Dr. Saudi Garcia is an Executive Operations and Strategy Leader building and scaling organizations that solve big societal challenges. She is currently using her background as an Anthropologist and qualitative researcher to advance Educational Access, Economic Justice and Racial Equity in the U.S. Higher Education sector. Dr. Garcia is a proud immigrant and graduate of New York City Public schools. She is also a graduate of Brown University & New York University and a member of the In Cultured Company, LEDA and New American Leaders communities. In 2022, Dr. Garcia completed her PhD after writing a doctoral dissertation on the impacts of gold mining and racial capitalism on Afro-Indigenous communities in the island of Ayiti.
In May of 2024, Dr. Garcia publicly resigned her Assistant Professorship in protest over her university’s response to student protest and the deterioration of academic freedom and labor conditions in higher education institutions. She currently serves as the Program Director of Scholars for Social Justice, a progressive network of University workers advancing democracy by fighting for social change at Universities and their adjacent local communities. At Scholars for Social Justice, Dr. Garcia is shaping the movement to transform higher education by crafting programs for public education, emergency response and public engagement, and funding opportunities such as cohort-based fellowships and team-based research grants. Her portfolio of programs is a direct response to the federal government's destruction of funding for research and its attacks on academic freedom and freedom of expression.
Dr. Garcia maintains a bird's eye view of how the U.S. political and higher education policy landscape is shifting for students, families, institutions and college access organizations. Via her consulting practice, Dr. Garcia helps organizations align their values, strategies, programs and operations to better confront this changing landscape.
Dr. Garcia is deeply inspired by Black Feminist theory and organizing and shares its lessons to help as many individuals and organizations find the courage to solve complex problems and transform themselves and society. Dr. Garcia is a long-term volunteer of the youth collective In Cultured Company. As an active member of the U.S. Dominican progressive community she inspires other "Platano Progressives" to live their values, advance democracy and transform their communities.
Organizational Leader, Researcher and Operations Strategist
