to opportunity for communities with limited resources, and her work with Propel America, a non-profit that connects recent high school graduates with rewarding careers in healthcare.
Schneps Media honored Propel America’s Alexa Bonilla at its annual Latin Impact Awards ceremony on July 27th. Alexa was recognized for her commitment to helping future generations succeed. Read their event recap.
Alexa lives outside of Newark, N.J. A mom of three, she grew up in the Bronx, and graduated from Cornell. Motivated by her firsthand experience with the power of education to transform lives, she has dedicated her career to helping young people access more opportunities, and she continues this work in her current role with Propel America. We are so proud of Alexa, and we sat down with her to explore what inspires her, and what this award represents to her.
Tell us about yourself, your background and your family.
I am Alexa Bonilla, I was born in the Bronx in New York City, by a young, single mom, who raised me and my brother. She didn’t have a degree, and didn’t finish high school. She instilled in me the importance of education. I saw where we lived and what she had to go through to get assistance at times for us as a family. Luckily, I had a lot of teachers who saw potential in me, took me under their wing, and worked closely with me to give me support. School was my safe haven and happy place.
Alexa Bonilla, Senior Admissions Director, Propel America & Latin Impact Awards Honoree:
“I value education so much because it opened up pathways for me to be not only financially stable, but be able to grow. I've been able to help my family, help myself and really get lifted out of the poverty that I grew up in because my community really lacked resources. To me, education was the door and the pathway to move forward, to have a different life than what I grew up with.”
After high school, I went to college and my first job out of college was as a teacher in the Bronx. From there, the work that I've done throughout my career has been in nonprofit education.
I value education so much because it opened up pathways for me to be not only financially stable, but be able to grow. I've been able to help my family, help myself and really get lifted out of the poverty that I grew up in because my community really lacked resources. To me, education was the door and the pathway to move forward, to have a different life than what I grew up with.
Describe how your Latin American heritage has influenced who you are today.
My Latino background has influenced me a lot because we very much value education, hard work, and grit. I was always taught that things don't come easily. You have to work hard for what you want. And so I think that was part of the way that I was raised and what I believed in.
“My entire career has been about helping to open doors for others. Through education, in many different ways, and that looks very different for every person.”
A friend told me, whatever you do, don't forget where you came from. You have to give back. And you have to believe in people the way people believed in you. That has stuck with me.
I didn't want to leave my community. I wanted to give the same opportunity that was given to me to other people as well. People from our community that maybe weren't expected to succeed. But whatever happened in our lives, there would be that possibility for something better. And if I could have a hand in helping open doors for other people, help lift them up, and help them propel in their own lives, then I was going to do that.
It started when I began my teaching career, because that's how I connected with students, but also in helping students get their GED and then helping them get jobs, so they’re ready to face the world. Or assisting them with ensuring their children had the right education.
Tell us why you've been nominated for this specific award and what this recognition means to you as a Latino woman.
I recently found out that the people who nominated me were a group of colleagues whom I have worked with through the years. They recognize the work I put in to try to open doors for the community. But it's not just the community, but my impact in the professional world, with other people who were younger, early in their careers. My leadership and my mentorship allowed them to flourish and grow within their own careers as well.
They come from a similar background, and they’ve struggled against a lot of those same glass ceilings that I have found throughout my career. Not that I've shattered them, but I'm certainly working to chip my way through them. And I make sure that those around me also have that opportunity. I help chip away at it so that they can also grow and have more opportunities.
I think the impact award has to do with the fact that, not only have I given back to my community and other communities like mine. It's not just the Bronx or New Jersey, it's Philadelphia, it's Los Angeles, Louisiana. It's everywhere that my employer, Propel America, has a fellowship program. Ensuring that our students, as well as my co-workers, have access and opportunity, as well as equity across the board in their opportunity, and how they're learning, as well.
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As a former colleague of Alexa, I couldn't have asked for a better mentor to equip me with the skills and confidence needed to excel in this field. What truly inspires me is her incredible ability to strike a perfect balance between being an outstanding mom and daughter while impacting her community. She's a true gem! It's a pleasure to congratulate her on being honored with the Latin Impact Award.”
- Stephany R., Assistant Director of Marketing, NYU (and one of Alexa’s previous colleagues who nominated her for the Latin Impact Awards)
So I think the award is two-fold, and receiving it has been very humbling. Oftentimes you do this work and they say the nonprofit world is a thankless job. And it was just a moment - that recognition - where I felt valued and seen for what I have been able to provide, and the needle that I've been able to move, even if I help just one person.
