We are excited to welcome Sylvia Zapata Shoemaker as SAF's new Executive Director, starting with us on June 1!
Sylvia is a third generation Texan and a Winston-Salem State University and La Joya High School graduate. She grew up in Texas' Rio Grande Valley and in Washington's Yakima Valley, where her parents worked in the fields. In 2001, she arrived in North Carolina to participate in SAF's Into the Fields program and has been living on and off in North Carolina since then. She has over 13 years of experience working in the government sector with the rest of her experience in the private sector. She is currently attending online classes to obtain a Master's in Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Sylvia is the mother of two children, Adrian and Saraliah, along with Sadie, a Belgian Malinois. She is a native Spanish speaker, proud Millennial, and enjoys singing banda/Tejano karaoke with her friends and visiting her family in Texas as often as she can. As a former farmworker child, Sylvia is honored to be able to serve the farmworker community in this new role.