Staff

Samantha Isabel Calero, MPH, is Vice President of People and Culture at YW Boston. Sam’s professional roots are grounded in youth work and community organizing, violence prevention and intervention, public health, strategy, and facilitation. She brings over 15 years of experience to this role.  

Prior to joining YW Boston, Sam served as the Equity Solutions Strategist for Technical Delivery at Abt Associates. There she worked with federal, state, and local clients across the United States and Puerto Rico on the social determinants of health to integrate equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility best practices throughout project life cycles. Before Abt, she led her own consulting practice with government and nonprofit clients across Massachusetts, focused on change management and organizational development to advance racial and gender equity and trauma-informed systems of care.  

Earlier in her career, Sam served as a cofounder of the Violence Prevention and Recovery Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She received a bachelor’s degree in Social Justice Advocacy from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her MPH in Health Policy from Harvard University. She is a member of Mijente and lectures at Clark University on Community Needs and Resources Assessment for the graduate program in the Department of International Development, Community, and Environment.