Who We Are
The people behind the mission.
Our Values
These principles define our daily work and guide the way we serve the women in our program, support one another, and partner with local communities.
Human-Centered Approach
We recognize that behind every person is a story, a dream, and a human being who deserves our genuine presence. We listen to understand, building relationships of trust with empathy and clarity.
Culture of Trust and Growth
We hold ourselves to the same standard we set for the scholars, one of continuous growth, honest reflection, and a willingness to learn from every challenge. A team committed to its own growth is better equipped to walk alongside young women committed to theirs.
Financial Stewardship
Every dollar entrusted to us is a vote of confidence in the scholars we serve and the mission we share. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of financial transparency and accountability because the people who invest in this work deserve to know exactly how it is used.
Commitment to Service and Community
We are examples of service for one another to sustain and elevate each member of our community. We believe every gesture, no matter how small, can inspire, motivate, and change the world.
Walking the Path Together
Our work as a team is to create the conditions where a scholar can make her own choices, pursue her own dreams, and build her own future, free from the financial, emotional, and systemic barriers that might otherwise constrain her.
Influencing Positive Learning
Our strategy measures success by the scholar's trust and pride. Every interaction reflects respect and commitment, and when a challenge arises, we seek connection over blame, always influencing toward learning rather than penalty.
Cultivating Change Together
Our work is a shared effort between our team in the United States and on the ground in Peru. We work in close coordination to ensure every PH Scholar receives the consistent and comprehensive support she deserves.
Edwin González
Peru Lead
Edwin has been part of our story since before we had one. In 1992, he helped facilitate the adoption of a baby girl from Cusco—a girl named Ana Dodson, who would go on to found Peruvian Hearts. That act of service quietly planted the seed of a relationship that would span decades, and when we needed a leader in Cusco—someone who knew it from the inside, its people, its culture, and how to move within it with integrity—Edwin was already there.
Born and raised in Cusco, he spent his career leading the Libertador Hotel chain across Peru, growing it from 190 employees to nearly 1,500 and opening fifteen properties, including the landmark Tambo del Inca in Urubamba. That career sharpened his ability to recognize potential in people, earn their trust, and build the conditions for them to grow, deepening his understanding of the communities we serve. As Peru Lead, he brings that knowledge and conviction to every scholar we walk alongside, guided by the belief that with dedication and sacrifice, the future is always within reach.
Miriam Rivero
Program Psychologist
Since 2016, Miriam has been the heart of Peruvian Hearts' psychological care, providing individualized, trauma-informed therapy and leading monthly workshops with the scholars' parents, creating space for families to understand and embrace the value of their daughter's education in ways that strengthen everyone under the same roof. Every scholar arrives with a different story, and Miriam's work is to walk alongside each one as she begins to open up, heal, and reclaim space for herself. What Miriam brings to Peruvian Hearts goes beyond her training; she almost didn't become a psychologist because her mother couldn't afford the tuition. Her ability to directly empathize and encourage each scholar, having faced that same barrier herself and understanding what it costs a young woman in Cusco to pursue an education, is what allows her to reach each scholar not just as a clinician, but as someone who truly understands.
Jessica Peralta Condori
Academic Advisor · PH Alumna
Jessica knows the Peruvian Hearts program from the inside out because she lived it first. As a scholar, she became the first in her family to earn a university degree, graduating as an economist. Her story and her sister Alexandra's—who graduated from Peruvian Hearts in 2025—embody what education, given the chance, can do.
Now, as Academic Advisor, she walks alongside current scholars guided by hard-won empathy and a passion for sharing what she has learned along the way. She describes this not as a job but as a purpose—rooted in the knowledge that donors and volunteers once believed in her, and that it is now her turn to believe in others. Jessica also leads our PH Alumni Network, a growing community of empowered women multiplying the impact of everyone who believed in them before they believed in themselves.
Rossmery Valverde
Accountant · PH Alumna
Rossmery Valverde graduated from Peruvian Hearts and, in time, came back—this time as a person helping run it. Now serving as Accountant, she brings professional experience to the work of keeping Peruvian Hearts financially sound and transparent. She understands that behind sound finances is something more than organizational health—it is what makes it possible to treat every scholar and her family as an individual, with specific needs and a unique story, rather than a line in a budget. For Rossmery, it is a direct act of service and a commitment to the community she came from.
Danny Dodson
Executive Director
Danny has been part of Peruvian Hearts since 2007—and as the organization grew, he stepped in to provide the leadership it needed to become what it is today. In 2011, under his leadership and alongside the team, Peruvian Hearts made a defining shift: recognizing that a scholarship alone was insufficient, and that by walking alongside ambitious, resilient young women with holistic support—psychological care, leadership development, and a community built around their growth—the impact of every investment could multiply. That model is what Peruvian Hearts is today. As Executive Director, Danny cultivates an environment where servant leadership, adding value to others, and personal growth as a daily discipline are not just ideals but expectations—for himself first, and then for everyone around him. He is gracious, direct, and the first to own a mistake. He sees every interaction—with the team, with donors, with the scholars themselves—as an opportunity to lift someone up and challenge them to grow. His vision is for Peruvian Hearts to be recognized globally as a leading organization in women's education and empowerment and to walk alongside many more young women all across Peru.
Milagros Dodson
Director of Operations
Mily has served as Director of Operations since 2018, bringing to Peruvian Hearts the rare combination of an engineer's precision and a servant leader's heart. Born in Lima and trained as an Industrial Engineer and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, she built her career in a field where women are scarce and the barriers are real—and she navigated both with the same determination she now recognizes and cultivates in the scholars she serves. At Peruvian Hearts, the engineer in her designs the systems and processes that keep the organization running with integrity and transparency, while the leader in her invests in the people those systems exist to serve. She works closely with scholars on the financial dimensions of their scholarships, and she treats every one of those interactions as an opportunity to encourage and lift them up. She is a Peruvian woman who fought for her place in a male-dominated field and built a career on her own terms—and in every scholar at Peruvian Hearts, she sees that same potential waiting to be unlocked. Her vision is for Peruvian Hearts to reach more women, more communities, and more futures—growing in a way that multiplies impact without ever losing the human touch that makes this work matter.
Demeaus Minnihan
Development Lead
Demeaus came to Peruvian Hearts in 2024 looking for a cause she could stand behind completely. She met Gloria, a PH Alumna, at the Colorado School of Mines. A visit to Gloria in Peru introduced her to several other PH Alumni—women who had fought for their education and were already paying it forward: funding their sisters' university educations, leading initiatives in their communities, multiplying everything they had received. When PH happened to be looking for someone to support operations shortly after, it felt like more than coincidence. As Development Lead, she works on two things: building the internal systems and automation that free the team to focus on what they do best, and helping people with a desire to serve discover Peruvian Hearts and find their place within it. She believes the young women of Peruvian Hearts are uniquely equipped to lead change in their own communities because of what they already understand about the world they come from. Her job is to make sure the work of serving scholars is never slowed by the work of running an organization.
Her story is changing the world. Be part of what she's started.
If you believe that educating one woman transforms her family, her community, and the generations that follow—you already understand why PH exists. Come find your place in it.