Celebrating Our Honorees

Since assuming her role in 2018, she has intertwined LAYC’s mission with new and evolving needs of Black, Latino, and immigrant communities in the Washington, D.C. and Maryland area. She has transformed operations and directed staff through an unprecedented global health crisis, leading the center to provide culturally relevant and linguistically inclusive services where many other organizations could not.

As a regional leader in youth development for more than 20 years, Ms. Quinteros-Grady has overseen the implementation of more than 45 multicultural, comprehensive, and innovative programs addressing the social, academic, and career needs of youths. She previously served as LAYC’s Maryland Multicultural Youth Center’s managing director, providing vision and oversight for operations in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.

Ms. Quinteros-Grady is the first Latina to lead LAYC. Her connection began as a 14-year-old participant in LAYC’s Summer Youth Employment Program, an initiative she would lead as a college student. As an immigrant from El Salvador, she uniquely understands the challenges and triumphs of the families LAYC serves—and maintains a personal connection through volunteering in direct service programs to youth.

Since 2020, she and LAYC have been selected to participate in a series of COVID-19 education and recovery coalitions in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, including the DC Health Scientific Advisory Committee for the Development and Implementation of a Safe, Effective, and Equitable COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Program; the Montgomery County Community Advisory Board; and the Prince George’s Forward Taskforce’s Education Recovery Work Group, to help accelerate recovery efforts and dispel health misinformation targeting communities of color.

Her most recent accolades include a Washington Business Journal 2022 Women Who Mean Business honoree, the Montgomery Collaboration Council’s 2019 Time Well Spent Montgomery’s Children Award, the NFL’s 2019 Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award, El Tiempo Latino’s 2019 100 Powermeter List, and a 2019 Visionary Women in Prince George’s County.

From 2014 to 2018, she served on the Prince George’s County Board of Education. She provided leadership and expertise on the academic and cultural barriers Latino and immigrant youth face in Maryland’s public schools. She was one of only two Latinas serving on the board. She was a member of Leadership Greater Washington’s 2020 graduating class. She most recently served as a member of the Presidential Transition Advisory Committee for Montgomery College.

Ms. Quinteros-Grady received a master’s degree in bilingual and special education from The George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from Goucher College.