Dr. Maritsa Barros is a Cape Verdean, American born woman who obtained a Doctorate of Education from Northeastern University with a focus on organizational leadership and her scholarship focused on the lived experiences of Chief Diversity Officers at PWIs in the Northeast region of the country. Before teaching DEIJ at a private university, she served as the Chief Officer of Talent and Culture in municipal government prior to that, she worked in higher education for many years in various roles including the Associate Diversity Officer and Executive Director of the Urban Scholars Initiative and served as the Interim Chief Diversity Officer at the height of the pandemic. She started her career as an admissions officer at Northeastern University and has also held the roles of Assistant Director of Admission, Diversity Outreach and Recruitment, at Framingham State University and the Assistant Director of Admission, Multicultural Recruitment at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. She is an active practitioner serving as a consultant for DEIJ in MA and she is an entrepreneur. When she is not working and fighting for equity and inclusion, she loves being a mom to her two children 6 and 2 where she can be creative and playful. Fun fact, Maritsa comes from a large family where she is second to youngest amongst 13 siblings. She has determined that she is the one who will break the generational inheritance of poverty and trauma in her family!