The Team
Carissa Begonia
Carissa is the Head of Inclusion & Diversity at Zappos. Naturally inquisitive, a self-starter, and a serial idea implementer, Carissa has always found herself creating her own path and is very comfortable with pushing people to think differently. With a successful 10-year career in merchandise and strategic planning at Macy’s, Ross Stores, Saks 5th Avenue, and Zappos, Carissa ventured off her planned career path, trading in her excel spreadsheets for leadership development, emotional intelligence and self-awareness tools to take her analytical and creative problem solving skills from the operations side to the people side of business. She loves that her new path has allowed her to spend her days talking and learning about people, encouraging them to ask questions, take action, and get out of their own way. Carissa considers herself a citizen of the world and whenever she finds some down time between all her passion filled projects, she is off traveling on her next adventure finding inspiration for her next new idea.
Myra LEah Begonia Shankin
Myra began to visit the Philippines as small child, and always wanted to find a meaningful way to contribute to the local community from where her family came. Developed while on vacation with three of her Begonia cousins in the Hundred Islands, Green Mango became her ideal vehicle to “be the change you wish to see in the world." By day, Myra is a Lead Analyst in Global Project Finance and Infrastructure Group at Moody’s Investors Service, where she covers a portfolio of infrastructure fixed income issuers concentrated in transportation assets. In English, that means she will talk your ear off about airports, seaports and toll roads if given the chance. Myra is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University, where she earned degrees in Economics and Architecture. She’s PADI-certified Rescue Scuba Diver as well as a voracious book reader and wine drinker. Myra is a longtime resident of Brooklyn Heights, New York, where she lives with her husband Rich and very spoiled dog Bodhi.
Carl Begonia
Carl Begonia is in charge of marketing for Green Mango International. He manages the website content as well as all social media accounts. His main priority is to spread the awareness of the organization and keep donors up to date on any up coming fundraising events or any new projects. During the day Carl is a pharmaceutical sales representative and during his down time he enjoys Crossfit, hitting the gym, riding his motorcycle and spending time with his family and friends.
Ingrid Garcia Begonia
Ingrid Begonia is the secretary and treasurer of Green Mango International, Inc (“GMI”). Ingrid is responsible for overseeing all accounts and makes sure all projects are fully capitalized, all donations are accounted for, and all paperwork is properly filed. She attended Baruch College for Accounting and Graphic Design and has been working at SS&C Technologies Inc. as an Assistant Vice President for the last eight years. She has always been interested in helping those in need and started volunteering since her Junior High school years. She’s always dreamed of helping children in her native country, the Dominican Republic but never really knew how to start. She believes that education is a doorway to endless opportunities for all children but especially those in low income neighborhoods. When the idea to start GMI came about on a family vacation to the Philippines, she knew this was the perfect way to start realizing one of her dreams. She looks forward to one day expanding GMI to help communities in the Dominican Republic. In her free time, Ingrid loves going to the beach, doing CrossFit, spending time with her loved ones and traveling the world.