The WBJ’s 40 Under 40 Award

We are thrilled to share that last month, on July 30th, our Co-founder and Executive Director Natalia Otero was recognized in the Washington Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Awards Ceremony. The award celebrates Natalia’s devotion to the community and exemplary leadership. This honor is well deserved and we are proud to share the WBJ’s profile on Natalia below.   

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“Help is a phone call away for those affected by domestic abuse and intimate partner violence in the nation’s capital, thanks to the work of D.C. Safe co-founder and Executive Director Ana Natalia Otero. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the nonprofit’s Crisis Response Team is on call to help with emergency shelter placement, legal information, lethal risk assessment and more, guiding survivors to safety and the resources available to them in the District. 

The program began in 2006 with just four advocates and is now the largest crisis intervention agency in D.C., serving more than 10,000 survivors annually — and traffic to the hotline has doubled during the coronavirus pandemic quarantine. Another milestone is in the works for later this year as groundbreaking is expected for Safe Space, a permanent facility with 30 apartment-style units for those in need of crisis housing. 

What is your biggest work challenge for 2020? Fighting the idea that nonprofits are not legitimate businesses with complicated fiscal and legal structures. There is business acumen in this sector that is driven by social change even if it isn’t driven by profit. It deserves to be celebrated.

What do you miss most about your office? Our office is dynamic. It’s like an ant colony! I miss the creativity and depth of our impromptu brainstorming sessions and my hypertalented staff.

What’s been a moment of joy for you in the past three months? I am blessed to have more than one. Rectifying that we don’t see enough sunsets, play enough games or debate as much as we should. Connecting with loved ones far away. Covid-19 broke down physical barriers that way. I can now connect with my family in Mexico or my high school friends in L.A. and deepen my roots. 

Biggest personal lesson you’ve learned in 2020 so far? In light of the countrywide conversation about racism, brutality and institutional involvement in our lives, I realized I am carrying some guilt around being a leader. I need to start by not labeling myself — a brown, immigrant, undocumented child, survivor of violence, underprivileged, feminist. That’s the last time I will say that sentence. I am also not a person of color. I will value my contribution to my community as my actions are what matters most.

Ana Natalia Otero

Co-Founder and executive director, D.C. Safe

  • Age: 39

  • Residence: Columbia Heights

  • Education: Bachelor’s in economics and Latin American literature, Agnes Scott College

  • Family: Husband; son, 14 and 9

  • First job: Scribner’s bookstore 

Big Number

55,890 — Number of District residents D.C. Safe has served who have been impacted by intimate partner violence. Otero has personally assisted 8,229 people.”

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Thank you to everyone who has joined us in celebrating this honor for Natalia! 

Natalia Otero