OUR TEAM
Kara Dunovant, J.D.
National Director, Young Women’s Initiatives
kdunovant@nywf.org
Kara Dunovant is the National Director of YWI. Kara brings many years of experience in youth advocacy and nonprofit leadership, along with a deep commitment to serving girls and young women of color. In her most recent role at the Earl Carl Institute for Legal and Social Policy, she facilitated the inaugural Young Women’s Initiative and the Young Women’s Advisory Council in Houston, Texas, in partnership with the Texas Women’s Foundation, a founding member of the Collaborative. Kara brings to this work her robust educational training as well as on the ground experience centered around the lives of young women of color. Kara has worked from an affirming and strengths-based approach throughout her career and has demonstrated her ability to grow an initiative or program from the ground up. She is the Founder and Director of The Sparkle Initiative, which is a community-based mentorship organization designed to teach young girls the importance of public speaking to advocate for themselves and their communities. Kara has also contributed her legal expertise and focus on policy in many roles, including at the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Kara has a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistic and African American Studies from SUNY at Buffalo and a Law Degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
Shiza Pasha
Strategy and Operations Consultant
consultantgywc@nywf.org
Shiza Pasha is a Strategy and Operations Consultant for the YWI. In this role, she supports the Collaborative across program implementation, fundraising, strategic planning, and evaluation efforts. She also leads the expansion of YWI. Her consultancy is focused on growing the capacity and impact of the foundation and nonprofit community. With extensive experience in local and international grantmaking, she understands how to move resources through nonprofit, philanthropic, and government spaces to create social impact.
Prior to independent consulting, Shiza held roles at Philanthropy New York, ELMA Philanthropies Services Inc., The Burke Foundation, Edelman, and Teach For America. Born in Pakistan and raised in Georgia, she bridges the local to the global and applies her unique perspective to her consulting work. She is committed to finding solutions to social issues through partnership building and is deeply passionate about addressing the structural issues that create inequity. Shiza has a Bachelors degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University.
Donna Haghighat
Lead Strategic Impact & Growth Consultant
donnahaghighat@gmail.com
Donna Haghighat retired as CEO of The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts where she led unprecedented fundraising and programmatic growth for 7 years. The Women’s Fund of Western MA was an inaugural member of the National Collaborative. In addition to launching the Young Women’s Initiative in Western MA, she also led the team that launched The Greater Springfield Women’s Economic Security Hub, which focuses on racial and economic equity. She nurtured community partnerships. Haghighat enjoys facilitation, leadership building and strategy work.
In 2023 Haghighat was appointed by Governor Maura Healey to serve on the Massachusetts Cultural Council. In 2021, Haghighat was appointed by MA Senate President Karen Spilka to serve on the State of MA Community Reinvestment Fund Advisory Board.
Haghighat was awarded the Trinity College Alumni Medal of Excellence in 2019, was the grand prize winner of the 2012 University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business International Business Plan Competition.
Previous roles have included Principal at Collabyrinth Collective, Executive Director of the Aurora Women & Girl’s Foundation, Chief Engagement and Advocacy Officer for YWCA Hartford Region, a strategic consultant, Chief Development Officer for Hartford Public Library, Interim Director and Grants/Program Manager of the Women’s Education and Leadership Fund, and Co-President of AAUW CT.
JOIN US
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