Fully Human
Maria Smith Dautruche (she/her/hers) is an alum of the Elias Foundation Fellowship and proud to be from Mount Vernon, NY. where she championed civic engagement, housing justice, and reproductive justice. Following her time as an Elias Fellow, Maria joined the second cohort of the Culture of Health Leadership Institute for Racial Healing - an 18-month leadership experience supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that uses the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) framework to strengthen the ecosystem of practitioners who are advancing racial and health equity in their work.
Currently working as a grief and leadership coach, Maria is also founder and principal consultant at The Dopwell Group LLC - a NYS-certified Minority/Woman-Owned Business Enterprise consulting firm that provides strategic advising and facilitation services to government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community groups. Through dopwell, Maria advised Adelphi University with implementation of its Anti-Oppressive Leadership Development Fellowship in its pilot year and also facilitated the work of the New York State Commission on African American History resulting in a $16 million budget allocation to support the Commission's recommendations. Prior to launching dopwell, Maria was the inaugural director of the Westchester Center for Racial Equity at the YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester and the manager of the Honest Education Action and Leadership Together (H.E.A.L. Together) initiative at Race Forward. Maria's career also includes previous roles at the National Urban League, Smithsonian Institution, and National Black Child Development Institute among others.
Maria is a friend, wife, and mom, a Christian, Black Feminist, anti-capitalist and abolitionist. She prioritizes rest, justice, joy, and healing with a healthy dose of curiosity in everything she does.