Lindsey Navarro is the founder and Executive Director of El Centro Inc., a not for profit providing financial literacy and business training to the Latino community in south Louisiana in Spanish. Since its inception in 2018, El Centro has served more than 5500 Spanish speaking individuals via workshops and individual consultations and reached more than 68,000 virtually.

Prior to launching El Centro, Lindsey spent 7 years working with LiftFund, where she was hired as the first bilingual loan officer outside of Texas. As Business Development Officer, she was responsible for the development, cultivation and growth of business lending for LiftFund in the state of Louisiana. She helped to deploy more than $1.2 million in microloans to Latino entrepreneurs across Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, and Tennessee.

Lindsey holds an MBA from Loyola University of New Orleans and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from St. Peter’s University. She serves on the Steering Committee of the See Change Collective, is a board member of Market Umbrella, and previously served on the boards of the Crescent City Community Land Trust as president and founding Secretary of the Board of the Krewe of Themis, a Womxn Mardi Gras Krewe whose mission is to promote and foster social justice in the New Orleans Metropolitan area.

Lindsey has also served on the boards of the Committee for a Better New Orleans as President and President Emeritus of the board for Fund 17. In 2018, she was the Professional Development Chair for the Hispanic Young Professionals of Louisiana, a committee of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana. She has been featured as a “Heroe Local” or Local Hero by Telemundo 42, and is a 2018 Bryan Bell Metropolitan Leadership Forum Alumnus, 2017 Nexus City Fellow, 2017 New Orleans Civic Leader Academy Fellow, and 2015 NALCAB Colegio Community Economic Development Fellow. In 2014, Lindsey received the Excelencia Award for Community Service – Business from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana.