Rossana Espinoza joined the Business Ownership Initiative as a senior project manager in September 2020. Her work includes engaging with community-based practitioners, financial institutions, funders, and policymakers to advance promising strategies and policies that promote equitable access to business ownership.
For over seven years, Rossana equipped entrepreneurs in the D.C. metro area with the tools to build financial assets, start and grow their businesses. She began as a business coach at the Latino Economic Development Center, and in 2015 became the program manager of the Small Business Development Program. In that role, she improved program effectiveness and capacity by analyzing data and creating new tools that standardized service structures.
Most recently, Rossana received her master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan, where she focused on social policy. For her internship, she joined the American Voices Project—a nationwide qualitative research study conducted by Stanford and Princeton Universities—as regional director leading Baltimore’s data collection effort. She holds an undergraduate degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland.
One common thread and driver throughout her life has been the positive influence of entrepreneurship to uplift her family and community. She hails from Bolivia and grew up in a family of microentrepreneurs, including her mother, who started a cleaning business to support her family in the US. As such, Rossana has a lifelong commitment dedicated to working towards equity and inclusion of working families.
