Carissa Villafaña

A Southern California native, Carissa grew up in a sunny beach town surrounded by family. After graduating from college she packed her bags and began her service as a Peace Corps volunteer in the education sector in the Dominican Republic. Her time in the Peace Corps further ignited a passion for facilitating connections between students from different backgrounds and led her to begin her journey with Global Glimpse by leading our programs in the Dominican Republic in 2018. She wants to give students everywhere equal access to travel opportunities. Carissa is bilingual in Spanish and English and she has strong experience in program design and management, training facilitation, student recruitment, and partnership management. As Bay Area Programs Manager she oversees a diverse portfolio of school partnerships across the Bay Area, manages alumni programming, and supports our Bay Area Regional Leadership Council. Carissa holds a BA in Ethnic Studies from the University of California in Sacramento. When not at work you can find Carissa connecting with friends for dinner, hikes in the Oakland hills, sporting events, and movies. She loves reading SciFi and journaling and she’s always up for a travel adventure.