Graikelis Morales

Graikelis – who goes by Kelly- describes RiseBoro (RB) as her second home. She arrived at RB, as a teenager who emigrated from the Dominican Republic speaking little to no English. Kelly’s career at RB began as an intern in the Summer Youth Employment Program. Unbeknownst to her at the time, she would never leave. She proudly says that RiseBoro is her only work experience. Kelly earned a Bachelor’s Degree at Long Island University, while working at RB’s youth and education division. Within that division, she worked her way up eventually becoming the Director of Operations. In that role, she expertly oversaw programmatic operations contributing to the overall growth of the youth and adult education programs. While on this journey, Kelly discovered her vocation, designing a work environment that attracts and retains talented people. When the opportunity to train under an HR expert arose, she jumped at it. Currently, Kelly is RB’s Vice President of HR.

Kelly became the VP of HR two weeks after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. Her well established leadership, commitment and – always relevant- strong work ethic gave RB staff the confidence and reassurance that was so needed at the time. During her tenure as VP of HR, Kelly has modernized the department, while maintaining an emphasis on people and their growth. Among her accomplishments is the roll out of a company-wide all-in-one sophisticated platform that has streamlined and optimized HR and Payroll operations. The system provides multiple functions that allow for high level, centralized data tracking and access to high impact reporting and analytics to drive organizational change. Kelly has alsoled a full review of RiseBoro’s total compensation package and has been successful in implementing increased and improved benefit offerings to RiseBoro employees, including redesigned and new retirement options paired with a company match, access to enhanced employer-paid short-term disability benefits and making available a long-term disability benefit plan at a negotiated competitive group rate.

One of Kelly’s goals as the VP of HR is to continue to make RB a great place to work for all employees. While operations, systems, tracking and data are second nature to her, Kelly’s real passion is in people. If you ask Kelly what motivates her, she will simply say, “I want people to be happy at work”.

Bushwick Brooklyn is the place Kelly calls home, and where she’s raising her family.