Our Mission
The Center by Lendistry is a nonprofit organization that supports diverse small businesses through education, technical assistance, and access to competitive financing. Our mission is to close the wealth gap by anchoring small businesses and the communities where they do business.
Our Team
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk
Tunua Thrash-Ntuk is a community development professional with 20+ years of experience leading economic inclusion initiatives and billion-dollar public programs to build stronger, more prosperous communities. As President and CEO of The Center by Lendistry, Tunua leads strategies to ensure underserved small businesses have access to the resources, education, and capital needed to succeed. She has been recognized with numerous honors, including the COMTO Transportation Trailblazer Award, the NAACP’s Trailblazing Woman Who Opens Doors Award, Bisnow’s Women of Distinction Award, and the President’s Award from the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce. She serves on the boards of the Greenlining Institute and Move LA and is a member of the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH) and the Long Beach Commission for Women and Girls. She earned her Master’s Degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and her Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from UC Berkeley.
Miranda Rodriguez
Vice President of Strategy & Operations
As VP of Strategy and Operations, Miranda leads program strategy, resource development and day-to-day operations for The Center. She is an impact-oriented leader passionate about advancing equitable economic development and wealth building strategies in low-income communities of color across the U.S. Prior to joining The Center, Miranda managed a robust set of economic inclusion and capacity building initiatives as Deputy Director at LISC LA. She brings 15 years of diverse experience in program design and implementation, budget management, and partnership development in the community economic development field to support The Center’s growing portfolio.
Marina Garcia
Senior Project Manager
Marina Garcia brings 10+ years of project management experience across various industries. She has a proven record of building strong strategic relationships with clients, C-Suite, partners, and colleagues that have resulted in meeting and exceeding goals. Her skills derive from work in industries such as social security disability law, tax credits and incentives consulting, advertising, cost savings consulting, and most recently, non-profit. Marina developed a new operating department at Disability Group, Inc. that assisted Veterans and disabled Americans in obtaining disability benefits. During her time with Profit Recovery Partners, she identified and implemented $33M in cost savings, which was used to support job creation and security for businesses across the country. Most recently, Marina serves as the lead from The Center for the LA County Rent Relief Program that is providing $68.6M in grants to qualified landlords to help mitigate the detrimental economic impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marina attended the University of Illinois at Chicago where she earned her bachelor’s degree in communication, with a minor in psychology.
Ritzy Mullings
Small Business Program Associate
Ritzy Mullings is a Small Business Program Associate with a passion for program management. In her role, she works with small businesses in underserved communities where she plans, coordinates, updates, and documents multi-phase projects. Ritzy’s adaptability and ability to acquire new skills quickly have been pivotal in her role. As a first generation American, with non-English speaking parents, she has firsthand knowledge of the unique challenges faced by small business owners of diverse backgrounds. This personal experience fuels her commitment to helping The Center’s clients succeed.
Shafeeq Shamsid-Deen
As Senior Program Manager, Shafeeq is building out new technical assistance and access to capital programming. Having 10 years’ previous experience in education and 7+ years in real estate development and project management, his work has spanned several states, tribal entities, and jurisdictions. Shafeeq is a strong advocate for supporting small businesses, community development, and ensuring equitable access to capital, especially for underserved and minority-led businesses.
Ben Greenlea
As our Small Business Program Advisor, Ben leverages his talents in instructional design, business mentorship, and project management to deliver programs that unlock the potential of underserved small business owners and bolster the effectiveness of CDFIs across the nation. Ben comes to The Center with 8+ years’ experience designing capacity building programming, administering mission-driven loan funds, and providing hands-on technical assistance to minority-led businesses. Ben is a firm believer that communities are at their best when its members have equitable access to capital, education and wealth-building opportunities.
Monique Rodriguez
Office Services Coordinator LA
As Office Services Coordinator, Monique Rodriguez provides administrative support to the Los Angeles office and coordinates all activities to maintain an efficient workflow. She collaborated with contractors to oversee the construction of the new Los Angeles office and supported the grand opening event planning team. Monique is committed to continuous growth and eagerly embraces challenges. She enjoys traveling and volunteering as the Athletic Director for her son’s football team.
Allison Paillant
Alli Bernstein Paillant joins The Center by Lendistry as an Economic Recovery Corps Fellow (ERC). She’s passionate about equitable economic opportunity creation and small business job creation. She’s a community builder, operator, strategic partnership collaborator, and has spent the last 10+ years across the technology sector, startups and nonprofits consistently delivering value through meeting her clients and communities where they are. She enjoys building multi-threaded relationships while maintaining an unwavering focus on the clients, communities, their families, and their businesses. She enjoys translating complex solutions and ideas into actionable steps that drive impact.
Board of Directors
BOARD CHAIR
Stanley E. Washington
President & CEO, Pantheon Business Consulting LLC
McKell Beamon
Executive Sales Director, HashiCorp
Adey Tesfaye
Head of CRA City National Bank
P. David Bramble
Managing Partner, MCB Real Estate
Warren V. Chambers
Oncology Senior Area Business Manager, Sanofi
Leeann Lynch
Chief Strategy Officer, Lendistry
Everett K. Sands
CEO, Lendistry
Joy Bramble
Founder, The Baltimore Times
Learn more about The Center, its impact, and our program and community partners.
