Alethia Mendez

Division President, Elevating Black Women Entrepreneurs

Alethia Mendez is the Division President for Elevating Black Women Entrepreneurs at Grameen America. Ms. Mendez oversees strategic growth and operations for Grameen America's national microfinance program. She serves as the chief liaison for branch coordination on national programs and capacity building, spearheading operations in the field from Grameen America’s Head Office in New York City. 

Prior to her current role, Ms. Mendez rose through the ranks at Grameen America, holding several senior positions at the organization. In 2008, Ms. Mendez joined Grameen America as the organization’s first employee, serving as the inaugural Center Manager for Grameen America’s Jackson Heights branch. Over her tenure, Grameen America has reached significant milestones including disbursing $1.8 billion in microloans to entrepreneurial women, expanding to 23 branches in 15 cities in the United States, adopting cashless loan disbursements and pivoting to virtual operations amid COVID-19. 

As a founding team member, over the preceding years, Ms. Mendez has established herself as a leader at Grameen America with a wealth of knowledge of the challenges faced by minority businesswomen when accessing loan capital. Ms. Mendez is a proud advocate for financial inclusion and women in business, championing opportunities for Grameen America members to build their financial identities and digital financial literacy. She is passionate about the power of local networks to leverage growth for underserved businesswomen and believes in expanding Grameen America’s program to communities where financial inclusion is needed the most.