Shana Inofuentes (Aymara/Ashkenazi) is a digital communications strategist and social venture founder with nearly two decades of experience in the corporate, social impact, and performing arts worlds.  She belongs to the 2021 Georgetown Entrepreneurship Summer Launch Incubator cohort.

Shana is Founder and Principal at the recently-established Indigenous consulting and creative firm, Ch’ama: Native Americas. Additionally, as Founder and President at the local non-profit The Quechua Project, she drives “a novel, 21st century approach to addressing linguistic oppression and Native erasure” in her Bolivian immigrant community of greater Washington, D.C. The non-profit’s work supports rights as defined by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Previously, Shana worked in Kimberly-Clark Corporation’s Government Relations office, where she built and managed the company’s compliance process for lobbying disclosure to the U.S. government. She also distilled fast-paced media and crafted talking points for executive consumption.

Before that, Shana was at Running Strong for American Indian Youth, administering grants and programs in Indian Country. There, she worked alongside Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills (Oglala Lakota) to establish and manage an official charity team at the Marine Corps Marathon. 

Active in her local Bolivian community, she has served in leadership and principal dancer roles, taught folkloric dance to hundreds of youth, directed choreography, composed music, and has won 8 first or second-place titles in national competitions. Highlights include a televised performance in the 2011 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Shana received a B.A. from Columbia College, Columbia University, and an M.A. from Georgetown University’s Communication, Culture, and Technology program, where she explored communications strategy for social impact in a future greatly changed by technology. When not dancing, Shana can be found practicing her pour-over coffee technique, researching Andean colonial archives, and enjoying time with her family and community.

Languages: native fluency in English and Spanish, written and spoken; heritage familiarity with Aymara, Hebrew, and Quechua; intermediate Portuguese.