Cecilia was born and raised in Argentina and grew up during the nation’s Dirty War and has been calling Philadelphia home since 2001.

Dr. Cardesa founded TraumaVenture in 2016 to shift mental health and trauma narratives. Since 2016, Cecilia has served as a management consultant building people-centered and hope-rooted conversations, programming, training and ecosystems moving conversations, organizations and communities forward.

Whether working with Catholic nuns and women religious in sub-Saharan Africa or social impact organizations here at home, Cecilia uniquely bridges her international experience into the strategic alignment and direction of local organizations through her profound commitment to public interest law and the social impact sector.

In 2011, Dress for Success Worldwide hired her to lead its local Philadelphia affiliate. Prior to serving as CEO of Dress for Success Philadelphia, Dr. Cardesa led the piloting of the national Latino community engagement strategy on behalf of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America as a senior member of its leadership team. Before that, Dr. Cardesa served as the Executive Director of Voices Without Borders, Inc. Cecilia began her career working for an affiliate of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS). Dr. Cardesa served as Delegate to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2007 and 2013. In 2021, Cecilia served as lead organizer and workshop speaker for a Parallel Event during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW65): Holding Space for Mental Health—Building Inclusive Leadership Frameworks. Most recently in March 2022, Cecilia served once again as lead organizer and moderator of a workshop on the Intersection of Environmental Sustainability + Sustainable Education during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 66th Session Parallel Event.

Cecilia has received numerous awards and recognition for her commitment to community development and has served on local and international boards. Most recently, Dr. Cardesa received the Vera Momentum Award for her work with start-ups in El Salvador through Business Council for Peace (BPeace). She is a 2019 Mandela Washington Fellowship Reciprocal Exchange Awardee (Malawi). Dr. Cardesa serves as Chair of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute Board of Directors in Boston, Massachusetts.

Education

Dr. Cardesa studied Political Science at Villanova University (2002). Her undergraduate thesis focused on the impact of globalization in international non-governmental organizations. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. When Cecilia traveled to Germany in 2008 as a graduate student, she was moved by the architectural use of space memorializing memory after a visit to the Garden of Exile at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. The commitment to survivor memory continues to anchor her work on trauma. The thesis for her master’s at the University of Pennsylvania was on the Role of Storytelling in Social Value Creation. Cecilia’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania looked into Situating Traumatic Memory in Social Value Creation (2014). While in graduate school, Cecilia served as planning committee member for the student-run 2013 Wharton Social Impact Conference.

Dr. Cardesa humbly and proudly began her academic journey in community college.