Our guest speaker for February will be Adalgisa Rivera best known as Lisa.
Lisa is an Afro Latinx woman who currently resides in Inwood. She was born in Harlem and always gravitated to Harlem. She gives back to the communities, but especially Harlem in various ways by volunteering through various fitness and wellness programs including Pacing for Harlem Run, Bike Leader/Coordinator and Steering Committee Member for El Barrio Bikes. She has also led various historical walks throughout Harlem including the most popular one in collaboration with Artist Miguel Luciano of the Mapping Resistance: Young Lords project in East Harlem and Young Lord, himself: Hiram Maristany- who was not only a Young Lord but there photographer. Over 50 people showed up to the walk and learned about the role that the Young Lords played in Harlem but other systems throughout NYC and their collaborative work with the Black Panthers.
Lisa ran 5 marathons (2 NYC, 1 Berlin, 1 Chicago, 1 Virtual London), 1 stage Ultra Transrockies 60 miles over 3 days in Colorado. She will be going back this August to do the 6 day stage event 120 miles total.
She was a ShapeUP NYC instructor leading walks and teaching free fitness classes prior to COVID. She has been a GU Athlete for over 3 years now. She is a part of Imentor and has had a mentee for over 4 years now.
Her professional working career has been dedicated to child welfare and she has 16 years worth of experience. She has a Master's Degree in Social Work from Fordham University. She served in the United States Army National Guard for 8 years.
She has an array of awards, including the Army Achievement Medal (2006), ACS Individual Distinguished Service Award (2018).
Lisa has been featured in various podcast and articles. Most recently, she was featured on Ali on the Run Podcast # 448- The Everyday Runner and Another Mother Runner Podcast #483 and Tina Muir's podcast- Running for Real #256 and also been featured on IG Diversewerun and Womxn_who_move and so many other platforms.
Outside of working out and her career, Lisa love knitting. She finds it therapeutic and relaxing. In turn, she sells knitted headbands, hats and scarves to purchase more yarn and continue to use this as a healthy coping mechanism in addition to running, walking and my engagement in the community.
IG pages: @Lovelylisaknits_llc_ or @Lovelylisa125
For more information and for the Zoom link, check PPTC Google forum