My entire degree, my entire career, It's worth every moment that you can help at least one person step up and improve their life. Whatever that is - that improvement could be education, it could be a job, it could be motivation, it could be a step toward feeling better about themselves as a human being, or feeling empowered that they can help someone else, and in turn, other people pay it forward - they learn and do for others as well. I'm so thankful and it was also motivating. It just makes me even more committed to doing this work, to push further.
Tell us about your work with Propel America and why you feel so connected to Propel’s mission of connecting young people with rewarding career pathways?
I'm really connected to Propel’s mission because, when you break it down, what Propel does is really offer an opportunity of equity - that you can still reach your goals, and your career, even if you don’t go through the traditional path. College is not for everybody. Although I took that path, it was all that was available to me at the time. But I think about friends, family, and community that couldn't take that path for a plethora of reasons - it could have been financial, academic, family responsibilities - there are so many reasons people cannot take the traditional path. But it shouldn't be held against them. They still have the potential to become these incredible citizens. To provide for themselves, for their families and their communities, to give back.
So the mission of Propel really draws me because of the fact that we are equalizing the playing field. Through providing people opportunities and a path towards a career in healthcare - this is another way that we are chipping away at the glass ceiling.
So many of the Propel fellows whom I interview help motivate me because of what motivates them: they want to work at a hospital or a clinic so that people like them see themselves there.
People like them see that there's someone who cares about them, someone who looks like them. We're talking about representation. We're talking about equity. They want to see more of themselves out there, and they're seeing themselves as a possibility, thinking: “Hey, I could do that. I could be the person that the patient sees that looks like them that can help them.”
“As a new student, I can honestly say Alexa made my decision to enroll in school very easy. When at times I second guessed myself and my decision, she was the one who encouraged and motivated me to keep going forward. Without her, my progress would not have been possible. I’m extremely grateful she was the one to guide me on my new journey. She is just amazing!”
- Nicole Feliciano, Fellow, Summer ‘23 Cohort, Newark, NJ
This is such a fulfilling career for them. Because they want to give back to their community. And so talk about paying it forward. I talked about making sure that I'm doing my part by helping the fellows, and then I get to help ensure they're paying it forward, doing their part for their communities.
And so that mission is really aligned completely with not only my career, with my upbringing, with my passion and my beliefs about an equitable system where people can have career and economic mobility that will fulfill their aspirations, and then they can turn around and give back to the community. This is what it's about, and this is how Propel fellows inspire me.
There was a Propel Fellow named Ashley, for example, who really wanted to enroll in our program but hadn't completed her high school diploma. She was a young mom. I told her, “Even though you can't apply to Propel right now, go for your GED.” I’m excited to share that she's actually going to be able to join our fall cohort, because she is completing her GED during the first week of August, just in time for our program.
So me checking in with her, asking how the studying for the GED is going, just being someone who cared about her and showed her that there was someone at the other end of the line who was rooting for her, was motivation for her. That's just one example.
“I am so thankful to Ms. Alexa Bonilla for all her encouragement, and making sure that I reached my goal no matter what. Her kindness and patience are changing my life for the better. Thanks to her, I was provided with the best opportunity. Congratulations to her on this award; she deserves it.”
- Ashley Nieves, Fellow, Fall ‘23 Cohort
There are so many other examples of students who maybe didn't think that a program like this, that promises a career pathway with a steady income, was even possible for them. And that's what I want: I want them to be able to see that this is a possibility, that it is not out of your reach to become a nurse one day.
We start them off with a certification to become a full-time medical assistant. But it goes beyond that, because many of our partners that we work with actually provide tuition reimbursement for their employees, so now this fellow who maybe never thought they would ever get a nursing degree has the opportunity to do just that.
So I think it's inspiring all around. I love my work. I love what I do every single day. Because just as much as the fellows are inspired to move forward, they inspire me to continue to be so committed to this work. That mission is really aligned completely with not only my career, with my upbringing, with my passion and my beliefs about an equitable system where people can have career and economic mobility that will fulfill their aspirations, and then they can turn around and give back to the community. This is what it's about, and this is how Propel fellows inspire me.
“Alexa Bonilla is a critical member of Propel's team and its success. She brings the empathetic voice, passion, dedication, and spiritedness that we need in order to motivate more young people to believe in themselves, to meet the requirements to enroll in Propel, to make the leap into building upwardly mobile careers. We are so proud of Alexa, thankful for her leadership at Propel, and thrilled to see her win this well-deserved recognition as a Latin Impact Award honoree.”
- Chad Rountree, Chief Executive Officer, Propel America
Alexa’s many Propel America colleagues and fellows join CEO Chad Rountree in congratulating her on this honor.
Inspired by Alexa Bonilla’s example of giving back to her community? Share her story on social media!
