Naria Santa Lucia
Naria K. Santa Lucia leads the Digital Inclusion team within Microsoft Philanthropies, where they help people and communities around the world gain the skills they need to increase their job and livelihood opportunities in the digital economy.
Naria’s favorite book as a kid was Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, the story of a young girl in Hiroshima who died of leukemia following radiation from the atomic bomb that was dropped by the U.S. during World War II. A deeply sad book but with such an important message about hope and peace, Naria loved how it also told the story of such a brave and strong Asian heroine, which was quite rare in those days (and even today)!
Her favorite part of SAL’s programming is WITS. Naria was lucky enough to have WITS at her kids’ elementary school and was blown away by how the WITS instructors were able to nurture and develop their voice and their confidence.
When she’s not doing SAL board things, Naria can be found running, hiking with her husband, nagging her teenage kids, getting frustrated on the golf course, watching true crime/murder shows, and of course, reading!!
The emoji that best represents Naria is the facepalm emoji because it often feels like life, and her personal mottos is try you best and know the material!