Her Story
About Wilma
Dr. Wilma Franco serves as Executive Director of the Southeast Los Angeles Collaborative, a role she has held since 2018. With more than two decades of experience in the nonprofit sector, she has built a career focused on strengthening communities through government relations, fundraising, organizational leadership, and collaborative partnerships. Her work emphasizes community-centered strategies, data-informed planning, and building connections among nonprofit, civic, philanthropic, and community leaders across Southeast Los Angeles.
Dr. Franco’s academic background reflects her commitment to public service and organizational development. She earned a bachelor’s degree from UCLA with a double major in Political Science and Chicano Studies and a minor in Public Policy, followed by a Master of Public Policy from the University of Southern California, where she also completed a certification in public management. She earned a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership from the University of La Verne and has pursued additional professional education in real estate development through USC. She has also served as a part-time lecturer at California State University, Long Beach, and previously held leadership roles with the I Have a Dream Foundation – Los Angeles.
Beyond her professional work, Dr. Franco is committed to connecting leaders, supporting nonprofit organizations, and creating opportunities that strengthen Southeast Los Angeles communities. Her community involvement includes work with organizations such as the I Have a Dream Foundation and Club 21, while she also enjoys camping and spending time with her two sons through sports and other activities. She has recently been appointed to the Los Angeles County Ethics Commission, contributing her experience in leadership, public policy, and community engagement to discussions about government structure and accountability. Throughout her career, Dr. Franco has emphasized faith, relationships, empathy, transparency, and stability, values shaped in part by her family’s immigrant experience and commitment to creating better opportunities for future generations.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Wilma
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think a lot of it has been because of my upbringing. I am a first gen immigrant from Guatemala, looking for that American dream and wanting something better for my family. Both of my parents did not complete schooling. My mom has no formal education, my dad only went up to 9th grade, so a lot of it was influenced by my desire to give them a different life and create different opportunities for my children.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think the best career advice I received would be to speak up. Oftentimes we shy away whether it's our upbringing or because I'm a woman of color, you feel like you have to prove yourself without knowing that our life experience is also valuable and brings a different lens. Trust my instinct, trust my knowledge, and be okay with not knowing all the answers.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think my best advice is to look at every opportunity and every person that they come across in this workspace as someone they can learn from, but also seeking to build a network. Oftentimes we forget that I may meet you today working at an organization but everybody has a different trajectory and sometimes those relationships you build can really create opportunities to open up new opportunities for yourself.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges are fundraising which is a really difficult space. In the nonprofit sector we go into this field because we want to do good but we've created this notion that doing good work means you're not going to build generational wealth and you're always going to be poor. This drives good employees out of the field and creates the notion that we have to overextend ourselves. It's also an opportunity to change it and redefine what the nonprofit sector is, why we exist, elevating that we're impacting lives and changing lives and that should be valued at a higher level than profit margins.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I typically live by five values: faith, relationships, empathy, transparency, and stability. Faith is a big one in my life. How you build relationships and how you see humans is really important to me. Transparency and stability, whether it's health or financial stability, those pieces are important to me.
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