On day one, mentees introduce themselves and share the inspiration for their work. Ana Yris Guzmán is co-founder and executive president, Nuestra Escuela, Inc.

World-class trainers in business, leadership and communications are key to the Global Ambassadors Program experience. Allison Shapira trains program participants in public speaking and networking. 

Fresh air mentoring: Ana, Wendy, Paulina and Kirstin.

Twenty extraordinary women, one extraordinary week. Executives, business owners, entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders from the U.S. and Puerto Rico, Argentina and Poland came together March 18-22, 2019 for transformative mentoring, training and networking.

Selfies! It didn't take long for mentors and mentees to form fast friendships and lasting connections. 

Global Ambassador Sarah Thorn of Walmart gets to know her mentee, Isabel C. Fernández of ALL GRANTS, LLC.

Mentee Auralís Herrero-Lugo is founder of Retazo, a sustainable fashion enterprise in Puerto Rico.

Storytelling and executive presence trainer Aaron Kisner takes the group through family tree exercises as a way to articulate personal connection to an organization's or company's mission and values.

Mentee Tania Rosario-Méndez is executive director of Taller Salud, a nonprofit feminist organization focused on health advocacy and gender equality in the community of Loíza, where we visited with local leaders.

Modesta Irizarry (center), a community organizer with Taller Salud, leads the group on a short walk from the office to the beach, a place of recovery and renewal for many of the women and families affected by instability and trauma.

The Vital Voices community grew a little stronger after spending time with Taller Salud in Loiza on March 20.

Paulina Salach Antonetti (left) is co-founder of Spoon, an immersive culinary experience company in Puerto Rico. After a selfie with Silvina (right), she leads the group on a tasting tour through Old San Juan.

Our walking and tasting tour with Spoon, mentee Paulina's company, had the group wandering through Old San Juan with expert guides and learning historical and architectural fun facts not found on mass market tours. 

Mentee Mariangie Rosas and tech entrepreneur Silvina Moschini work on expansion plans for cocohaus, a co-working space in San Juan.

Aleksandra Gren of Fiserv Poland mentored Tania Rosario-Méndez, tackling human resources and financial challenges at Taller Salud.

Global Ambassador Carmen Cedré, a local entrepreneur and successful businesswoman, clicked immediately with mentee Auralís Herrero-Lugo, one of Puerto Rico's leading sustainable fashion designers.

Mentee María Gabriela Velasco Corrada and Christine K. Channels, a Global Ambassador from Bank of America, spend an afternoon working on business plans for a new venture called Bask.

Silvina, Christi and Lucienne share a laugh during one of Allison Shapira's networking exercises

"Sisters-from-another-mother" and GAP guiding lights Zoë Dean Smith of Vital Voices and Pam Seagle of Bank of America celebrate the successful close of the 19th program. 

Fort San Cristóbal in Old San Juan.

San Juan scene.

San Juan street scene.

San Juan market.

Old San Juan. 

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO 2019

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The Global Ambassadors Program in San Juan, Puerto Rico was held March 18-22, 2019. It brought together women leaders of small businesses, social enterprises and nonprofits at a pivotal point in their careers post-Hurricane Maria, pairing them with highly accomplished women executives from a range of sectors and organizations for a week-long program of one-on-one mentoring, group mentoring and sessions focused on building business acumen.

Photography: David Hume Kennerly