Director of Small Business

Rossana Espinoza

As the Director of Small Business Investments, Rossana leads the planning and delivery of training and support to organizations focused on small business development and asset building by helping member organizations grow their programs, secure funding, share leading practices, and connect them with peer networks.

For over seven years, Rossana equipped entrepreneurs in the D.C. metro area with the tools to build financial assets, start and grow their businesses. She began as a business coach at the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC), and in 2015 became the program manager of the Small Business Development Program. In that role, she improved program effectiveness and capacity by analyzing data and creating new tools that standardized service structures.

Most recently, Rossana was an associate director at Aspen Institute Business Ownership Initiative. Her work included engaging with community-based practitioners, financial institutions, funders, and policymakers to advance promising strategies and policies that promote equitable access to business ownership.

One common thread and driver throughout her life has been the positive influence of entrepreneurship to uplift her family and community. She hails from Bolivia and grew up in a family of microentrepreneurs, including her mother, who started a cleaning business to support her family in the US. As such, Rossana has a lifelong commitment dedicated to working towards equity and inclusion of working families. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland and a Master’s from the University of Michigan.